Page 86 of Lore of the Wilds

He let go, and Lore landed gently on the floor, clearing her throat. “Anyway, I wanted to come here and heat up some broth for him. I think he’ll finally be able to keep it down.”

“Right. I’m happy for you.” Finndryl smiled again, running his hand through his locs. “Why don’t you put some of this fresh ginger in it? It will help to settle his stomach.”

“Oh, yes! I should have thought of that myself.”

“You have a lot on your mind. If I can think of ways to help, I will.” Finndryl scooped up a few slices of ginger and placed them in Lore’s palm. He folded her fingers around the ginger and squeezed them.

Lore’s stomach tumbled at the feeling of his hand on hers. “Thank you.”

Finndryl nodded, giving her hand one last light squeeze and then pulling away to busy himself at the bar. Lore had to stop herself from reaching back out, if only to feel his touch for a moment longer. Lore turned to walk to the kitchen. She paused just before skirting around the edge of the bar. “For everything. Thank you for everything. If you hadn’t helped me with my grimoire, Grey would have been lost to me forever.”

“It’s nothing.” Finndryl’s voice was thick. He went back to slicing the ginger, turning his back to Lore.

She stepped into the kitchen; her fist clenched around the ginger.

Finndryl’s scent danced in her senses.

Chapter26

“I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

Lore sat beside Grey on Isla’s bed; they’d been sharing it while Grey recovered. Light from the moon shone through the window, kissing her hands with its light. She frowned, realizing her fingertips were stained black where they’d touched the grimoire.

How long had they been like this? She wiped them on her trousers, but the black pigment didn’t come off. She was used to her hands being stained with colors; she’d worked in an apothecary since she was a child. Her hands were almost always multicolored from dyeing fabric or creating medicinal poultices. But this was different. It looked like her fingertips were just... black.

As black as the spaces between the stars on clear nights.

As if she’d been born with them this way.

Unease bubbled up in her stomach, but she pushed it down. She didn’t want to worry Grey. This would have to be something she figured out later. Just another mystery to add to the ever-growing pile.

“I have so much to tell you.”

“And I have a lot to tell you.”

“Like why or how it is that you escaped from Duskmere?” Lore asked.

“HowI escaped Duskmere? Well, I didn’t have a choice. The fear. The sentries. I couldn’t let them stop me from finding you. I knew I had to find you, and I knew that, when I did, you would have found magic. I’ve always known you would find a way.” He squeezed her hand.

Lore grinned, excitement thrumming through her. “I did find a way.” In hushed tones, she told him about finding the grimoire and the magic it allowed her to access.

When she finished, Grey sat across from her on the bed with his mouth hanging open.

“Say something!”

“Where do I start? How is it that you can communicate with a book? What did you give to it when you made that bargain? How can a human do magic? Can you teach me?” His voice rose an octave with each question.

Lore bit her lip, searching his eyes. “I don’t have an answer to any of those questions. I honestly have no idea what I gave it other than taking it from the castle, but it doesn’t matter. Without it, I would be in a dungeon or, more than likely, dead. I want to bring this gift home to our people. I want to carve out a real existence for us. No more of this half-life, no more being too afraid to explore this world. You know, when I saw the ocean for the first time, I couldn’t believe that all this time we could have been fishing there. We could’ve been filling our children’s bellies instead of watching them go hungry.”

Her voice was beginning to rise as her anger ignited anew.

“We could’ve built ships and explored this world. Settled into a territory of our own and become a sovereign nation. With access to magic, maybe we can do what our ancestors never could—leave this vile place forever, you know?” She sat up, leaning closerto him. “Any sacrifice that I make will be worth it if we can become our ancestors’ wildest dreams.”

Grey’s eyes reflected her own determination back to her. He understood. Her pain was his as well. Their history the same. “Because of you we finally have a fighting chance. You having magic changes everything.” He pulled her into a hug and Lore squeezed him back, taking a moment to sit in this safe, familiar space with him.

“There was something I left out of the story, though,” Lore said, her voice tinged with mischief.

“Oh, gods, do I even want to know?” Grey said with a laugh.

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