Page 43 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
“Speaking—but not speaking. I don’t even know when I’m doing it. Sometimes I go to say the words and nothing but air comes out from my lips, yet I still hear the words. I still hear you back. Sometimes, I even see—see what you do, what you feel.” Her hand clenched around his, and she lowered herself until her head was nuzzled against his chest. “It was unbearable when you were gone. Every time they took a piece from you. Every time a blade touched your skin I thought of how I could have prevented it.If I had just trusted you—” Tears rimmed her eyes and Katrin’s breathing stuttered in rapid puffs.
“It wasn’t your fault. I should have been honest with you. When I told you what was happening I should have said who I was—explained to you why you needed to believe me. But I was a coward.” Ander wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. Katrin’s legs hooked around his and he slid his other hand to her hip. “I’ll never lie to you again, I promise you that.”
Her eyes began to flutter shut. This strong, unconditional woman before him had barely slept in the weeks she looked after him and now it seemed that sweet reprieve was upon her. Katrin’s breathing began to steady and she wormed her way closer. “I know,” she whispered into his chest, too tired to lift her head toward him.
So Ander sat, letting the potion run through his veins and still his mind, while the woman he did not deserve slept. And he took in every puff of air that left her lips, every flutter of her eyes as she dreamt, every squirm of her body as she nuzzled closer. And when the moon reached its peak, when the only sound left was Katrin’s light snoring and the owls and wolves dancing in the night, Ander slept. For the first time since he was taken prisoner, he did not hear a single scream.
Ander had come to check on Thalia—she had been so exhausted from even a short time out of bed yesterday and hadbeen asleep ever since—but did not expect both his siblings to be waiting inside her bedchambers. As he entered the room, he found Chloe sitting in a chair by Thalia’s bed and Dimitris brooding in a corner against the wall.
“I quite like this cat,” Chloe exclaimed as she stroked down Mykonos’s fur. “She’s an exceptional companion.”
A shudder went down Ander’s spine. “That makes one of us,” he and his brother said at the same time.
Dimitris looked even more perturbed by the creature and Mykonos seemed to revel in it. Each time Ander’s younger brother stepped toward Thalia, the littledaimonwould let out a hiss and flash her claws. He didn’t dare swat her away, backing up each time and leaning back against the wall in the darkened corner, arms crossed.
“What are you even doing here, Dimitris? It’s not as if you like the seer nor her pet.” Lifting a brow, Chloe glared at Dimitris. Ander should have known the youngest of them would be the one most likely to stir the pot.
Whittling at a piece of wood, Dimitris scowled. Ander could not tell what the piece was forming into. It had always been a habit of Dimitris when they were younger. If he was nervous or anxious he would craft a small wooden creature. He had dozens of them stacked along the bookshelves in his bedchambers.
“It is neither here nor there if I care for the seer. Only that I was the one to bring her out of Aidesian and therefore it is my responsibility to make sure she has fully healed.” Dimitris’s voice was akin to a growl.
“Settle down,Alpha.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “It is not as if Thalia can hear you while she’s sleeping. Though if she could, I am sure she would tell you to fuck right off.”
“Now, now, Chloe. We have very little time together. Can we not be civil to each other?” What had he walked into? This was the last thing Ander needed—a battle between siblings. Right now, he was not sure which one would win, or if he could even stop them.
“You may have just returned, brother, but I have been stuck in this castle along with him for the last five years. You would question his intentions too, I assure you.” Picking up Mykonos and setting her by Thalia’s feet, Chloe huffed. “I am late to speak with Mother. You try anything with her and I have informed the cat to claw your eyes out.”
“I dare it to try,” Dimitris drawled, approaching Chloe and all but pushing her out the door.
Ander’s brother slammed the door behind their sister, leaning on it with both hands, the veins in his forearms pulsing. Apparently they had not worked throughthe incidentafter all these years.
“She is still upset about Marianna, I presume?” Ander questioned.
His brother glared over his shoulder. “It would appear so.”
“And am I to assume the same thing would happen with Thalia, because if so, I am inclined to agree with our sister.”
“As I said before, I am here under obligation only.” Dimitris took the seat Chloe had occupied the last hour, but not before Mykonos gave him yet another warning hiss. “Don’t you have somewhere to be as well? With your lady, perhaps.”
So much for familial bonding upon his return. It seemed as if his siblings couldn’t be rid of him fast enough. “And will you be staying here?”
“Yes.”
One word. It was all his brother said, but it was enough for Ander to worry.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ander
“Where are you taking me?” Katrin asked, her voice breathy from walking as far as they had already.
“Oh hush up, Starling, I said it was a surprise.” Ander grabbed her by the hand, leading farther down the winding dirt path to the markets below. It was hard to keep his eyes off her, dressed in flowing Nexian blue silk, a slit high on her leg where her dagger’s strap shone through. He wanted to get down on his knees before her and trace every line until he tasted pleasure on his lips. But she had asked to see his isle, the place he grew up, where he made memories with friends. There was only one place that came to mind—Athena’s—so instead of taking her right here againstthe outer wall of the palace, he focused on the steep shortcut that led them swirling down to the shore.
They reached the last rock platform before the final descent and Katrin paused, glancing out over the crashing waves below. “It’s extraordinary, is it not?”
Ander stared back at her while she took in every flying bird and fish jumping below, letting his eyes outline her face, her lips. “Yes,” he paused for a moment, “it is.”
“I can’t believe Nexos is like this—so pure and untouched by the rest of Odessia. We were always taught that it had crumbled, wasted away to nothing more than—”
