“I am the Devil, of course.” He winked and she looked as though she might faint.
After making the sign of the Holy Family on her chest, she turned back to me. “May…please come home…”
“The Ardenisher home,” Devil growled, and I put a hand on his elbow.
“Locksley is my home too,” I said, “but I’m sorry, Sissi, I cannot come back. The Arden needs me, and I would only be putting you in danger. I can do more good outside these walls now.”
“I will not pretend to understand what has happened to you,” said Sissi with a deep, shaky breath as she walked across the room to fold my hands between hers. “I am not certain I want to know. I would only ask that, no matter where you go, you remember how loved you were—how loved you still are—by us, and by the Holy Family.” She grabbed me into a desperate embrace, as if trying to keep me there, and I allowed her to hold me for a full minute before gently pulling away.
“When it is safe again, I’ll come back to visit,” I said, brushing a single tear from her pale cheek. “And I’ll help in the garden, and I’ll eat every ounce of saffron you have.”
Sissi gave a weak laugh and tucked my hair back again. “If ever I had to make a faerie bargain, that would be it…something to bring you home again.” She placed a kiss on my forehead, then stood back and looked at Tuck.
“I’ll escort you out,” he said, hand going automatically to the pommel of his sword. I gave Sissi one more brief kiss on the cheek, then followed Tuck into the corridor with Devil behind me. All through the Abbey, we were silent, on alert for the sound of approaching footsteps. Once we made it onto the grounds without meeting anyone, Devil and I pulled our hoods up and made our way through the almost-moonlit garden. Tuck put his head out the back gate first, scanning for the Iron Fist, then ushered us through and closed it.
“Give us a moment,” I said to Devil, who just grunted, pulled the longbow off his back, and moved away to stand watch. When I turned back to Tuck, he was smiling, but he also looked more afraid than I’d ever seen him.
“Do you know why I chose the name Marina?” he asked, voice tight with repressed emotion. “The day I found you?”
“Because my eyes reminded you of—”
“No.” He shook his head. “It was because when I picked you up the first time, out there on the steps, you looked at me like I’d done you some offense. Then you wailed, woke up every Sister in the Abbey, and I thought ‘here is a girl who will take up space, who will never let people forget what she is, and what she can do…just like the sea’.”
“Tempestuous,” I said with a grin. “Merciless from the very start.”
“And yet still, people seek her out. They are drawn to her. They rely on and respect her.” He put a finger over my heart. “Donotforget who you are, Marina of Locksley—who you have always been. No matter what the Arden has given you, no matter what you find there, remember yourself. Promise me.”
My words fought their way out past the lump in my throat. “I promise.”
Tuck’s eyes flickered over to Devil, and his easy smile returned. “That creature, whatever he is, loves you very much.”
“Does he?” I laughed softly. “I hardly noticed.”
“And you…”
I dropped my eyes and murmured, “I am more myself now, with him, than I have ever been. I would not trade that feeling for anything.”
“Go, May,” Tuck said, holding my face between his hands for a moment. “Be happy. I will see you again when it is safe.”
With only a murmured word of thanks, I walked away. Away from Tuck, from Sissi, and from Locksley, praying desperately that it would not be the last time.
Chapter forty-four
Bluffing & Cheating
By the time Deviland I appeared on the balcony of my room, I was close to collapsing from exhaustion. He cast a soft glow around the room, then stoked the fire back up while I shed my cloak and sat to untie my boots. A dinner tray waited on my desk—the pumpkin and chestnut soup long cold and the corn muffins already stale—but I had no appetite.
“I should go find Sir Toby,” Devil said, peering out into the gloomy forest. “Gods know what he’s gotten up to all day on his own.”
I fought back a yawn as I stood up. “He’s probably in the library with Oberon, and I ought to show my face anyway.”
“Do you want me to stay?” Devil asked, pausing just as he was about to take the quiver from his belt.
I pretended to think as I crossed the room and leaned against him. “I suppose I could use the warmth on such a cold night.”
“That’s all I am to you, isn’t it?” he teased, running his hands over my back. “A warm body and a skilled tongue.”
“Hmm…skilled?” I grinned and he playfully pushed me away, then landed a light slap across my buttocks when I turned toward the door. Thankful he couldn’t see the rush of heat to my face, I smiled like a fool all the way up the stairs. When I came to the library door, I took a deep breath and attempted to school my face before entering.
