Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I have to get out of here before then. I’d prefer to take Evelyn with me, but she’s made her choice known. She’s staying to be part of this impossible battle. She’s a vicious fighter and more than capable of protecting herself, but there are limits to her magic resources. In a battle of attrition, she’s dead in the water.
It’s not my business. Not anymore. Maybe not ever. She was never really mine. There was a moment when she might have been, when I could see a future spinning out between us, but things ended before that nebulous fantasy could be realized. There’s no going back now.
Gods, I’m becoming as morose as my brother. Wolf pretends to be chaotic so that no one looks too closely at how deeply he feels every cut. It’s not a problem I shared with him until recently. I look forward to digging this new weakness out with my bare hands at the first available opportunity.
Putting some distance between me and Evelyn is the first step.
The hardest step, perhaps.
I barely wait for the first boat to be lowered into the water before I vault over the railing and descend to it. Nox is already aboard, and they raise their eyebrows at me. “Careful there, love. Someone might accuse you of running from something.”
“Shut up and row.” I belatedly register that the selkie is also aboard. Of course she is. Nox is determined to make her someone else’s problem, which means they won’t want her to linger on the ship. The selkie and I have that in common.
“And tear up these pretty hands?” They flutter their fingers. “I think not. Sit down.”
I almost keep standing just to avoid obeying their command, but a wave chooses that moment to rock the boat and remind me that I’m now inches from the water instead of yards. I sit too quickly to be perfectly nonchalant and dig my fingers into the wood of the bench seat I’m perched on.
The selkie is very pointedly not looking at me. Eyal and Bowen accompany us, which means I can relax a little. There’s few places safer in Threshold for Evelyn than the Audacity. I’m glad she’s staying behind. At least for this trip.
“Poet, you’re in charge, mate,” Nox calls. They raise their hands and a wave rises behind the boat, sending us skipping over the surface toward the beach.
My stomach sours and the bench creaks precariously beneath my grip. There’s no dock to speak of here, which gives me something to focus on beyond the possibility of drowning. The larger vessels that the Cŵn Annwn favor require deeper water, so they all approach the way we are now—by dropping anchor farther out and then using rowboats to reach shore. But I would have thought there would be local fishing boats at least. Most of the islands we’ve visited to date have done so.
Theoretically, those fishing boats could be used to hop to nearby islands, but one thing I’ve learned about Threshold is that most people won’t risk being caught on the open water by the Cŵn Annwn. There are too many stories about mistakes that result in locals being forced to take the vow and join a crew. The only exception is the trade ships that sail specific routs under the Council’s colors. But they’re just as bad as the fucking pirates. There was one at the last island we stopped at, and their “deals” were just short of highway robbery. Most of the people in that village couldn’t even afford the cheapest item.
Not that I care.
I don’t.
I’m not like Evelyn. I don’t have a heart just waiting to bleed out at the misfortune of others. She used to pretend that she didn’t feel that way, but being with Bowen has pushed that part of her to the forefront. It would be cute if it wasn’t so irritating.
“Don’t cause trouble, vampire.”
I swallow down a snarl and turn a carefully blank look on Bowen. “I’m not the one who has the potential to lose control of my power and murder an entire village. Worry about yourself.”
His jaw goes tight, but Nox makes a low sound in their throat. “Children. Behave in front of our guest.”
For her part, Maeve watches the interaction with interest . . . at least until she catches me looking. Then she turns away, refocusing on the beach.
We reach it shortly, Nox’s elemental powers guiding us up onto the rocks. They’re smaller on this beach than the one I first saw, more like pebbles than boulders. I look around slowly. I’m sure Evelyn would call it peaceful, enjoying the crash of the waves and the distant call of some kind of seabird, but it makes my skin crawl. I don’t trust the quiet. Too often, it precedes an ambush.
I follow the others off the beach to the dirt road that curves up the tiny hill that the village occupies. The sun hasn’t quite set, but lights are just starting to appear in windows of the buildings closest to us. I can’t tell if the lack of foot traffic is because they saw us coming or because it’s got to be close to the dinner hour.