Page 54 of Across an Endless Sea

His laughter fades to chuckles as he finally gets himself under control. “If you think that you can tell the king what to do, your three centuries in the warmer lands have well and truly addled your wits.”

No. More than two millennia spent in Calimnel has addled his.

I lie on the sand long after he’s gone, looking into the fog-covered horizon. There’s a storm drifting closer, and the snow is beginning to fall around me. I need to deal with this wound before I start to suffer from blood loss, and I should really return to Elfhame now that I know Annis won’t help.

But I don’t have the energy to move.

Eighteen

Caed

My entire body is buzzing as I wake, which is weird enough to make me take notice.

I never wake like this—full of energy and instantly alert. Normally, it takes a good hour of grumpy morning Caed before I’m fit to even roll out of my furs.

Yet, as my eyes snap open, I feel ready to conquer the world.

And then I see Rose.

Her pale face is lying in a pool of blood, long lashes casting dark shadows across the hollows of her cheekbones as her hair soaks up the scarlet liquid. The short, uneven length only exacerbates how thin her face is and makes her ears stand out from her head like knives.

Dead?

In the second before I think it through, my chest constricts painfully and I bolt upright, reaching for her.

Only to find that she’s clutching my hand in a death grip, so my movement drags her limp body farther into the blood. Painting her with it.

A shuddery breath to my left alerts me to the fact that I’m not alone. Prae is staring at the pair of us with wide eyes. She’s silent.

Prae is never silent.

“What the fuck happened?” I demand, giving up on trying to untangle my fingers from Rose’s and pulling her into my lap.

The angle is awkward, given that I have to take care not to let her come into contact with my armbands, and blood is everywhere, making my grip slippery. I curse under my breath, but I make it work, cradling her between my crossed legs with one hand above her wings.

The last thing I remember I was…

Shit. The lashes. Her hair.

At least that explains the blood. It’s mine. Strange how I can’t even feel my wounds.

More importantly, why is Rose out cold when I was the one being punished?

“I asked her to use the bond you share to heal you,” Prae whispers. “I knew that she could—all the stories talked about it—but I didn’t realise…”

I meet my cousin’s gaze as familiar anger floods in to replace the unwelcome concern.

Why is she dancing around the question?

“What. Happened.” I’m not asking anymore.

“I swear, I didn’t know they had to take from Danu to do it. She never said… Why wouldn’t she say anything?” Prae breaks off, cursing. “Fuck, I thought her reluctance was because she hates you. I should’ve known she was—”

“She did this to herself?”

I only care because I don’t want to chase after her again. Nothing more than that.

Prae shakes her head, then nods, then shakes it again. The two motions blur into one until she gives up and pinches the bridge of her nose, smudging the lines of blue war paint across it.

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