Page 40 of Across an Endless Sea

The corners of his mouth turn from a frown to an undignified grimace, and he reaches below the table, grabbing…

“PUPPY!” I stretch out my hands, reaching for the adorable ball of white fur and fangs. “A barghest? Really? Oh, wolfie, you shouldn’t have!”

I’ve wanted one for centuries, but everyone always insisted they don’t make good pets…

But Jaro—the spoilsport—yanks the adorable fluffy pompom of death out of my reach.

“Wraith belongs to Rose,” he objects. “And she will want him unharmed when she returns.”

“Unharmed?” I pout at him, trying to calculate my odds of jumping up and catching the puppy with half-functional legs. “I don’t want to harm it. I just want to teach it tricks and play games, like ‘fetch the trachea.’”

Jaro gives me a look. “If you want to be helpful, find out where the fuck Drystan has wandered off to. Or better yet, go back to the infirmary and listen to Kitarni. You’re still regenerating your eye.” There’s a heavy pause, where he waits for me to follow his orders. “Don’t make me have you escorted…”

He trails off, probably realising what a waste of energy that would be.

“Just don’t make my life more difficult than it has to be,” he murmurs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Unless you have a way to break the siege, get out of the war room.”

Fine. With a final look at the puppy, and a silent promise to blink him out of this stuffy meeting later, I sigh and blink back to Kitarni.

“Rose is gone,” I mumble, looking despondently at her.

She sighs. “Yes. Unfortunately, it appears she emerged from the Goddess’s sacred cave close to Caed, and as a result, he captured her before Bricriu and Drystan could reach her.”

They should’ve been faster.

“She will be back,” Kitarni promises, drawing a vial from the pocket of her robe and passing it to me. “I’m certain of it. Danu would not have placed her in harm’s way without a reason. Now drink this.”

Not what I want to hear. ‘Reasons’ is not a good enough explanation for taking away my Rose. Goddess or not. Regardless, I drink her potion. Kitarni is one of the few brewers who have the gift of making potions which don’t taste like shit—a useful trick when it comes to getting me to drink them.

So the potion she passes me fizzes on my tongue in a burst of sweet raspberry and bubbles.

Oooh… the ache in my legs flares sharply before dissipating entirely. Did she numb them, or am I all fixed up now? I flex one calf experimentally, then pinch it.

Definitely not numb.

“Now, if you’ll remain in one place, the healers want to check on your eye.”

“What happened to it?” I ask. “It was fine before.”

“Short term memory loss.” A selkie in a healer’s apron ducks out from behind Kitarni and peers at me. “That’s expected.”

I frown at her. “Rude. My memory is fine!”

“Then whatdoyou remember?” Kitarni inserts. “Before you woke up in the infirmary.”

I cock my head to one side… “Well… There was that mugger… Or was that the day before? Oooh… that male who was beating on his whore… No, that was definitely at least four murders ago…”

The selkie blanches, and Kitarni rolls her eyes. “Every time I think you cannot possibly shock me more,” she mutters. “You must have some memories of other events beyond getting your cap wet.”

I frown, affronted. “I need to keep it red! Rose likes it that way. Plus, you said it yourself, I’m in the public eye now! I need to look the part!”

Kitarni sighs and drops her head into her twiggy hands. “I meant you needed to button up your damned shirt before the parade. Not that you should increase your body count.”

I cock my head at her. “Oh. Sorry. I wasn’t really listening.” Rose had taken up all my attention, as usual.

“I had no idea,” the dryad responds, and I have the oddest feeling she’s being sarcastic. “Now, back to what you remember before you took iron shrapnel to the eye and fell several hundred feet…”

I did that?

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