I want him to continue, to feel he can trust me, but I’m scared to push too hard.
Avery stretches out on the loamy soil, getting comfortable for an evening under the stars. “Mother’s death was…well, it was fast. She was healthy one day and then gone the next. Horrible. After, Father just closed up.
“Elizabetta needs him, but he refuses to take her to sea with him anymore, says it’s no place for a girl—won’t allow me to take her either. For the last three years, she’s been stuck with Grandmother, who isn’t the most pleasant person.”
“Like her brother?” I mutter, thinking of the senior Lord Thane.
Avery laughs. “That’s right. You’ve had dealings with my great uncle, haven’t you?”
“He hates me.”
The captain rolls over to look at me. “My mother would have loved you—she was spirited, just like you are. Never took no for an answer, did as she pleased.” He grins. “She drove Grandmother mad. I think the only thing she did right in Grandmother’s eyes was marry Father.”
Around us, the birds have settled for the night, and the quiet hum of insects is in the breeze. It’s still warm, especially with the fire.
“Why’s that?”
Avery rolls his eyes. “He’s the Earl of Mardin. What more could you want?”
“Is that why she married him?”
He laughs and finds my eyes. “They married for love.”
The way he’s looking at me makes me hot and cold at the same time. It sends shivers up my spine, makes me feel weightless. I decide it’s time to change the subject.
“How old is Elizabetta?”
“She’s thirteen now.”
That means she was only ten when their mother died. The thought makes me sad.
Avery changes the subject, and we talk late into the night. When the fire is nothing but red coals, and we’re out of the wood we gathered, we finally drift to sleep.
The next few days follow the same pattern as the first. We rise in the morning, eat a bit of the dried meat in our packs and fresh fruit from the trees, and we walk. I gather things as we go, and we share stories and bits of our lives.
Just after midday on the fourth day, we reach the lake. There’s a flock of white sea birds in the water, standing in the shallows just down the beach. Glossy green and white swallows swarm above us, tiny acrobats in the sky. I watch them, intrigued as they dive toward the water, gathering insects from the surface.
I take a deep breath, smelling the scent of the water and the perfume of flowers blooming near the shoreline.
“I must keep reminding myself we are not here on holiday,” I tell Avery as I marvel at it all.
We are close to the southern edge of the island now, and I peer at the water cascading from the surface of the ocean. “Where does it go?”
Avery shakes his head. “I have no idea, but it must not be that deep if we are able to swim through the tunnel.”
“It’s beautiful.”
He turns, and our eyes meet. “It is.”
According to his journal, the cavern where we’ll find the rubies is close by, but neither of us is in a hurry to find it. I toss away my pack and lie back on the soft white sand. It’s so hot it almost burns, but after hiking through the jungle for the last several days, the heat feels good on my muscles.
Avery lies down beside me, and we stare at the clouds as they pass over the sky and listen to the waves as they lap at the beach.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I say after a while.
“Mmmhmmm,” he answers, his voice heavy and half asleep.
I roll onto my stomach, closer to him, and prop myself up on my elbows. Because his eyes are closed, I study him, committing this time we’ve spent together to memory. He has one arm flung over his eyes, blocking the sun, and he looks carefree and content. My eyes move to his mouth, to the soft bow of his top lip. He hasn’t shaved since he’s been on the island, and thick stubble grows on his jaw. I wonder what it would feel like against my skin.
Softly, before I change my mind, I kiss him.
His eyes open in surprise, and he smiles against my lips. It’s a sweet kiss, gentle and slow. It’s also a peace offering, a silent vow that I truly, honestly forgive him for what he did months ago on that cold, deserted beach in the Grenaldian Wildlands. I forgive him for taking the orchids, I forgive him for lying, and mostly—I forgive him for leaving.
The kiss lingers. It’s long and lazy and perfect. It warms my heart like the sun warms my skin. For the first time in my life, I feel truly cherished just as I am.
But then Avery growls softly and gently pushes me back. I blink at him.
He sits up and runs his hand up the back of my neck, to my hair, then he winds his fingers through the strands. He looks far too serious, and that worries me.
“What’s wrong?” I whisper.
Avery rubs his chest. “I feel remorse.”
I would laugh at the confused expression on his face, but I don’t understand what he’s trying to say. “Is this new for you?”
“Yes.” He laughs quietly and continues to run his fingers through my hair. “I think I’m finally sorry I took the orchids.”
“You are?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“It was selfish. I was selfish. I liked you then, Lucia. But in the last month, that affection has grown. The thought of you with someone else—it kills me. But it’s not about me, and I didn’t understand that before. It’s about you. More than anything, I want you to be happy.” He lets out a slow breath. “Even if that makes me unhappy.”
I trace his jaw and raise an eyebrow, not quite believing this new charitable side of him. “And if I’m happy with Sebastian?”
He groans, disgusted. “Let’s not go making any rash decisions. Think about it for a while.”
I laugh and yank him to his feet, hoping to conceal the fact that my heart is racing. “Look at us, lying around all afternoon. We have a ruby to find.”
