Page 34 of Moonstriker (The Summertide Chronicles #4)

Chapter 34

Aubrey

You have to wake up , the voice in my head said. Your friends are worried. I think they’re angry with me. The woman with Iri is mean .

The woman with Iri.

Delta Moonstriker?

Angry with...me? Why would Delta Moonstriker be angry with me? Except, she wasn’t my friend at all, and?—

No, not angry with you, angry with me .

Sure, yes, I’d gotten that, but who was—Slate. My friends were angry with Slate. Which friends? Why?

Maybe . . . maybe I hurt you. You’re hurt, aren’t you?

Was I? I distinctly remembered twisting, and then outright breaking my ankle, but that wasn’t really Slate’s fault.

Fell down because of the ground shaking. My fault .

Ah. That made sense.

Also hurt your brain because of me. They said that. What’s a brain?

The seizures, he must mean. And while those had been because of Slate, because of the bonding, they also hadn’t really been his fault. It wasn’t as though he’d chosen for them to happen. It was just that...

You remember the fracturing? Of Iri?

I deliberately didn’t mention Nausa, since that was a sore enough point without me using it as a point in a conversation.

Yes. He was suspicious now, hesitant.

Probably because he could hear my freaking thoughts, and knew I’d avoided mentioning Nausa, which meant I was prevaricating. Being bonded was going to take some getting used to.

A human is more delicate than a stone, and the bonding was causing something like that to happen inside me. I don’t...I don’t think I’m broken, but it’s very hard on a person.

Was I broken? Everything was dark, so my eyes must have been closed. Maybe I was unconscious again. Maybe I was in a coma. Heck, maybe I was dead. Was that possible?

I’m sorry , Slate said, and the feeling of him being childlike intensified. The word hangdog, one my mother had often used when I was a kid, popped into my head to describe his tone.

It wasn’t your fault , I assured him. Not unless you intended to bond me, and knew it would hurt me .

Don’t know how to bond humans , he denied immediately. Never done it before, not this much. Just that one boy who went away .

You have to understand , a high, feminine voice said, and something in the tone told me the words were aimed at Slate rather than me. Humans are very fragile. Lots of things hurt them. This boy is very strong. One of the strongest. That’s the only reason he could manage the bond with you .

I blinked. Was my head becoming the local coffee shop where stones came and hung out together?

The voice giggled. No, silly. I’m Verelle. I’m your birthright. Once you got close enough that I could sense you, I realized that Slate had initiated a bond. I couldn’t bond with you before. You’re very...

Thick headed? I asked. My grandmother had called me that now and then, and it seemed to fit in this case.

Again, she giggled. No. You just have very impressive mental protection. A strong mind. It’s good. It’s why you can speak to Slate. I’m afraid...well, I’m no amethyst to know for sure, but I’m afraid there is some damage.

My ankle? I asked hopefully, praying she wasn’t about to tell me that no, I had brain damage, and I’d never wake up again.

No, it’s not that. It’s . . . well, wake up and see.

Just like that, wake up and see. Like I could control being?—

I started and gasped, sitting straight up and almost running straight into—into Kit. Who was hovering worriedly over me, biting his lip.

“Your aunt called a medical helicopter,” he said, and his voice sounded off, almost...small and distant. Worse than earlier, when I’d felt like my head was filled with cotton.

There it is , Verelle said. I’m not sure if it’ll get any better.

She sounded worried, and I . . . I grinned.

“I can barely hear you,” I told Kit.

He cocked his head, blinking rapidly. “I . . . I’m sorry?”

I shook my head. “It’s...damage. Verelle said I have damage. She doesn’t know if it’ll get better.”

He blinked harder, and—was he going to cry?

“No,” I said, grabbing his arms and tugging him toward me. I was probably talking too loud, I realized, because I couldn’t properly hear myself any more than I could hear him. I tried to consciously lower my volume. “It’s nothing. It’s hearing damage. I’m still me. I’m not dead or in a coma. It’s...my grandmother was mostly Deaf my whole life. I even know some sign language already. I was so worried it was going to be something important.”

I shook my head and laughed again, throwing my arms around Kit and pulling him against me. Then I realized something, and shoved back. “Unless...unless it bothers you. I could...maybe hearing aids, if?—”

“Fuck, you think I care about that, you asshole?” Kit smacked my chest, his lips compressed in such a hard line that it looked painful. Like he was desperately trying to hold in some strong emotion. “I thought you were going to die. I don’t give a damn if I need to learn a new language. I’ll start tomorrow.”

“Why are we yelling?” Aunt Titania said—yelled, I supposed—as she came into the—wait, where the heck were we? I glanced around, confused. I’d expected that Kit’s trail would lead us to the chalet.

This was not the chalet.

It looked like a mine shaft, or maybe a bit like the pictures of ancient kings’ tombs, carved out of stone deep inside the earth.

“Aubrey’s lost some hearing,” Kit answered, still loud enough for me to hear him.

She came to our side, her blue eyes soft and concerned as she sat down next to me on the...well, frankly, it looked a little like a burial slab. A table, maybe? I hoped for table. I didn’t need to be laid out on someone’s bier.

Then a strange look crossed her face. “Oberon lost hearing out here too,” she said, fascinated. “He came out with the family heads when he was a little boy, when they were meeting with Slate fifty years ago. And he...”

Understanding dawned on her face and she sat back, stunned.

I lifted a brow at Kit. “Not genetic, huh?”

He scoffed, still the dismissive jerk I...loved. “Please. It’s just that no one unbonded and adult ever comes out here, because people like you don’t even exist. Of course it was Oberon. But unlike him, you were an adult, and you finished the job. You—Slate’s there, right? In your head? You bonded. The whole mountain.”

I pulled Kit tight against me and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Yes. I bonded the whole mountain. Thanks to you.”

I glanced up, trying to remember how I’d spoken to the mountain before, but I didn’t even have a chance to work at it before his voice popped into my mind, effortless and smooth.

I’m here. I can hear you now.

Because we’re . . . inside you?

No , he said, and there was almostlaughter in the words. Because we’re part of each other now. You did it. You stayed, and, and—you bonded. With me. Was the boy before really your father?

He was, I guess. I didn’t know him, but you were probably better off without him. He was kind of a jerk. I tried to find the words to describe Oberon to Slate, but instead, I found my memories of him playing in the back of my head.

I could feel Slate recoil at the unfeeling nature of the man.

Yes, I’m glad he didn’t stay. And I...I’m glad you did .

Me too .

“So,” Titania said, drawing the “o” out. “No explosion imminent? Because let me tell you, I was actually worried that Delta was going to start the eruption. She was trying to go all tough love on the mountain, and that’s not really how it works when you’re dealing with massively powerful entities, in my opinion.”

Kit rolled his eyes, clearly unsurprised by the woman who had raised him.

At Slate’s slight recoil from the very idea, I nodded. “No eruption. But we need to not let this happen again. This is because everyone keeps leaving him alone. He’s lonely. And he’s...he’s very young, for a volcano. You wouldn’t leave a toddler alone just because he was big and a little scary, would you?”

Her eyes softened even more. “Of course not. And you’re gonna outlive me, but we’ll figure this out, kiddo. We’ll make sure no one leaves him alone again.”

“For now,” Kit announced, giving her a stink eye that I didn’t think she deserved, “you lot are going to pay for central heating to be added to the chalet.”

And well, as much as I didn’t want people to give me things in exchange for being born the son of Oberon Gloombringer, that was fair enough.

If we were going to live at the chalet to be close to Slate, I didn’t want to freeze to death if I failed to start a fire.

Across from us, Titania laughed.