Page 97 of The Art of Exiley

“That’s the plan?”

“It will have to do. I had a better plan, but the one Ha’i stone on this island has apparently gone missing.”

“What’s a Ha’i stone?” I ask. And who could be stealing things? I’m the most likely culprit, and I certainly haven’t taken any stones.

“The Blood Science guild’s high material. A Ha’i stone channels very concentrated amounts of Ha’i and can be wielded by anyone, even those without Sire abilities. They are extremely rare and difficult to make.”

“Ah,” I manage to say, but my brain has frozen.

Even those without Sire abilities can wield it to channel concentrated amounts of Ha’i.The Blood Science high material, which explains why noone at Genesis has info about it. This isit. What I was supposed to find for the Families. But someone else found it first.

The question is,who?

Someone else must be up to something on this island besides me. I didn’t steal this Ha’i stone, and while I’m devastated to know that the Families have had a part in any of the abductions, they’re not the ones who took me. Twice.

I file away the information about the existence of the Ha’i stone for later. It’s not one of my current priorities anymore. Getting off this island to find out what’s going on with the Families, rescuing Hypatia, and bringing Rafe to help Grandfather are all that matter to me right now.

“This is the backup plan.” Rafe begins to unfurl his bundle. It takes me a moment to refocus and realize what it is.

“Is that Simon’s fold-up boat from his gallerie?” I ask, my adrenaline still humming.

“It is. Good lad, that one,” Rafe says with surprising affection.

“It didn’t work very well, as far as I recall.”

“True. But we’re going to fix it. We need a boat to reach the mainland.”

“Well, what do you need me to do, Your Highness?”

“Don’t call me that,” he says.

“But I’m here and ready to be bossed around, and you do so love telling me what to do.”

He rolls his eyes and puts me to work using spidersilk to fix the aspects of the boat prone to leaking. He does some intricate surgery on the motor. Work that clearly requires very steady hands as well as concentration. Or at least I gather as much from the way Rafe scowls at me whenever I move or breathe a little too forcefully for his liking.

“Must you do everything as inelegantly as an apprentice-made golem?” he demands in frustration.

“Sorry. I’ll try to be quieter,” I say, concentrating on a silent exhalation.

“I hate when you do that.”

“What? Apologize?”

“Act civilly toward me when I’m mean to you.”

“Of course I’m going to be civil with my lab partner and fakelover.”

“You cannot make me like you through sheer politeness.”

“Frankly, I don’t care if you like me,” I say.

“Frankly, I don’t believe that, considering you look at me in a way that suggests you care very much what I think.”

He’s teasing me. Rafe Vanguard is teasing me, and I don’t know how to handle it.

“Just because I find you aesthetically pleasing doesnotmean I care what you think,” I respond.

“You think I’m handsome?”

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