“Hi, Odessa,” Meredy says softly, crossing to where I sit. She drops down beside me, taking my still-burning hands in her pleasantly cold ones. “Kasmira told me everything when I bumped into her at the boarding house—on my way to see you.” I’m momentarily stunned into silence as she continues, “I can’t believe I almost walked away from you again. I’m coming with you—to protect Valoria, of course, but also because I—I’m done fighting this, too. That’s what I was on my way to tell you.”
It’s only after nudging the crystal deeper under the bed with my foot—I don’t want Meredy to see it—that I find my voice. “Fighting... us? I’m glad, don’t get me wrong.” I pause, gazing steadily into her eyes, hoping she can see that I mean what I’m saying. “But I know how happy you are in Sarral. I saw it. And I know what you’ll be losing in skill if you don’t keep training with the beast masters here. I’d never want you to risk your happiness, let alone your safety. That’s why I didn’t tell you the news about Valoria.”
“What do you know about a beast master’s skill?” Gently, but firmly, Meredy adds, “I’ve learned plenty of new techniques already, and I’m confident in the progress I’m making. Besides, I know what youthoughtyou saw when you looked at me in Sarral. But you’re mistaken.” For reasons completely unknown to me, she smiles faintly as she rubs her thumb against my palm. “When Firiel died, and then Evander, too, I knew part of me was missing.” She leans closer, her breath spilling over my lips, making my own breathing quicken. “I found that part of myself again when I saw you at the palace in Grenwyr. Earlier tonight, you told me I deserve to be where I’m happiest, and—this is it. I’m only sorry that it took you almost leaving for me to realize it, but I’m happiest withyou. You’re my heart, Odessa.”
I put a finger to her lips as she tries to close the narrow space between us. I want her in my arms right now more than I’ve ever wanted anything, but there’s something I have to say first. “This is your one chance, so don’t be reckless. It’s just... if you’re even the least bit unsure, I’d rather you leave now, because my heart can’t take much more.”
Meredy gently lowers my hand, tangling her fingers with mine, and kisses me hard enough to steal my breath, erasing my thoughts of everything but her. “I had a chance to live in a place that celebrates beast masters, a place where I could have learned so much. But myheart choseyou, and I want to be by your side every day. So, since I’ll not be giving you up anytime soon, you should probably know that once I’ve made up my mind about something... well, Evander would have said I was stubborn.” She gives me a rueful smile. “I like to say I’m steadfast.”
“Do I get a few days to think it over?” I tease, struck by a rush of giddiness as she gently pushes me onto the bed, pinning my shoulders and hovering over me in response. “All right,” I gasp. “I accept!”
This is better than any late-night fantasy, the real Meredy on my bed, holding my gaze, her smile so open and inviting.
She traces a finger along the inside of my lower lip. That tiny gesture makes all the right places ache in new ways. “My girlfriend is so beautiful,” she murmurs. I push her hand away, impatient to join our lips again.
After all, we’ll be back in Karthia soon, and kissing Meredy gives me strength. I have a feeling I’ll need it, especially if Grenwyr City is restless and violent enough to attack its own queen with a Shade after experiencing firsthand how uncontrollable the monsters are.
Pushing back thoughts of what’s to come, I deepen our next kiss, my hands in her hair. “Mygirlfriend,” I say aloud, thrilled by the sound of those words.
Between kisses, I help Meredy pull off her blouse and her white cloth breastband, impatient to be joined with her body the way our hearts and minds are already bound. She pulls off my tunic and breastband next, throwing them down beside hers to make colorful puddles on the floor. I kiss the scar on her cheek in response, then run a finger along the jagged white line, memorizing its path from beneath her eye toward her jawline. My hands shake slightly as I touch her, like I can’t quite convince myself this is real, like I’m scared I’ll wake up any moment, alone and grasping at air.
“I’ve thought about this every night for a while now,” she whispers against my neck, grazing the tender skin there with her teeth and then kissing away the sting. The longer she talks, the more she touches me, the more I’m sure this is real.
“Me too,” I mutter, running my hands over every part of her—her back, her breasts, her stomach—learning by the quickening of her breath what she likes most. “But...” I hesitate, but then she kisses a particularly tender spot on my collarbone, and I know I’ll regret it if I don’t say something now. “I’ve never been with a girl before.”
My face radiates heat at the admission.
Meredy swiftly kisses each of the sparrows tattooed on the backs of my arms, then gives me a blazing smile. “That doesn’t scare me in the slightest. But if you want to stop, just say the word.” Her hand moves up my thigh, and unlike that night on the ship when she avoided my kiss, today she doesn’t shy away from what she really wants.
I arch my back, gasping against her lips as she kisses me while moving her hand higher, her fingers brushing inward.
“Take them off,” I demand, tugging at the buttons on my trousers.
She unfastens them at an agonizing pace, like she enjoys watching me writhe under her touch. And judging by the pink in her cheeks, she does. She leaves a trail of kisses down my stomach as she starts to slide my trousers maddeningly slowly down my hips.
“Meredy,” I growl, impatient and on fire. Even her name tastes sweet.
The cabin door flies open.
“Sparrow, I’m going to—whoa!” Kasmira shouts as Meredy and I pull a rumpled blanket up to hide our various stages of undress, both of us still breathing hard.
“What? Is Azelie pestering the crew or something?” I’m so outof it, still half in another world where only Meredy and I exist, that I don’t even know where my daggers are right now. On the floor, but hidden under my tunic, maybe. It’s all a blur.
The lantern on the floor rattles softly, and for the first time, I notice the faint, now-familiar motion of theParadisecutting through calm waters as it heads back to sea.
“Of course she is.” Kasmira looks worn already, which doesn’t bode well for the trip ahead. “But that’s not why I came down here. I’m about to speed our trip along with a bit of magic, and I need your help with something.”
“How soon can you get us there?” I ask. By my count, it took fourteen days to get from Karthia to Sarral, but that was with storms and our regrettable stop in Lyris.
Kasmira is silent a moment, only the whites of her eyes showing as she uses her Sight to check for storms in the day’s path. “Assuming nothing changes...” She pauses, opening her eyes again and holding my gaze. “We’ll reach Karthia in twelve days.Maybeeleven, if I never rest. That’s where you come in. If either of you see me pushing myself too hard, I need you to bring me back to the ground, so to speak. I’ve got to save some strength to help Valoria.”
“We’ve got your back. Promise.” I poke a hand out from the blanket to salute her. “Make the weather work for us, Captain.”
If there was ever a time to push the boundaries of our magic, it’s now, when Valoria needs us. If Shade-baiters aren’t afraid to make new monsters, they’ll have to answer to my blade and my dragon’s fiery breath right along with the Shades themselves.
“Already on it,” Kasmira says, raising one hand with her palm turned skyward. She flashes us a grin, but it falters as her hand starts to tremble. She mutters a curse, shoving the hand into one of her vest pockets, but too late.
Meredy and I exchange a worried look.
