Page 119 of Soulgazer

I battle to hold it in. “You didn’t come back. I waited for youeverynight—I thought you’d changed your mind.”

“Stars, no! Saoirse, just—come here.” Aidan beckons me, and I dig my feet harder into the ground, not able to trust that this is real. Not until he slips a hand into his pocket and retrieves the fragments of the bone ring.

Everything in me melts away. “How? Father took them, and I—Aidan.”

“It was a right son of a bitch to collect it without Da noticing.” Aidan catches my hand and drops every piece into it, coating myskin with ash, same as his. When he looks up, he smiles and I feel its incredulous echo stretching my own face. “Why do you think it took me so long? I couldn’t have anyone watching while I looked for them. It was only this morning I spotted them in his fireplace, while he ran preparations for the ceremony.”

The bones dig into my skin as I search his eyes, then take a tentative step closer. “And the rest of the plan?”

“Starts with this.”

Aidan nudges my elbow higher until the cuff catches the light, and then he slips a key from his other pocket. One hard twist and the ugly metal pieces fall to the ground.

Sensation steals my breath. I double over, gasping and clawing for something to hold on to as the initial flood passes through me. Aidan unlocks the second cuff, and I fall to my knees, gripping the ground until my nails threaten to break at the ends. Flickers of confusion, pain, and love pass from his fingers to my skin until they withdraw. But it’s all only a wave. After a few seconds, it sinks back into the sea of myself.

Aidan stands warily across the rug, mouth agape as I shift back onto my heels. Smile.

“Thank you.”

“I— Of course.” His laugh skates through my hair as he catches my elbows and hauls me to my feet. I lean into his chest and feel an old melody slip through me. Sad and sweet. The song of my brother.

A clatter down the hall splits the music in half, footsteps pounding the flagstone.

Aidan breaks his hold at once. “I arranged Faolan’s release this morning. They’ve probably just realized. Take the servants’ pass to the right of the hall, cut through the old playroom, and he’ll be waiting at the bottom of the stairs on the other side. Then—”

Voices echo down the hall. Sweat gathers at Aidan’s temple.

“You’ll take the old kitchen passage—remember when we used to sneak sweets? I’ve left clothes for you both. People have come for the wedding, so with luck you’ll be able to blend in and make your way to the docks. Faolan knows where to go from there, all right?”

I nod, my heart in my throat. “This is goodbye, then?”

“Aye.” Aidan crushes me into his arms again. “Wait two minutes. I’ll distract the guards, and you run as fast as you can.”

“I love you.”

He touches my chin, then disappears. Two minutes pass in a blink and a century. The quiet is stifling, but when I finally press my ear to the crack at the door, I don’t hear a sound.

Take the servants’ pass.

My steps falter as I push the wooden door open and pad down the corridor. It’s larger than I remember, the walls sculpted up into points over my head. Tapestries line near every wall, telling stories of the gods or of our people, Bandia Eabha and her blessing of caipín baís.

I remember the clusters of them in our crypt.

Conal’s empty grave.

Blood pushes fast through my veins, and I gasp. Force myself to walk down the hall.

I have to reach the servants’ pass.

Except a touch skates up my spine like the coldest of hands, and I barely contain a scream, bruising my lip in the process. Whispers hum in the back of my head and stretch out like a complicated web as I curl my fists so tight, the wolf ring bites through my skin until blood wells up, spills down my wrist.

Sweat beads cold against my palm.

“Saoirse…SAOIRSE!”

I cannot have a vision now. Not when I’m so close to reaching Faolan. Breakingfree.

My steps quicken, heels driving into stone as my breath crashes against itself like a torrent of waves. Conal’s voice echoes in my mind—“Saoirse, stay onshore! Help me spot him. Aidan!”—and I want to be numb again, because his pain is my pain and I cannotbearthe weight of them together.