Page 76 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

She loosened a breath at Blake’s misunderstanding, their vow repeating in her ears. She still had time. Time to figure out Finlay’s past, and what the Skytor clan were up to. Time to master her power, and dispose of this talisman before it devoured her and her secrets. Time before the magical Mist consumed the world.

Time to figure out the voice on the wind guiding her.

Gods . . . it wasa lot.

All in the month leading up to her twenty-fifth birthday.

“Kora . . .” he withdrew as his next words washed over her like cold ice, “with everything changing, I don’t know if I’ll be onHell’s Serpentanymore.”

Just like that, the cracks in her carefully constructed world spread, splitting open.

“What do you mean?” her voice was but a whisper.

Blake glanced away. “I know that I promisedyou, but with the next round of Darkoning Trials approaching, it’s time for me to establish myself whilst I still can. There’s an opportunity in the army for me to become a commander. And I . . .” he exhaled, “I think I need to do this. Everything’s going to change soon.I need to make sure I’m in a good position before the chance passes by.”

Kora tried to swallow the hard lump in her throat. She couldn’t imagineHell’s Serpentwithout Blake. It meant they’d spend days, weeks,monthsapart—maybe even a year.

“I’ll always be here waiting for you to return.” The light in his eyes faded, and she continued nibbling her lower lip, the skin breaking beneath her teeth. “I’m doing this forus.So that we’ll have a chance together. If I’m not your first mate anymore, we might be able to be together . . .properly. As commander, I’ll be able to protect you.” Blake’s voice strained with the words, fighting to get them out. “I need you in my life,asterya.But the islands will be changing, the gravity of the final unification is greater than we understand. I must do this.”

Kora saddened, her soul deflating. She shoved her selfishness aside, her screaming thoughts that she was going to be alone—all alone—in the vast seas. No one to be her mirror self. No one who’d understand her deepest, darkest fears and pains deeply seeded from the trials.

With a pinch of her leg, she forced a smile. “Whatever you need to do, I’ll support you.” She nearly gagged on the words.

Blake offered a small smile in return, relief oozing from him.

“Come,” she pushed to her feet, Blake tracking her every movement with focused intensity. He gracefully stood, his dark presence towering over her, and a different kind of heat coursed through her. After a moment of silent smiles, they returned to the camp, where Aryn and Samuel regarded them curiously.

The small fire had been erected near the edge of the desert before the ground blended into the precarious pebbled shores. They’d discovered large palm tree logs, discarded from previous woodjacks passing through the area, to use as a seating area by the fire.

Palm trees decorated the edge of the desert as far as they could see towards the east, and to the west was the rising cliff face, with exposing dark, shimmering rocks overlooking the rockpool.

“Is the tantrum over?” Samuel asked, seated on a log by the fire. Blake tossed him a glare.

“You’re getting a bit too mouthy for my liking,” Kora remarked, as her and Blake sat down by the fire, keeping a foot of distance between them.

“Aye, you like my mouth just as it is,” Samuel replied with a grey-eyed wink. Aryn shot him an incredulous look, whilst Blake tensed at the flirtation.

“What would Circe think to hear you say such things?”

Samuel’s flirting was harmless, it was his nature. He was the only male she’d tolerate it from, besides Blake.

“Why?” Samuel’s eyes glistened. “Has she asked about me?”

Aryn rolled his eyes as he sorted through his quiver.

“Who’s Circe?” Blake asked, dark confusion clouding his face.

“A barmaid Samuel wants to marry.”

And a potential rebel sympathiser, and abetter of a secret organisation called the Skytors.

“Hands off, Marwood.” Samuel saccharinely smiled.

Blake held up his hands innocently. “She’s all yours.” His gaze slid to Kora, and she tried not to squirm under the beckoning lust hidden in his eyes.

They settled against the logs surrounding the fire, and she stared at the black expanse of the ocean. The rolling waves and the salt-water air soothed her once again, helping her ride out the raging torrent of anxiety that’d been sinking its claws into her since Finlay’s death.

Aryn placed his longbow and quiver down, his attentive eyes scanning the area. “What do you think the sentinel will be like?”