Page 4 of Across an Endless Sea

I take another subtle step away from him, putting space between us, just in case. If the other male notices, he says nothing.

A sharp movement from his direction makes me flinch and reflexively reach for the sword inked along my thigh. It’s not a conscious movement, but a learned one. Rage leads to violence. Violence leads to pain.

But it’s only the high fae pulling himself up into his saddle. I force myself to relax, and my fingers twitch as I cross my arms over my chest.

There’s no way he didn’t notice that, but once again, he spares me the embarrassment of calling me out.

“I don’t feel her,” he mutters. “We need to get a head start on Caed, but that’s going to be impossible because we have no idea where the cave will spit her back out.”

I wish he hadn’t reminded me. The yawning emptiness which has been lingering in the back of my mind since she died reaches out, trying to swallow me for the hundredth time.

“She might not return,” I remind him.

Rose felt out of her depth in her new life before her death; there’s a chance that this will have cemented those fears.

I wouldn’t blame her if she chose to pass on. I’d almost welcome it. Tiredness has seeped into my soul since my release, and without Rose here to ground me, fighting against my own mind has become exhausting.

They say everyone finds peace in the Otherworld…

“She’ll come back,” Drystan grunts, dragging me back to the present. “And when she does, she and I are going to have a talk about why she put herself in the middle of a fight without weapons or training.”

The vehemence in his voice doesn’t surprise me, but it does make me take another step back. Unlike him, I understand why Rose did what she did.

“She was protecting her brother,” I reply. “You would’ve done the same.”

“I have no siblings, and Florian is a soldier; so no, I wouldn’t have.” Drystan’s entire body is still tense with anger. “Soldiers die for the Nicnevin, not the other way around. The sooner Rose learns that, the better.”

I snort in disbelief but don’t correct him. It’s probably not wise to start arguing about her character with someone who’s known her longer than I have, and I have no desire to enrage him further.

But I don’t get the sense that Rose will ever be the kind of Nicnevin who stands back and allows someone she cares about to get hurt.

“Besides,” he continues. “She’s only known Florian for a few days.”

Like that makes a difference.

“Time doesn’t matter,” I whisper. “Sometimes you meet someone and you just click.”

But in the same way, you can know someone your entire life and never really know them at all. Bitterness coats the thought, and a shudder runs along my spine before I can throw it off.

Drystan scoffs but doesn’t comment.

When he does speak again, he changes the subject. “We should start moving—”

A soft, resonating glow in my chest bursts into being at the exact same time that his words cut off. The Call shimmers for a second before exploding in a torrent of hurt that steals my breath and threatens to bring me to my knees.

Rose.

“She came back.”

I wasn’t sure that she would, but feeling the Call once again—even like this—lifts a weight from my chest. The pulse beneath my skin may be thrumming with her exhaustion and fear, but I’ll take that over its absence any day.

“Take the sky,” Drystan orders, hands fisting against a fresh wave of Rose’s feelings. “If you see Caed…”

“I’ll distract him. You focus on getting to Rose.”

I haven’t fought in a long time—not since the madam had me recaptured and stuck in chains—but at the very least, I have three animals that can keep the Fomorians at bay.

He nods once. “Be warned, he’s got some kind of enchantment that makes it difficult to attack him. Jaro and I couldn’t land a single hit.”

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