Page 57 of Across an Endless Sea

A ghost sword decapitates him before he can take a second step. His blood sprays in an arc, splattering the walls in gore. His body keeps going, continuing its prior momentum until it lands at my feet. More scarlet liquid pools beneath him as I stumble away from them both.

I make it to the matted furs that were my bed before my knees give out. Fortunately, they’re in the one blood-free corner of the closet, and I hug my knees as I try to breathe past the urge to vomit. The sound of my galloping heartbeat hammers against my eardrums until it’s all I can hear.

Caed doesn’t move for a long second. When he does, he grabs the untouched furs and wraps me in them like a doll before picking me up.

He’s shielding me from his armbands with the furs, I realise dimly, as he carries me out of my closet and back through the forge.

“She was attacked,” he growls at his shocked cousin. “In your fucking workshop. Where in Ancestors’ name was your security? I thought you locked this fucking place religiously? And how the fuck did a slave get his hands on a knife?”

Prae’s mouth opens and closes, but Caed doesn’t give her a chance to reply before he storms past her.

“She stays with me from now on,” he growls.

“But the king—”

Caed ignores her, shouldering open the workshop door and striding along the battlements with me in his arms.

Like this, wrapped in furs and him, I feel so incredibly small.

“He wanted to kill me,” I whisper. “To free me.”

Should I have let him? If I had, I’d have died, but within a day, or maybe less, I could’ve been back with the rest of my Guard. Safe.

Away from the Fomorian, who can’t decide if he wants to keep me or kill me.

“He’s dead. His wants are immaterial.” Caed kicks open a door in the side of the fortress and carries me down a busy corridor, ignoring the looks we’re both getting. “Stop shaking, damn it.”

I didn’t even realise I was.

Now that he mentions it, I’m actually a lot colder than I should be, but I’m also oddly calm in a way that doesn’t make sense.

Am I getting used to being threatened and covered in blood on a daily basis, or am I just in shock? Of all the people I was expecting to try to kill me during my stay here, other fae weren’t on the list.

Maybe it’s just the fact that my body is buzzing from being surrounded by Caed, and the magic binding us together makes me feel safe with him. If that’s the case, then the magic needs a sanity-check.

“You should’ve stayed within my sight,” Caed grumbles as we finally reach an iron door set deep into a hallway covered in those glowing blue mushrooms.

He puts my fur-wrapped body down for a second to reach a key on his belt and slips it into the lock, pushing it open before picking me up once again.

“I can walk,” I grumble.

Totally ignoring my comment, Caed sets me on a stone bench just inside the dark room, then points his finger downward in an unspoken command to stay in place.

Then he shuts the door, stealing my sight entirely.

Please tell me he doesn’t live like this? In the pitch black, unable to see?

I almost shriek at the sound of metal clanging on metal, then I catch the glow of white from Caed’s swords a second before he laughs.

“Tell Draard he’s going to have to try harder next time.” He pauses. “Actually, you’re going to have to write it down…”

A gurgling scream follows, then the door opens again, giving me a brief glance of another Fomorian, blood cascading from his mouth, being shoved out before it slams for good. Seconds later, soft blue light fills the space, bringing the details of Caed’s room into focus without hurting my eyes.

We’re in a sparse living area that might as well be an empty room. A pair of iron swords hang on the wall, but that’s the sum total of the decorations, unless you count the bench I’m sitting on.

I thought that Caed would be a slob, but this place is so minimalist as to be tidy by default. Does he actually spend any time here? Is his bedroom just as sparse?

Bad Rose. We do not need to think about what Caed’s bedroom looks like.

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