We brush off the sand, and Avery consults the diary. He points to the west, toward a cliff of white rocks along the shore. “Lead the way.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Watch Your Step
It should be difficult to find the ruby. After all, it’s the most infamous type of jewel in the world. So I’m a bit skeptical when we find hundreds of them winking in the low light of the shallow cavern.
“Those can’t be the rubies,” I say as I look at the jewels that appear to be as common as quartz in this part of the sea.
It seems too easy, too anticlimactic.
Avery frowns, pulls my dagger from its hilt—without asking first, I might add—and pries one of the stones from the wall nearest us. “I’m afraid it is.”
I take the stone from him and hold it up to the light. It’s the deepest red, and it would be wildly expensive in Kalae. At its center is a tiny sapphire so brilliant, it practically glows.
“It’s so strange that they’re just here for the taking.”
“Yes, it’s a corundum.” Avery flashes me a grin, proud of himself for the play on words.
I shoot him a look. “That’s possibly the worst mineral-related joke I’ve ever heard.”
“Really? Have you heard many?”
Choosing to ignore him, I say, “This one’s too small. We need one that’s more impressive for the duke.”
Avery flips the dagger and offers me the hilt. “Choose the ones you want first, and then pick something from the leftovers for Eldemyer.”
I lick my lips, trying not to be greedy. It’s not that the thought of taking some for myself hasn’t crossed my mind; it’s that there’s no way I could sell them in my usual circles. They’re contraband from a forbidden island that, as far as the king is concerned, might as well not even exist.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t have one for a souvenir, something just for myself. Just to remember.
“I only want this one,” I tell him, pocketing the one he just gave me.
“Take ten of these, Lucia, and you
will be as rich as the king himself. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Avery pins me with his eyes. “Do you understand that? Everything you want, everything you’ve ever wanted, is attainable with enough money. The wall you’ve been trying to scale your entire life has a gate in it. These are the key.”
We both know what he’s saying. If I take these, I can buy my way into the nobility. And then, maybe Sebastian will finally want me.
“Why aren’t you taking any?” I ask.
He glances at the wall, and just like me, I know he wants to. But he shakes his head. “My wall can’t be opened with jewels.”
I stare at the rubies for a long, long time. I find the largest, most garish jewel of them all and pry it from its resting spot. “This should make the duke happy.”
Then I turn to leave.
“Lucia!” Avery cries, truly frustrated with me. “Aren’t you going to take any?”
I turn back. “If I must toss money at it, maybe I’m attempting to scale the wrong wall.”
Before he can argue, I step into the sunshine and make my way back to the beach. A few moments later, Avery joins me. Out on their peninsula, the wyverns bask in the sun. Like their dragon cousins, they won’t bother us if we don’t bother them, though I am surprised they haven’t staked a claim on the rubies.
“They’re nesting,” Avery says when he follows my gaze to the beasts. “Too busy to be bothered with their cavern.”
“Perhaps they’re the reason it was so easy. Those who have dared venture in have not been able to linger.”
“Perhaps.”
We leave the beach, leave the wyverns and the birds and the beautiful white sand. Our conversation isn’t as easy as it was on the way to the lake. I think over everything Avery said, repeat it over and over in my head. I’m so deep in thought that I allow myself to be lulled by the beauty of the island, and I stop watching our surroundings.
“Are you hungry?” Avery glances over, and then his eyes narrow at the ground. He lunges to my side, grabbing my arm, trying to pull me away from something. “Lucia, don’t—”
Too late. We’re both caught in a rudimentary net trap, lifted right off our feet, smashed together. I gasp, startled to find myself swinging above the ground.
“Are you all right?” Avery demands, already running his hands over my face and arms, checking that I am whole.
I bat his hands away, irritated. “Stop that. Of course I’m all right.”
We’re crushed together, and my leg is twisted at a funny angle. I try to move it, but the net simply moves with me. I grunt, attempting to shift, but I only manage to press myself closer to Avery’s chest.
“I don’t think that’s working,” Avery says directly in my ear.
He doesn’t do it on purpose; it’s just the way we’re situated, but a familiar and delicious chill runs up my spine. What an inconvenient, yet irrefutably delightful, predicament we’ve found ourselves in.
Giving up on my leg, I turn to Avery, which ends up in me pressing my cheek against his. “I think this solves the dilemma of whether there are native people on the island.”
Lowering his voice, probably not trying to sound all dark and throaty, the captain says, “I think you’re right.”
Shivers, lots of shivers.
“I suppose we should cut ourselves out of here before our pint-sized captors come looking for us.” I try to reach for my dagger, but my belt’s shifted, and the hilt is behind me. I can’t twist enough to pull it out. “I don’t suppose you can reach my blade?”
Avery angles forward as I lean toward him in an attempt to make his task easier. I clench my eyes shut when his breath whispers across the back of my neck. He struggles for several long, tortuous moments before he manages to clasp hold of the hilt.
“Give me a little more,” he says.
I press toward him, looking over his shoulder, and end up staring at the exposed skin just above his shirt’s neckline. Despite his tan, after walking for days in the sun, the back of his neck is red. “You’re a bit burned.”
He only grunts in reply.
“Does it hurt?” I ask.
