A long, low bellow from a particularly irritating sailor—Pike, whom Kai was unfortunatelywellacquainted with—drew Oswaltto his feet before Kai even realised they were docking. It was difficult to rise. His body was stiff with the cold that still radiated out from the pendant around his throat, and his muscles ached with that particular strain of moving through water, an effort they hadn’t exerted in several long lifetimes. But Kai struggled to his feet, grabbing at the railing for support and wincing all the way up; and when he caught sight of the dock, all his discomfort melted away like frost beneath the midday sun.
Because there, staring up at the ship with round, brown eyes, was Adeline.
He was already halfway down the gangway before he noticed that there were others on the dock;importantothers. His sister, waving merrily at him, he realised with a stab of guilt, and the Empress Vanjir, somehow both poised and notably vibrating with anticipation. And even as he dimly decided that he shouldabsolutelygreet Ceri first, should brief his gracious host thereafter, Kai still found himself standing toe to toe with Adeline but a moment later, her head tilted back to peer up at him so that her curls rolled down her bare shoulders. The flush of the setting sun caught gold in her eyes and pink in her cheeks, and she smiled a soft smile.
“Hello,” said Adeline.
“Hello,” he returned, a little hoarsely.
“Oh,verynice,” said Ceri, at her side. “Walkedrightpast me, did you see that? I’m only his bloody sister.”
Kai tore his eyes away from Adeline, smiling now.
“Hello, Ceriwyn.”
She turned her nose up, sniffing primly. “Hello,formerbrother.”
Bur Kai could not bring himself to be too worried as she stalked off to greet Alun and Os. In truth, he was all worried-out after the day they’d had, and the sense of calm that settled over him as he let himself pore openly over Adeline’s face was irresistible.
“Your dress is very pretty,” he said, when it became necessary to saysomethingif he was going to continue staring at her like this.
She lit up and swayed her hips to send the soft-blue skirts swishing side to side, their embroidered hem lapping at her feet like seafoam.
“Thank you! I like your—”
She paused, starting a little as she took in his attire for the first time.
“You’re all wet,” she said, reaching out to pluck at his clinging shirt. Kai could not help the twitch of his lips at the way her cheeks suddenly blazed, her hand dropping as though he’d burned her.
“From the water,” he said pleasantly.
“Right.”
A beat of warm, shimmering silence.
“And you’re staring,” said Adeline.
“Yes,” he agreed.
Her lips rolled in, that familiar expression that told him she was biting back a smile.
“I was looking for you,” she said.
“You were?”
She nodded, curls bouncing rather distractingly. He just about managed not to reach for one and pull it taut between his fingers.
“I thought we could talk.”
Kai’s heart gave an extremely juvenile flip.
“I’d like that.”
“Me too,” she said, very quickly indeed. “But—”
She glanced over her shoulder to where Eleni hovered, looking anywhere but directly at them, and plainly too close not to overhear every word.
“—when we’re next alone?”
