Page 136

After a moment, Eagan lets the silence close without pushing. He doesn’t believe me. I can feel it in the way his attention lingers before he shifts his weight and looks toward the door. But he lets me keep the lie, and I am grateful for it because I don’t know how to explain the knot that has settled in my stomach.

Arlo was on the ship, and I haven’t seen him since he was marched off by one of the guards. I haven’t heard his name or caught a glimpse of his face since. He could be in the labor camps. He could be in the lower quarter. He could be anywhere on this island . . . or maybe he didn’t make it through the night.

Dark thoughts swirl, my stomach knotting. I have no way of knowing because I haven’t asked. Because asking means admitting that I’ve been thinking about him, and thinking about him means confronting the fact that the last time I saw him, he told me he loved me, and I didn’t say it back.

I’m going to find him. I’m going to make everything okay again.

I just have no idea how.

CHAPTER 44

• Alessia •

I’M KEEPING BUSY in the ballroom infirmary when Kylian fills the doorway.

The first thing that crosses his face when his eyes find me is relief. Pure, unguarded relief that floods his features then disappears. But I saw it.

“You left the room, alone,” he says.

“I’m not alone now.” I gesture to the room without looking away from him. Forty beds. A dozen vampire caretakers. An entire population of witnesses to the fact that I am both accompanied and perfectly fine.

His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t argue. I can see the moment he decides that fighting me on this in a room full of his people is not worth the energy. He steps inside, moving with fluid predatory grace that makes every human in the room go still. His presence changes the atmosphere.

I turn back to my work because looking at him too long does things to my pulse that I refuse to acknowledge in public. My hands are moving automatically, eyes checking the color of the cloth I’m peeling from feverish skin, but in each flushed face, I see my sister’s rosy cheeks staring back at me. I know she isn’t here, but my heart searches for her eyes on their faces anyway.

My body is insanely aware of every movement Kylian makes around the room, pacing, mumbling to some of the patients as he passes, and stopping to help a young boy sit up to eat. My guilt doubles as I think of Arlo. Still missing. Still severely hurt. So close but still so far away.

When Kylian glances my way, there’s a fond, easy smile that nearly cripples me. For the first time, I feel the full weight of the bond as it urges me closer, and I’m thinking of another man.

I press the fresh compress against a little boy’s forehead and secure it. I am reaching for my tincture when new footsteps echo from the corridor.

A man appears in the doorway, broad-shouldered and rigid in his dark uniform. I recognize him from yesterday, the general Kylian called Garret, who looks so much like Eagan. His face is tight.

“My king.” Garret’s gaze flicks between Kylian and me. “We need to speak. Now.”

Kylian doesn’t move. “Speak.”

Garret hesitates, but Kylian’s expression doesn’t waver. He steps closer, his voice dropping so low that only Kylian and I can hear. “We’ve caught two spies. It appears they’re from Emberfall.”

“Dragon or human?” Kylian asks.

“Dragon, my king. Definitely Draven’s men. They were found on the eastern cliffs near the collapsed piers, watching the island.”

Kylian’s stillness deepens. The kind of stillness that precedes violence.

“How long were they watching?” His voice is barely above a whisper, the threat in it makes the hair on my arms rise.

“We don’t know. Days, possibly. The guards found them because of another matter.” Garret swallows. “The fishermen’s patrol spotted something on the northern rocks this morning. Two figures, not human, not any species we have stationed here. They were pulling themselves onto the rocks from the water. When the patrol approached, they vanished beneath the surface.”

The silence that follows is absolute.

“Sirens,” Kylian says.

“The fishermen described scales along the arms and throat. Webbed hands.” Garret’s jaw works. “We have confirmation, my king. The siren kingdom survived. And they’re coming onto land. The fact we’ve spotted them and caught some of Draven’s men can’t be a coincidence,” he says. Garret’s gaze flicks to me as I step closer. He falls silent for a moment, watching me warily like he isn’t sure what he can say in front of me.

“Alessia, this is Garret, Eagan’s brother,” Kylian says, which explains the uncanny resemblance between the two. Garret nods once when Kylian speaks again. “Garret, meet Alessia, my bond.” Upon hearing that, Garret bows. My face heats with embarrassment as I fight the urge to tell him to stand properly.

“Forgive me, my queen,” he blurts.