Page 76 of Soulgazer

Faolan doesn’t look at me. “No. There’s some other business I need to attend.”

“Is that what we’re calling it now?” Nessa asks from Tavin’s other side, her smile growing lush. “You know, Faolan, if you need us to pick you up some powdered antler—”

“I don’t.”

“Aye, but if youdid, I’m fair certain Lorcan could build you an excellent crib. In fact—”

“Nessa.” Faolan’s smile is strained. “Please.”

Tavin nudges her side, and Nessa yelps as his elbow brushes her injury. “All right, all right—stars above, that smarts.” They trail after the others into a heavy copse of trees, slender branches bowing under the weight of midsummer fruits. A marble wall lies just beyond, though it’s impossible to tell if it’s part of the same slab that towers above our heads, shot through with veins of rose, or a structure built by the queen herself.

“You should go with them.”

Faolan’s back is a knotted map of muscle beneath his shirt, shifting with each tug of the rope as he ties off the boats one after another. Any playfulness he’d maintained for the crew is gone.

I twist the wolf ring once on my finger. “Why?”

“Because you’ve never seen it.”

“There’s a lot I’ve never seen.”

“Aye, but Aisling’s palace? It’s a bloody marvel.” His tone is light, but I know his voice well enough after weeks on the ship. He’s forcing a smile to warm the notes. “They carved it straight into the southern mountain here. Feels like you’re walking into a pearl. And of course Bridled Stag’s known for its pleasure houses—”

“Faolan.”

His back goes rigid beneath the weight of my hand.

I very nearly snatch it back. And perhaps I should—the crew’s closeness is something they’ve fought for, touch and intimacy a thing each of them has earned. But Faolan’s breath shudders against my palm as it pours out, and I dare to take a step closer. One more.

Until my arms slide around his waist, hands tucked neatly across his ribs as I drop my face between his shoulder blades and sigh. “Thank you.”

His laugh jolts my forehead, the sound hard and humorless. “For what? I nearly got you killed.”

“I chose to come, remember?”

“Only after I gave you no other—”

“Ichosethis, Faolan. Don’t take that from me.” I release my hold, trying to see his face, but Faolan grips my wrists. Draws them tighter around his waist. I swallow and stare at the patch of blood staining his shirt to my left. “I knew what I was risking.”

He turns abruptly to catch my face between his hands, eyes flickering over the bruises at my cheek. Lower, to the burned remnants of my sleeve clinging to pale, perfect fingers that were black this morning. Faolan eases them into his own leather-wrapped hand. “No, you didn’t.”

“Well, I know now.”

A laugh startles out of him. “You’re a stubborn arse when you want to be, love. Anyone ever tell you tha’?”

“No.” I nearly manage a smile, until he tugs me closer, and I flinch.

He lets go immediately. “Dammit. I’m sorry. I swore earlier I wouldn’t do more than—”

“It’s not that, it’s…” There is not a part of me that does not ache, from my head to the smallest toe. “I can still smell the burns. Every time I breathe in. And we’re both covered in blood or smoke, so I…”

My words taper off as Faolan watches me with the same calculation in his face I saw before he jumped into the waters at the Teeth. Eyes narrowed, lips curved up at one corner. And then he steps back into the swaying grass, sea oats flickering like scales at their tops. Reluctantly, I fall into step.

“Where are you going?”

“Think of the reward,” he says as he turns.

Never the risk.