I peer up at him and, for a moment, I believe him.
Then I take a step back, very aware that we’re standing awfully close and I just spent the past few minutes throwing up.
“Will you tell me about her?”
I step back, dropping onto the side of the bed as he takes a seat beside me.
“We’re not actually born with our skin,” I tell him. “It just appears one day when we’re old enough to be able to take care of it.” Not that I did a good job of that.
“How old were you?”
“Eleven, maybe twelve,” I say. “My mother and I were living just outside of this little commune close to the northern sea border. There was never enough food, and my mother was getting increasingly irritated that we couldn’t travel by sea. And then one day, I woke up and my sealskin was right there. I remember the exact feeling when I first slipped it on and met Noush. It was this instant connection as if we were both saying, ‘Oh, hello, I know you’.”
My eyes meet Aster’s for a moment before I have to look away. It wasn’t too different from how it felt when Aster first touched my skin. That instantaneous moment of connection.
It was a little different with Kit, since I already knew him. With him, it felt more like things were clicking into place and that the trust I’d put in him over the past couple of years was suddenly starting to make sense.
“Noush has always been braver than me. She’s also more fun than I am. According to her, I spend too much time worrying about food, money and shelter. Boring things, you know?” I swallow hard. “Anyway, right now, it feels a bit like I’m missing a limb. I keep going to put my socks on and then I realise that there’s no foot there.”
Aster gives a small smile, pressing a light kiss to the top of my head.“Was the commune you lived outside close to a place called Little Wyverton?”
You’d think it would be harder to track back through two decades of travelling from place to place, but that one sticks in my brain like a thorn in my heel.
“Yes.”
His expression has my stomach flipping over itself.“I know it. I think the commune you lived near was close to our farm. They didn’t last more than a couple of years before they moved on, but we used to sell them eggs.”
It takes a moment for his words to sink in. “You mean we could have met back then or seen each other in passing without realising?” I reply. “Do you think we’d have recognised each other?”
Probably not, since I didn’t fully recognise Kit until he touched Noush’s sealskin.
Aster gives a half shrug, his eyes darting away from mine.“Who knows?”He squeezes my hand. “We’ll find her. I don’t know what good I can do. But I’ll do anything I can to find her and your other mate, and we’ll get them back safely.”
And once again, I find myself believing him. Something about the deliberate way he traces every letter and the earnest look on his face has me trusting his words.
“You should be a healer, or a midwife.”
He gives me a bemused smile, holding out his hand, one finger up before slipping out of the room. Meanwhile, I slump down with my head in my hands, groaning.
I don’t move from my position, but before I know it, something cool and damp is touching my forehead. I blink my eyes open right as Aster presses a cloth to my forehead. He places the tray of food beside me with a questioning look.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you ill? Seasick?” Torin’s voice has my head jerking up.
“What did you do to her?” This last part is directed at Aster, who understandably gives no reaction.
“He didn’t do anything. Keep your hair on, Grandma.” I turn back to Aster. “Did you really have to bring him with you?”
“I had no choice,”Aster replies, trailing the words gently over the top of my hand. “He was right outside.”
Torin snorts. “You think he had a choice? I saw him sneaking food and decided to follow. Good job I did, since he can’t exactly sound the alarm if there is something seriously wrong with you.”
“I’m fine,” I grunt, taking a long swig of the water Aster is holding out to me.
“You don’t look fine,” Torin replies. “You look like death.”
“And I thought we were getting on so well.” I eye him up and down, looking for something I can nitpick about his appearance, but he looks irritatingly put together. From the long dirty blonde hair tied up behind his head, which could look ridiculous but somehow combined with his size just makes him look like a legendary warrior.
“Well, good thing you’re feeling hunky-dory—” Torin says, determinedly ignoring my amused snort.
