Page 90 of Fate Promised

Warmth trickled along her chest. It spread outward, like someone with a warm hand stroked her. Golden, buttery warmth. Words floated to her ears. “Come back to me.”

He was the source of the warmth. She kicked and flipped upward to the surface. She wanted to find him.

When her head emerged from the water, the mist was gone. The clear, briny scent of the sea flooded her lungs. Past the last rocks of the bay, the open ocean lay before her like a welcome mat. Come. Find your home.

Her home? Where was her home? Her whiskers twitched. Why did she picture a vulk when she thought of finding home?

The sea beckoned, glistening in the moonlight. An entire universe, all hers to explore. Triska flicked her tail and headed out into the vast ocean.

38

Juri sat in the sand in the cove that was once his and Triska’s. He’d sat here every day for the past week since returning from the vanishing isle, watching as the moons swelled a bit more toward full.

Tonight, they were full, signaling the last night for him and Triska to choose their bond.

Triska had succeeded. She’d gotten the orb. She’d saved Ryba, and probably a good swath of Ulterra. But whatever link they’d had to help her remember to take the orb, hadn’t helped her remember him.

She hadn’t returned.

Every day his mother had come and sat with him awhile. She’d brought him food, then took it away untouched. Hans came and sat next to him, too. Whenever he was there, they spoke no words to one another. They didn’t have to.

When he wasn’t in the cove, he was sailing with Triska’s father into the open sea, letting the wind push the boat out to the swelling depths. But there was no sight of a sleek, dark seal’s head bobbing above the waves.

His chest burned. The clawing inside was now the despair of a bond searching for its mate as their link faded. She didn’t feel him. She didn’t remember him.

Juri’s breath seized in his lungs, and he bent forward. The bond burst through his chest again. Soon, it would snap entirely.

Over the past week, he hadn’t slept. Hadn’t eaten. All he wanted was her. To see her face and hear her throaty laugh one more time.

Staring up at the full moons, he thumbed the ring, letting it slide between his thumb and forefinger. His chest burned hotter.

The wind grew cold and bitter, but he didn’t stir. The waves grew choppy and loud, rising up the beach until they were a few inches from his feet, and he still didn’t stir.

Only when the moons sank toward the horizon, signaling the last hours of the night, did he rise. He looked at the ring in his palm. “This was always yours, and it belongs with you.” He tossed it into the sea.

Maybe there was a chime as it hit the water, flashing in the moonlight, but maybe it was only in his head. Once again, he’d come to Ryba, looking for Triska. And once again, he couldn’t reach her.

He sighed. It was time to go.

A small whorl formed amid the waves, making the silvery moonlight dance. What was this? More magic?

Dark hair broke the surface, and Triska rose from the waves, her pelt draped around her shoulders like a cloak.

Juri stared. This wasn’t real. He’d sat here too long and fallen asleep. “Is it really you?”

“Juri!” She ran to him.

He stepped forward and caught her as she leaped into his arms. He held her tight. She was all cool skin and wet hair. He’d never felt anything more glorious. “Triska.” He couldn’t say anything else. He buried his face in her neck. No dream could replicate her sweet scent of blackthorn blossom with a hint of salt.

He hiked her up higher on his chest and wrapped her as close as possible. He nuzzled her neck as she kissed his jaw, his throat, anything she could reach. “You came back to me,” he whispered.

His heart pounded.

“I’ll always come back to you.” She drew back and held up her hand. His ring lay in her palm, the chain dangling between her fingers. “I caught this beneath the waves.”

“I wanted you to have it back.”

Triska stepped back and slung her pelt more firmly around her. “Come with me.” She turned back to the ocean, and his heart hitched in his chest, pulsing with one violent throb. Was she only here to say goodbye?

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