And then I was moving, exploring in the glow of gemstones, glancing over his things, my gaze skimming like a breeze over the landscape of his life.
Maps and books were scattered across the surface of his large desk. I picked up a small flute-like instrument. With a slight smile, I wondered if he played. I should like to hear him. Putting it back down, I moved on, stopping before one of his chests. It was much bigger than mine. I inched forward, stopped, sent a furtive glance over my shoulder, as though verifying that I was still alone, that Vetr had not joined me.
I knew I shouldn’t be nosy, but there was still so much I didn’t know about Vetr, about this world, the pride. They had all spent a lifetime together, understanding one another as well as they understood themselves. I was still trying to catch up, to learn, constantly out of breath in a race that felt impossible to win. I told myself that if snooping helped me in that endeavor, if it at least kept me in the race, it was forgivable.
There was something about this chest.Thisone. It was constructed from a light ashy wood and had metal bars striping across it. It intrigued me. Compelled me. A voice whispered inside me, rolling through my mind in billowing gusts. It urged me to open the lid.
I dropped to my knees before it. Eagerly grasped the sides. It wasn’t locked. The lid lifted easily, the well-used iron hinges not giving so much as a creak. It held an assortment of things. A varietyof books, more jewels, a comb and brush, leather bands and hair ties, a ring, a deck of cards, and a small assortment of tools.
Nothing extraordinary … considering priceless jewels were as commonplace here as icicles hanging off trees. I should stop and close the lid before Vetr walked in and caught me rummaging through his things.
I sent another cautious glance over my shoulder.
That whispering voice grew louder. A current of energy accompanied it, walking side by side with it, together, toward me, reaching for me with open hands.
At first, I thought the energy emanated from the jewels sitting in a tray inside the chest, but I brushed my fingers over the cool, polished surface of those gems. No. They were mostly quiet, sleeping, giving off little more than a melodic hum. It wasn’t them. There was something … else.
I shuffled the tray aside, reaching deep into the bottom of the trunk. There, my fingers brushed something hard covered in fabric. I seized it, realizing it was a small cloth sack. I pulled it out, guided now by something much stronger than conscience, more powerful than the rules that usually governed me and told me pilfering through someone’s belongings was wrong in every way. I didn’t care.
Whatever filled the bag called to me, beckoning me like a light guiding me to port, and I was helpless to resist the summons.
I yanked open the drawstring and anxiously peered inside, my heart pounding hard and fast, rising into my throat.
It was too dark to see within the bag, so I reached inside, wrapped shaking fingers around something solid, and pulled the weight of it out into the light, letting it spill out into my palm.
My heart stilled in one long, endless beat before resuming in a panicked frenzy that cracked me wide open. I could not breathe. The familiar black opal necklace with its heavy chain stared back at me, the myriad colors winking wildly. My skin snapped in recognition. Heat crackled in my core.
Fell’s necklace. Last seen around Fell’s neck. Itbelongedon Fell’s neck. Not here.
That first day in the pride, when Fell had left me to follow the command of whatever demon demanded he go visit the site of his mother’s death, the black opal had left with him.
So why is it here? Among Vetr’s things?
My vision blurred as I looked down at the vibrant stone. I lowered my fingers to touch the necklace, stopping when I realized how badly they trembled. Fear quickly flooded and filled the giant fissure inside me.
“I see you found it.”
17
TAMSYN
IWHIRLED AROUND, MY FINGERS CLOSING TIGHTLY ON THEnecklace, clenching it in my trembling fist as I faced Vetr. I didn’t hear him enter. Not the whisper of the door hanging. Not the fall of his footsteps.
There was only the pounding of my heart in my ears as I lifted my hand, the thick, dark chain dangling between my fingers. “What is this doing here?” My voice emerged calm and dulcet despite the vague warning pumping through me, cautioning me to tread carefully—despite the fire sputtering to life inside me, looking for release, as always, ready to defend, to attack.
Vetr’s expression emptied. I could read nothing of his thoughts, but his voice echoed in my ears.I see you found it.
There had been no denial. No explanation. No worry or regret at my discovery.
“Why do you have this?” I pressed, waiting for a logical reason to put me at ease and douse the rank taste of fear steeping my mouth. I glanced back to the chest. “Why was this buried at the bottom of your things?”
Instead of answering my question, he countered, “What are you doing in my den?”
I came here to seduce you.I shook my head, choking on that now shameful, stomach-churning truth that I would never dare admit.
Eyeing him warily, I said, “It doesn’t matter.”
A shadow passed over his features like a roiling storm cloud. He moved in closer, a mountain with legs, encroaching on my space.“You’ve never once stepped foot in here before … Now you’re here and looking through my things?”
