I closed my eyes again, sure it was some kind of illusion. But when I opened them, he was still there, his hair ruffling in the breeze, his cerulean eyes watching me.
Eyes I would know anywhere.
Talin.
It was like seeing him for the first time. His gaze held mine, making me physically aware of every inch of my body. At Old Castle, we had promised we would see each other again, but even then I hadn’t fully believed it. And with every hour that passed in between, my doubt had only grown.
But he was in Varenia, wearing a white tunic tucked into black breeches and leather boots, once again completely overdressed for the environment. At least he’d left his doublet behind this time. If Talin was here, it could only mean that his mother was back in New Castle, that everything else was as it should be. Ceren really was dead, Zoi was alive and well, and Varenia was finally free.
And yet Talin did not look overjoyed to see me.
I slowly set the washing down and stepped toward him, unsure if I should smile when his expression remained so serious. “Talin,” I said, because hello seemed wholly inadequate under the circumstances.
“Nor.” He sighed heavily, as if he’d just remembered to breathe, and opened his arms for me.
Relieved, I ran to him, closing the space between us in just a few strides. He wrapped his arms around me, the warmth infinitely better than all the sunlight I’d just absorbed. I breathed in as deeply as I could and felt his chest rumble with laughter.
“What?” I leaned back to smirk at him. “You smell good.”
“So do you,” he said, pulling me closer. “I forgot just how good.”
For a moment, we stood in each other’s arms in silence, simply enjoying the feel of each other. But when he didn’t speak, I knew I would have to ask. “Why do I have a terrible feeling it’s not good news you’ve come to deliver?”
“I’m afraid it’s not,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “But it can wait for just a minute longer.”
I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the specter of whatever bad news had chased Talin here. “Zadie saw you, didn’t she?” I remembered the funny look on her face when she’d told me to come out and do the wash.
I could feel his jaw shift into a smile against the top of my head. “Yes. I hoped it was you, from a distance. But the way she placed both hands over her mouth when she saw me convinced me immediately it wasn’t.”
“Why? Too ladylike?”
“Something like that,” he murmured.
I punched him lightly in the side.
He let out a gentle oof, which was clearly feigned. “That’s more like it.”
I couldn’t decide if I wanted to pinch him or kiss him, and I suspected that was what he liked about me. From the moment he’d first seen me, sodden hair and clothing dripping water onto Governor Kristos’s floorboards, I’d been far from the model of feminine grace my mother had tried to mold.
“Don’t tell me you made it all the way from Ilara in that,” I said, noticing the prow of a small rowboat peeking out from below the balcony for the first time.
“My men have the ship. I thought it best if they waited farther out to sea.” He held up a finger at my confused expression. “I promise I’ll explain. Come on, you can show me how to wield the oars properly.”
“I should stay here. Most of the village doesn’t know I’m back yet.”
Now it was his turn to look at me askance. “We need to talk, Nor. Preferably alone.” He brushed my loose hair aside and kissed my neck, and just like that, I realized how badly I wanted time alone with him, too. It had been next to impossible to spend time together in Ilara, and now we had an entire ocean at our disposal.
“Of course,” I said, momentarily allowing my fears to recede into the background. “Come on.”
I rowed us far enough out that the odds of being discovered were slim. The water was a bit choppy and the horizon was thick with ominously dark clouds, but I kept the anchor up in case we needed to leave in a hurry. I sat on the bench next to Talin and let the rocking of the waves nudge me closer to him. The sleeves of his tunic were rolled up to the elbows, revealing tanned forearms corded with muscles. Hesitantly, I ran my fingers along the contours, still not quite believing he was real, and goose bumps erupted on his skin.
“I forgot about how ticklish you are,” I murmured.
When he smiled, my stomach fluttered. I’d also forgotten how he could make me lose my head with just a glance. Back in Ilara, my attraction to Talin had gotten me into trouble more than once. But out here, with no one around to judge me, I could indulge myself, just a little.
“What?” Talin asked.
I’d been staring. I didn’t care. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” He twined his fingers through mine, bringing our hands up to brush his lips softly against my skin. This time I was the one to shiver. “I was afraid you were suffering, but when I saw you on the balcony, dancing in the sunlight...”
I laughed. “That was not dancing. You caught me in a brief moment of indulgence. I’m still trying to get the cold from New Castle out of my bones.”
“But that’s just it, Nor. Even when everything around you is falling apart, you manage to find those moments of joy.”
I blushed and glanced away. “You’re giving me far too much credit. I have done more than my share of complaining, I assure you.”
I felt his finger curl under my chin, tugging it gently toward him. Slowly, I brought my eyes up to his. The last time I had seen Talin, everything had been urgent and desperate. I had just escaped New Castle, and he had revealed the secret of his mother and sister. And of course, I had stabbed Ceren. The world seemed far too complicated then.
But right now, it seemed so wonderfully simple. He tucked my hair behind my ears with callused fingers, cupping my face in his hands, and pressed a kiss to the scar on my right cheek. Then another, to my left cheek. I closed my eyes, dizzy with anticipation. “I’m so happy you’re here,” I murmured.
