Page 127 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“It doesn’t really matter, though.” He shrugged. “He’s coming back, and he’s going to be mortified his parents wasted money on plants because they thought he was dead.”
I rolled a fraying bit of blanket between my fingers as I thought.
“It doesn’t have to be a waste,” I said. “Are there any hospitals nearby? We could donate the flowers after the memorial is over. Do you think Riley would like that?”
Liam ran a hand through his dark blond curls.
“I think he’d love that,” he said. “He’ll still hate that the memorial happened at all, but this will help.”
I stood up and stretched. It wasn’t that late, but Galahad would be calling soon.
“Headed to bed?” Liam straightened up on the couch.
“Figured I should, just in case.”
“Just in case you fall asleep?” he clarified. “You promise you have that under control? I know you said you were seeing a doctor, but—”
“I’m fine.” I gave him a smile, but his tiny frown stayed in place. “But, you know what? I think I’d feel better if you slept here. Gams is always out late playing cards with her friends.”
Liam had slept on Gams’s couch before. I knew he didn’t like being at home without Riley, and he settled back into the cushions.
“You sure?” he asked, but Jonquil was already making herself comfortable in his lap. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Keep the nightmares away, would you?” I asked.
“Of course.” He grinned. “See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning,” I repeated.
The scars on my palm itched as I exited down the hall to my room.
He’d lost his mom, dad, and cousin.
And I was only one death away from him losing me too.
30. Thermal Analysis
Ferrin had been lecturing Galahad for several minutes in the bow of our longboat while Orla held my hand in her lap to inspect my scars by the light of her Skal bottles. The vessel rocked with the gentle river rapids, and Tiernan and Iseult held us steady with oars where they sat on either side of Fana.
“She’s just a kid!” Ferrin gesticulated in my direction. “She will die!”
“This boat is full of children, and any one of them might die,” Galahad growled. “The Nightmare isn’t special. We do what we have to do to protect the Sovereign.”
Fana stared at me from her bench with saucer-like eyes.
“I don’t want anyone to die,” she whispered.
“No one is going to die,” Orla assured her.
“Don’t coddle her.” Tiernan sat on the bench next to Fana with his eyes trained on the dark waters ahead. He dipped his oar into the rapids to pull us to the right.
My stomach churned with the movement, but hopefully the fast river would help speed us away from Ciarán. I dropped my eyes to the wooden hull at my feet. He was probably still in my head. Watching. Listening. Using me to get close.
“You never should have put the curse on her to begin with!” Ferrin seethed, still arguing with Galahad.
“I made her manageable, and she’s helped get us this far.”
I looked up to see Galahad glaring at me from the bow of the boat. He would absolutely kill me if he knew Ciarán could see inside my head. I dropped my eyes back to my feet. If Ciaránwasin my head tonight, he’d kept quiet so far.
