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Turning, Cori took a step, then another, each one just a little slower, a little more labored. Muttering a curse, she heaved at her water-logged skirts, trying to push back through the surf.

“Okay, this is… this isn’t working the way I planned.” She waved her arms, teetering. “Calcifer! Skye! Both of you, to me. I’m kind of, maybe a little bit… stuck.”

It was strange. Sometimes, Skye looked at Cori and couldn’t see anything of the woman he knew. But during moments like this... well, it was plain to see that not everything had changed.

Wading out, he caught her under the shoulders and pulled her back up. “My hero,” she said, smiling and pressing a hand to his cheek. Not his Taly, but she still had a knack for saying the thing he needed.

She grabbed hold of Calcifer’s mane when he lumbered by, letting him pull her to shore.

Skye lingered in the waves, the cold biting up his legs. The auroras danced on the horizon, their colors rippling through the dark.

He breathed in. And then out.

He knew what he needed to do now. He had to tell Taly. About Cori. About the bloodcrafting. About every reckless choice he’d made in her name. The silence between them hadn’t come from nowhere. It had been built—stone by stone, secret by secret. And he was just as guilty. If he wanted to tear it down, he had to start with his side.

He turned back toward the dunes. “Hey,” he called. “Thanks…”

But the beach was empty. No footprints. No mimic. Just the gentle hiss of waves on sand.

He was alone.

Then he saw it.

Half-buried near where she’d been sitting—one bottle of champagne, nestled in the sand like a buried treasure. The foil still glinted under the moonlight.

The note beside it read:

The bottle won’t finish until you do.—C

P.S. Thanks for the show.

P.P.S. If you want to win this, stop sulking. Take your shirt off. You’re easier to forgive that way.

Chapter 52

Taly couldn’t sleep without Skye beside her. She didn’t know when that had happened.

Even with Calcifer taking up half of it, the bed felt too big without him.

She turned over, pulling the blankets tighter around herself, but they didn’t carry the same warmth, the same comfort.

Kairó vuun’manii?

She clamped her hands over her ears. “No, no, no, not again.”

Kairó vuun’manii.

“Shut up!”

But the words didn’t stop. They neverstopped. Since the cistern, there hadn’t been a moment of silence.

Kairó vuun’manii!

With a growl, Taly rolled onto her back, glaring at the dreamspindle on the ceiling. Skye had taken it down. She’d waited, then put it back up the moment he left. Not out of fear. Just for thequiet. True to its name, it was excellent at blocking dreams and the terrors that stalked them. If she could just manage to fall asleep, there would be nothing but endless black.

Calcifer gave a worried mewl from beside her. She reached out to scratch his chin.

Kairó vuun’manii.