Talin’s grip tightened almost imperceptibly, and I felt him lean back. “Nor?”
I opened my eyes to see that all the joy had evaporated from his face. Nothing was simple, I reminded myself. Not when it came to us. “What is it, Talin?”
He shook his head. “I’m so sorry for what I’m about to tell you.”
My blood ran cold as he let his hands fall from my face, taking their warmth with them.
“Ceren is...” He swallowed thickly and forced himself to meet my eyes, though I could see it pained him. “My brother is still alive.”
3
A sick, sinking feeling pulled my stomach toward the ocean beneath us. No, no, no. I couldn’t accept that everything I’d sacrificed, everything I’d been through, had been for nothing.
“How?” I managed, my voice hardly more than a whisper.
Talin placed his hands firmly on my shoulders, grounding me. “You injured him gravely below the mountain. When his guards found him, they believed he was dead. They brought him up to his room, where the royal physician removed the knife. The wound had clotted around the blade. He was alive, but barely.”
“My blood,” I breathed. “It saved him.”
“Yes.”
Hot tears seeped out from between my closed eyes. All this time, I believed I had saved Ceren that day at the lake, only to kill him beneath the mountain. The truth was, I had stabbed Ceren, only for my own cursed blood to save him.
“There was a pearl in the hilt of the coral blade,” Talin said after a moment. “A bright red pearl, I’m told. Ceren had it ground down. He consumed that as well. It helped significantly. He healed in two days.”
The pearl had come from the oyster I’d been diving for the day of the incident, when I saved Zadie from drowning and sustained the injury that caused all of this. It made sense, I supposed. If a
pink Varenian pearl had strong healing properties, a pearl like the one in the coral knife must be even more powerful. I should have pulled the blade back out when I ran that night. He would have bled out faster, and he wouldn’t have had the pearl to help him heal.
Fear and anger built in my chest until I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. “Damn it!” I shouted, slamming my fists against the bench.
Talin’s grip on my shoulders never faltered. “I’m so sorry,” he said quietly. “So very, very sorry.”
I leaned forward and buried my face in his tunic. “I’m sorry,” I whispered against the soft fabric. “I should be grateful I don’t have his life on my conscience. But I can’t be.” My voice broke on a sob.
“He did unspeakable things to you, Nor. He brought all of his suffering on himself.”
I nodded, more to ease his pain than my own. It had been difficult enough believing I had killed Ceren. Now I had to process his survival.
“What’s going to happen?” I asked when my tears were spent.
Talin sighed heavily. “Ceren is King of Ilara.”
“And you?”
“I am a wanted man.”
My head jerked up. “What? Why?”
“For aiding a criminal.”
I laughed mirthlessly. “Me, I suppose.”
“I helped you escape,” he said. “Ceren sent his guards after me as soon as he could speak. Grig and Osius came with me. They’re on the boat, waiting.”
“Thalos,” I breathed. “And the rest of your men?”
“Most of them didn’t know that I’d helped you. I can only hope Ceren spared them.”
Fresh tears filled my eyes.
“It’s not your fault,” he insisted, taking my hand. “Even if I hadn’t helped you escape, I’m wanted for ‘conspiring with the woman king.’”
Woman king was a moniker people attributed to Talin’s mother, Talia, who had fled New Castle after Ceren tried to kill her. She’d later given birth to Zoi, Talin’s little sister, who was the rightful heir to the Ilarean throne and the true woman king. “He knows she’s alive?”
Talin nodded. “I had sent word to my mother immediately after you left. For two days we believed Ceren was dead, and my mother and her forces were nearly at the Linrose Lakes. Then Ceren made his miraculous recovery, and everything changed. I had no choice but to flee.”
How difficult it must have been, to get so close to victory, only to see it snatched away. “Where is your mother?”
“She halted her advance once she knew she wouldn’t be able to take the throne uncontested. Some of her troops are in Pirot, and others are back in the south, waiting for their next orders.”
I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. This was bad, but not as bad as it could have been. Talin was alive, and so were his mother and sister. There was still a chance to regroup and defeat Ceren.
“Does your brother know where you are?”
“Osius, Grig, and I were able to make it across the border into Pirot, thanks to the soldiers there. Ceren still believed Lord Clifton’s men were on his side. We lost Ceren’s guards. I assume he thinks I joined my mother’s army.”
I tensed at his words. “But he might guess you came to Varenia, which means you aren’t safe.”
“And neither are you.”
A chill ran over my scalp. “What do you mean?”
“He’s told everyone you tried to kill him. There is a price on your capture, and mine.”
I remembered Ceren’s face when I stabbed him, his jaw drenched in blood, his eyes burning with sheer hatred. Even before that, my choices had been to marry him or die. “Is he coming after me?”
“I imagine he will, eventually. He’s too busy preparing in case my mother decides to mobilize her army again.”
I nodded, but I was lost. What was I going to tell Governor Kristos? What was he going to tell the council?
“Why did you come here?” I asked. “Why didn’t you join your mother and sister? You could have had an entire army between you and your brother.”