“It feels warm,” he says, distracted.
Curious, without a thought in my head, I brush my lips over his skin to see how hot he is. It’s at that exact moment, Avery tenses against me and something clatters to the ground.
Embarrassed, I turn my head the other way. “I don’t suppose that was the dagger?”
“It was.”
Helplessly wrapped up in each other, we stay quiet for several long minutes. My heart races, and I try to control my breathing so he won’t know.
“Perhaps you can explain something for me,” Avery finally says.
I try very hard to concentrate on my numb leg and not on Avery’s breath in my ear. “Hmmm?”
“Why is it that when, for the first time in my life, I attempt to take the chivalrous route, we end up like this?” He says it like it’s a joke, but his words are strained.
“That’s a good question—one I don’t have the answer to. But perhaps you can explain something to me?”
“Hmmm?” he hums.
More shivers.
“Why is that after all your months of talk and bravado, we find ourselves in this sort of predicament, and you’re playing question games?” I realize as I say the words that I’m extremely frustrated. Maybe even a little angry. “Tell me, Avery. Do you want me or not? Because, if you’ll notice, I’m not exactly resisting—”
Sadly, before I can complete my sentence, we find ourselves tumbling to the ground. I fall on my tailbone—hard. I gasp, partially because of the shock of the fall, but mostly because while we were so preoccupied, we failed to notice that visitors arrived.
Men surround us—full-grown, big and brawny men. They wave their spears in our direction, speaking a language I have never heard. Their skin is the darkest caramel, and they wear their hair long and braided. Unlike some of the natives on the islands we visited on our way to Grenalda, they don’t wear any ornamental jewelry, and they are clothed in short trousers and nothing else. Honestly, if they weren’t terrifying, I’d probably stop to ponder my good fortune.
They’re gorgeous, every one of them.
One comes forward, waving his spear and jerking his chin upward.
“I think they want us to stand,” Avery says as he pulls me to my feet.
The group talks, all of them staring at us with suspicion and maybe a little fear.
“What do they want from us?” I ask Avery, fearing the worst. Knowing our recent luck, we’ve probably stumbled on a tribe of cannibals.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
The apparent leader, a man who’s likely in his late twenties, steps in front of me and slowly lowers his spear. He offers a small smile and bows his head.
At a loss, I mimic the movement, hoping I won’t accidentally offend him. He says several words, slowly so I might comprehend him, but I understand none of them. I smile anyway.
He smiles back in a universal way that doesn’t require interpretation. Men are men in any language, and this one appears to be as charming as the captain at my side.
“I don’t like him,” Avery says dryly.
I laugh, and the other men lower their spears.
Moving slowly so they don’t think I’m drawing a weapon, I reach into my pack and shuffle through my charms. When I find the right one, I put the rest away.
“What are you doing?” Avery asks.
“I’m offering them a gift so they know we are friendly and let us pass.”
“You think that will work, do you?” He doesn’t sound convinced.
I glare at him slightly and then turn to the man in front of me. I hold out the ring charmed with the ice spell and nod encouragingly so he’ll take it. He gapes at it, then at me, looking nothing short of awed.
The moment it touches his skin, he drops it and leaps back. Instantly, his men raise their spears again.
“Lucia!” Avery
jerks me to his side, ready to protect me, though I have no idea how.
Quickly, I pluck the ring from the ground and slide it on my finger, modeling it for them. They watch me intently, but they don’t lower their weapons. Then I slide it off and hold it out again. This time, I touch my chest and then extend my hand, hoping they’ll understand it’s just a gift.
The man hesitates but finally takes it. He marvels at the cold metal, turning it in his hand. He looks up at me with wonder in his eyes.
“What’s he doing?” I whisper to Avery, concerned.
Before Avery can answer, the leader drops to one knee and bows like a knight before his king. He says something, and then the others bow their heads. I stare at them, stunned.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
But We Just Met…
“This sort of thing actually happens?” I ask Avery as we’re escorted to who-knows-where with our stoic escorts.
Avery glances at the men surrounding us. “Apparently. Maybe they’ll make you their queen.”
“Maybe they’ll make us their supper.”
It seems we walk for hours—in the wrong direction. Instead of heading toward the rock cliffs, toward the north of the island to our escape route, we head west. Once the sun begins to sink behind the ocean cliffs, I start to worry. How far are they taking us? And what will they do once we arrive?
So far, the men do not seem hostile, so I’m holding onto the hope that they are not planning on making an appetizer out of us. Just when the stars are first dotting the velvet sky do we see lights ahead. Torches burn, one on each side of a gate through a huge stone wall, and a pair of guards stands at the entrance.
“What do you suppose they’re trying to keep out?” Avery asks.
“Worse, what do you suppose they’re trying to keep in?”
Our party stops at the gate, and the man in charge speaks with the guards. The men look surprised, and they stare shamefully at Avery and me. I smile—because what else can I do? After a moment, the guards allow us to pass.
I expect to find a quaint little hamlet behind the wall—like those I’ve seen on other islands. That’s not what we find.
“What is this place?” Avery mutters out loud.
Greybrow Serpent (Silver and Orchids Book 2) Page 15