“This is Alun,” said Kai.
Al nodded again, with more of his usual warmth this time.
“My cousin Oswalt,” Kai went on.
Os closed his mouth, and as an afterthought, bowed his head.
“And this is–”
“Eda?”
Kai turned as swiftly as the depths would allow. The Merrow man had drifted closer and now clung to a length of chain, arms cording with restraint as he leaned as far over the boundary as his reach permitted. His eyes were gleaming, wider and blacker than ever; why that expression made him seem so human, Kai could not explain, even to himself.
“It is. It’syou.Eda,” he said again, and his voice filled their heads with its unreadable hush.
Kai turned once more to watch as Eda’s narrowed eyes grew wide, her brow softening and lifting, lips parting in a soundlessOh. Time stilled in the thick and endless moment it took for her trembling hand to rise, faltering once, twice, before finally resting loose around her collar.
“Daithí?”
Chapter Ten
Adeline
Tell me it’s not over.
Adeline woke constantly, Kai’s words weaving through her head before she’d even fully surfaced from sleep.
No matter what we are to each other.
She slept for all of two hours, sprinkled in twenty-minute intervals throughout the night, until the shadows melted away and birdsong played a harmony to her own thoughts.
Tell me it’s not over.
She could not stop thinking about it, about his face as he’d said it. About the reply she wished she’d given, and the courage she couldn’t quite muster. About the kiss.
Goddess above, thekiss.
Adeline lay in bed, eyes closed against the pink flood of morning sunlight and Kai’s expression imprinted beneath her lashes. The furrow of his brow as he’d stared down at her mouth, eyes bright with singular focus.
I’m going to kiss you.
A knot of heat had burst in her chest at that moment, and the memory of it flooded her now, an echo of its warmth pooling in her belly. She rolled to her side, curling in around the warmth like she could trap it; keep it. Savour it, because the Daughters only knew when she’d find it again.
You could find it now,said her own voice in her head. It was small; muffled by something she couldn’t quite name, but the thought came to her all the same.You could findhim. What’s stopping you?
She sat up, and her heart swooped, forgotten on the mattress for a moment before it snapped, thrumming back to her chest. Shecouldfind him. Whatwasstopping her? She was not, after all, a Senior Royal to this court—noranyoneof consequence really. She had no training to get to, no public court to lead, no Council meeting to attend, nobody expecting a single thing from her.
She had no purpose at all.
That thought came with a bitter aftertaste, but Adeline swallowed it back. She kicked away the covers before she could doubt herself and swung out of bed. Eventually, for better or for worse, she would be home in the Silver Kingdom with her comforts and routine, and all of her various obligations—she was going to seize this temporary freedom while she could. She was going to find him.
Adeline tried to dress quickly, but her trunk had been unpacked by the time she got back to her rooms last night, and it took her far too long to find her way around the broad, bright alcove that served as a dressing room. All of her own clothes were tucked into the back rails, behind rows and rows of light, embroidered tunics and dresses like the one she’d found laid out on her bed the night before. Despite the prickle of irritation burning up her neck, Adeline told herself it wasnotpettiness that had her reaching for a too-thick day dress from the farthest rail. She needed a comfort, a small piece of home.
She was immediately sweltering.
Pettiness aside, changing was out of the question; as she’d discovered last night, the tunics, with their thin fabric and straight silhouettes, did not have pockets. Sheneededpockets.
She’d read the letter, finally, after talking to Kai on the balcony.