“I had to warn you about Ceren. And I can’t go to my mother yet, not without reinforcements. Her army is large, but it’s not skilled enough to mount an attack on New Castle.” He took my hands in his, running his thumbs along my skin. “Besides, I needed to see you again.”
I couldn’t help smiling at that. “I’m not happy that you put yourself at risk, but I suppose I can’t be mad at you, either.”
His grip tightened. “Will you come with me, Nor?”
I blinked at the urgency of his request. “What?”
“I know you just got back, but we shouldn’t stay in Varenia. It’s not safe for either of us, and I fear by remaining here, you could put your family in danger as well. We’ll find more troops and join my mother in the south.”
I had already been preparing myself to leave Varenia to look for Sami, but only because I believed my family would be safe and I would be able to go on land without fear of reprisal. With Ceren alive, I no longer had those assurances. My heart began to race as my ribs constricted around my lungs, making it a struggle to draw a full breath. No matter what I did, the people I loved would be in danger. “Gods, this is impossible!”
“I know things look dire right now, but we’ll think of something. Together.” Talin pulled me closer, but even though I knew the gesture was intended to be comforting, I found myself more desperate for release.
I shrugged him off as delicately as I could. “I just...need a moment,” I panted, and without another word, I plunged off the side of the boat.
The cold water helped immediately. Within a few seconds, my heart rate slowed as my body instinctively prepared for a dive, and my thoughts began to settle. Talin was right. We’d figure out a way to fix things, together.
I had just closed my eyes to rest for a few more moments when a strange light flashed across my vision. I opened my eyes, afraid lightning had struck the water, but the ocean was gone. I was staring at a man wearing a dark metal crown studded with red stones. He was facing away from me, but I would have recognized his long white-blond hair anywhere. Ceren.
He was in his study, surrounded by vials and flasks. Slowly, he turned toward me, until I was looking directly at his face. His gray eyes widened, almost as if he was seeing me, too. And then I saw the blood on his pale mouth.
I gasped, inhaling seawater, and the vision vanished. I raced toward the sunlight above me, sputtering as I broke free of the surface.
I reached for the boat as I retched up water and bile, but my hands met empty air. The untethered boat must have drifted while I was under. I spun in a slow circle, trying to get my head above the waves, but I couldn’t see Talin anywhere. I ducked back under for a better view, and that was when the first hint of panic crept in. There was no sign of the boat anywhere.
“Talin!” I shouted when I resurfaced, even though I knew how easily sound could be lost on the water. Talin wouldn’t have left me. The idea was absurd. I must have drifted farther than I realized. The vision had only seemed to last a few seconds, but it could have been much longer.
“Talin!” I called again. There was nothing out here, no way to orient myself. Treading water seemed safer than trying to swim toward a boat that could be anywhere. Talin would have a better idea of where I’d gone than I did.
Unless he wasn’t looking for me.
Unease tugged at the corners of my mind. What if Talin hadn’t come to Varenia just to be with me? What if he hated me for allowing Ceren to live, twice? What if he thought my blood was the reason his mother was still in exile, rather than on her throne?
Pain pulsed in my rib cage as my muscles began to spasm. I was being ridiculous. I was the one who had jumped out of the boat, and Talin would be a fool to abandon his only guide back to land. He didn’t know the first thing about navigating in the ocean.
The blood drained from my face. Talin knew nothing about the ocean. And no one else knew where I was.
Just as another stab of pain went through me, something grabbed my shoulder from behind. I screamed, inhaling another lungful of seawater, and found myself being pulled backward.
Into a boat.
“Good gods,” Talin cried, looking down at me with sunlight surrounding him like a halo. “I thought I’d lost you! You were under for so long, and when I went in after you, you were gone.”
“You—you what?” I sat up and took in his soaked clothing, his dripping hair.
“What happened, Nor? I was terrified!” He rubbed his hands on my arms, attempting to warm me.
“I’m so sorry. The current must have been stronger than I realized. And when I was coming up, I had a...”
His grip tightened in concern. “A what?”
A vision? It sounded like nonsense, even to me. It could have just as easily been a dream or hallucination. Maybe I’d been unconscious for a minute or two. “I don’t know. It was as if I blacked out for a moment. But maybe it was longer than I realized.”
“It must have been,” he said, smoothing my wet hair off my forehead. “We should get back. You clearly need to rest. We’ll get some food into you and warm you up.”
I nodded, hoping he was right and I was simply exhausted and overwhelmed. But the vision had seemed so real. When Ceren turned to me, I could have sworn he saw me.
I shook the thought away and sat up a little in Talin’s lap. I hated myself for doubting him, even if I had been momentarily lost at sea.
I rowed us back home, allowing the rhythm to settle my frayed nerves. But all too soon the house came into view, and we both knew that after we stepped inside, there would be no going back.
I reached up to tuck a sun-kissed strand of hair behind his ear. No matter what happened, I was glad he had come.
“I wish I could make this easier for you,” he said, his voice so earnest it made my heart ache.
But he couldn’t make any of this easier. He couldn’t change the fact that Ceren was alive or give Varenia enough fresh water to ensure no one would die of thirst this month. He couldn’t make any promises, and neither could I.
Kingdom of Sea and Stone Page 3