Page 33

CHAPTER 33

Golden sunlight shone through the window and a breeze brushed Innes’ naked skin like a caress.

She blinked slowly and stretched, relishing the languid ache in her body.

It was morning, although she didn’t know what time.

She and Remi had spent most of the night tangled together, their bodies moving in euphoric synchronicity.

‘Good morning.’ Remi’s voice was soft, and Innes rolled over to find the warrior smiling at her.

The bond between them lulled like the ocean, endless.

Remi nuzzled her neck and brushed her lips in a light kiss.

‘Get ready, I want to show you something.’

Remi hushed her incredulous looks with a grin as they dressed, and then she took Innes’ hand and led her outside.

It had better be a good surprise if Remi is choosing this instead of lying together in bed .

She’d had one day of this bliss and was greedy for more.

Could she have more?

Could she – Briony’s face flashed before her eyes and she stopped herself from indulging the fantasy.

Stay in the moment, stay in the moment , she chanted like a prayer as they strolled along the clifftop.

The water was calm as they stepped down a tight staircase carved into the cliffside.

Remi refused to say where they were going until the staircase opened onto a rocky shelf, large enough for twenty people.

A few towels dotted the platform, and a woman lay naked on her stomach, sunbathing further along the ledge.

‘This is the inlet,’ Remi said, pulling Innes to stand near the edge to look at the view.

‘One of my favourite places in Vincentia.’

It was hard to imagine a place more beautiful; the crystal-clear waters refracted the morning sunshine onto the limestone cliffs, creating a glittering dance of light and shade on the bluff.

‘We used to make a yearly pilgrimage here when I was growing up. We had an aunt who lived in the city, and every summer my brother and I were sent to stay with her. We’d swim, fish, help my aunt at her stall in the markets.

’ Remi smiled sadly, but there was an openness in her expression Innes admired.

‘Did you come for the winter solstice?’ Even Innes had heard of the Vettonian tradition to swim on the solstice.

It was one of the few remnants of the Old Ways that remained, even if the worship had pivoted to honour the Seacht.

Remi nodded.

‘Yeah. My family was very traditional, but for some reason they were happy to take the plunge. Until everything turned to shit.’

They watched the ocean ebb and flow.

‘Do you still speak to them?’

‘No. After my brother was taken I distanced myself. I haven’t spoken to my family since I joined the warriors.

’

‘I’m sorry you lost your family to the Seacht’s doctrine.

’

Remi shrugged.

‘I pitied myself for a while, but my life has only grown brighter since I broke free from my father’s constraints.

My childhood was spent living in the shadow of Caius to the point that I nearly forgot the warmth of the sun.

I wish my brother could see the life I’ve built.

.

.

I’m happy now in ways I never dreamed possible when I was young.

’

They walked the length of the ledge and dropped their towels on the stone.

Remi shrugged off her clothes but Innes kept her loose dress on, unwilling to risk anyone seeing her inkings.

She met Remi’s gaze and the bond shimmered between them.

She wouldn’t have believed this feeling was real, except nothing had ever made quite as much sense.

It felt as if Ever was flowing through her, guiding.

They ambled over to the edge and grinned at one another before diving into the waves below.

The water cocooned her, gently rocking as she opened her eyes in the green underworld, watching as bubbles danced in vertical lines to the surface, tickling her skin like an exhale.

Her dress fanned out around her, a halo of green that matched the depths.

They swam out farther, until they were able to see the horizon and cliff face in the same blink.

It was so beautiful she never wanted to leave, and a tight, sick sensation swept through her stomach at the thought.

She cleared her throat.

‘Do you come here often?’ she asked, looking towards Remi.

The warrior was lost in thought, and she grinned ruefully when she realised Innes was watching her.

‘I used to come here all the time, but I haven’t been in a while.

The last time was with Elva when we were breaking up.

’ Remi chuckled, shaking her head as she met Innes’ gaze.

‘Sorry, I hope that’s not weird.

Our lives were pretty interwoven.

Actually, it was Elva who always thought we’d end when one of us found our twinsoul.

I can’t quite believe she was right.

Don’t tell her I said that, though.

’

Innes swam close to the warrior, a million questions on her tongue.

‘Do you miss her?’

Remi took a beat to answer.

‘She will always be important to me, but I don’t miss her the way I thought I would.

’ She ducked her head under the water.

When she emerged, the black strands of her hair glistened with droplets.

‘How about you? Any exes I should be aware of?’

Innes tipped her head back and laughed.

‘There are exes, although none of them lasted longer than a couple of months. It’s hard to date when I move around so much.

’

The gentle crash of waves on the rocks was the only sound as Remi looked at her.

‘We haven’t really spoken about what happens next, have we?

’

Innes slowly shook her head, fighting the dread tangling her gut.

‘No, we haven’t.

’

‘The full moon’s tonight,’ Remi said.

Innes nodded.

‘Which means you’re leaving tomorrow.

’

She nodded again, her lungs seemingly unable to hold as much air as she needed.

‘What’s your plan?

’

The noise of the waves faded, and Innes became acutely aware of her buoyancy in the water, aware of everything she stood to lose.

Briony or Remi?

It was more complex than that, but her emotions raged at the injustice of needing to choose.

Briony or Remi?

Ever pulsed under her skin and she swallowed the salty tang of the magic.

Inhaled.

Exhaled.

‘I don’t know,’ she answered quietly.

Remi swam closer, their faces bobbing inches away as their limbs brushed each other underwater.

‘Do you want me to come with you?’

Innes didn’t know if the droplets on her face were from the sea or if the tears that stung the back of her eyes had escaped.

There were a million things she could say.

I want you with me always.

The fates and Ever have collided, and you are the destiny my soul has been searching for.

Were I to wrap you around my being, we would be one until the Ending.

But—

Briony.

‘Do you want to?’

Remi’s throat bobbed in response, the warrior’s hopeful smile fading to nothing as the waves drifted them apart.

Innes wanted to scream, Give me something to argue with!

But for the first time, Briony’s advice seemed futile.

So she let the current pull her out, another force she couldn’t control.