Page 108 of Demon's Bane

More than my grief. More than my guilt. More than my certainty this is what I was meant to do—this work, this punishment I’ve given myself, all the years of atonement I thought I owed. The light of Joan’s smile shines through all the cracks in the story I’ve told myself for the last year, exposing it for the broken, tired thing it is.

As her deep brown eyes dart back and forth across my face, though, her smile dims. It’s replaced by an uncertain frown, lines of worry across her forehead.

“Rhett,” she whispers. “What’s wr—”

“Rhett? Are you in here?” A voice calls out, one deep and familiar and utterly unwelcome right now.

I close my eyes and let out an irritated growl, resting my forehead against Joan’s and angling our joined bodies so she’s not visible from the mouth of the cavern as the owner of that voice appears in the archway.

“There you—oh.”

Gorver lets out an awkward, embarrassed cough, and when I glance over my shoulder, he’s at least got enough sense in that thick skull of his not to be looking at my mate and I in the pool.

“What?” I growl at him.

“It’s Halla,” Gorver says, and though he still keeps his face averted, I can see enough to note his expression is drawn with concern. “There was another small cave-in, and she was injured.”

My blood runs cold in my veins.

I look at my mate, and her eyes are wide with alarm. She reads my fear immediately and shifts in my arms.

“Go,” she says, low and urgent. “You need to go to her.”

“Wait outside,” I bark over my shoulder.

Gorver disappears, and Joan and I disentangle. Hurriedly and silently climbing out of the pool, we do as much as we can to slick water off our bodies and climb into clothes that are damp with the rest of it.

“Go,” Joan says again, wrapping her arms around her middle, face creased even more deeply with worry. “I’ll wait for you back at your cabin.”

I nod. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Be careful.”

With her soft words and concern, the crack in my soul grows even wider.

But there’s no time to think about it. There’s no room for anything but the need to see Halla safe.

I meet Gorver at the grotto’s entrance and we wordlessly head back toward the main cave and whatever fresh horrors are waiting for us.

33

Joan

The air outside has only grown colder during the hour Rhett and I were in the cave, and I hug my arms more tightly around myself as I start the long walk back to his cabin.

My stomach is churning, mind racing, shivers running up and down my damp skin.

I hope Halla is alright. I hope whatever happened is a minor accident, and not the catastrophe I imagine with another full-body shudder.

Full darkness has descended over the village’s valley as the sun fell behind the towering peaks above, and I wish I had some kind of light as I make my way down the path. Tripping over a loose rock in the middle of it, I curse and bite back a frustrated sob.

Goddess above, I need to get it together.

But everything that just happened in the cave between Rhett and me crowds right back in alongside the worry I have for Halla, and I swallow hard around a thick wave of overwhelm.

The memory of those last few seconds with Rhett, right before Gorver interrupted us, won’t stop playing on a loop in my mind. The image of his face—so much grief, so muchuncertainty, something that looked almost likepanic—is etched into the insides of my eyelids.

Was that goodbye?