Page 22

The shriek of a gull pierces my uneasy slumber, dragging me back to consciousness. I crack one eye open and regret it as the harsh morning light stabs into my skull. I groan, flinging an arm over my face to block out the brightness.

Every muscle in my body screams in protest. The strain of wielding my powers to obliterate Kiaran’s hidden armoury has left me drained—and his feeding from me in the aftermath didn’t help, either.

I need to be more careful.

Gritting my teeth, I force myself upright, muscles protesting and threatening mutiny with every inch.

I swipe my fingers over my nose, and they come away stained crimson.

Lovely. The misty rain is a cold caress against my skin, and I tilt my head skyward, noting the distant rumble of thunder heralding an approaching storm.

I pick my way through the forest, focusing on maintaining my precarious balance—a welcome distraction from the sticky trickle of blood from my nose.

The trees give way to a sheer cliff towering over churning seas. The rain falls harder, soaking through my clothes in seconds. Shoulders hunched, I wrap my arms around myself to conserve warmth. The blood, the weakness, the unrelenting ache—all glaring reminders of the little time I have left.

I need to find the Book of Remembrance. I can’t keep waiting for Kiaran.

Something in my chest wrenches painfully at the thought. Will he even care when I—

A violent tremor ripples through the cliffs, nearly pitching me forward. The stone beneath my feet releases an ominous groan. I glance down just in time to see a crack split the rock, snaking toward me with alarming speed.

“Oh hell.” I stumble back a step. “Time to—”

With a deafening crack, the ledge crumbles away. And I fall. The wind howls in my ears, tearing at my drenched clothes. I brace myself for the brutal impact. The waves rushing up to dash me against the rocks.

It doesn’t come.

Bruising fingers clamp around my wrist. My shoulder screams in protest as the momentum wrenches the joint. I barely choke back a scream, left dangling above the sea.

Heart slamming against my ribs, I crane my neck upward.

Kiaran.

He’s braced at the cliff’s edge, one hand locked around my wrist while shadows twine around his limbs, anchoring him in place.

“Stop. Thrashing,” he says through clenched teeth. The muscles in his arm stand out in stark relief as he strains to hold my weight. “Or I’ll drop you out of irritation.”

A slightly hysterical laugh claws up my throat. “Your tender concern for my wellbeing is touching. You always know how to make a lady feel cherished.”

Rather than waste breath on a response, he flexes his fingers. Shadows burst from the cliff face at his silent command, snaking around my dangling body. They yank me back onto solid ground, depositing me in a graceless heap.

For a long moment, I just lie there. Eyes shut, chest heaving as I gulp down air, the frantic drum of my pulse almost drowning out the incessant roar of the waves below.

A pair of boots move into view as Kiaran crouches down beside me. “That,” he bites out, each word clipped, “was impressively foolish, even for you. Have you forgotten that the land is tearing itself apart? That without the Cailleach’s power to sustain it, these realms are crumbling by the hour?”

I sit up, testing the motion of my shoulder. Agony lances through it at the movement, and I set my teeth against a groan.

“Oh, I’m well aware. I encountered the evidence mere moments ago.”

“Yet here you are, loitering at the edge of an eroding cliff. Alone. In the middle of a storm. If you have a death wish, Kameron, there are more expedient ways to satisfy it.”

The sound of my name from his lips hits me like a physical blow, stealing the breath from my lungs.

Tears sting my eyes, and I swallow hard against the sudden thickness in my throat.

“Say that again,” I whisper, the words barely audible over the howling wind.

For a single, endless heartbeat, something flickers across his features. There and gone before I can grasp it. Then his face turns to stone again, that impenetrable mask slamming down.

“Get up.” The words are brusque. Impersonal. He thrusts out a hand to me. An imperious command, not an offer. “This ground is unstable. We need to move.”

Stupid. Stupid to feel bereft over the loss of my own name.

I ignore his outstretched hand. Shove myself up to wavering feet, bracing against the red-hot lance of pain through my wrenched shoulder. I can’t quite bite back a grunt. Even harder to hide my graceless stagger.

Kiaran catches me before I can pitch into the muck. His heat sears me through my clinging, rain-soaked clothes.

In the next breath, he steps away. Puts that careful distance between us once more. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Just overextended myself working my magic, that’s all.” I flash him a sharp grin that I don’t feel. “Not that I don’t appreciate the timely rescue, but why were you lurking in my vicinity? Besides my scintillating company and sparkling wit, of course.”

“I sensed a disturbance near the boundary and came to investigate.” His gaze drags over me, cataloguing. Assessing. “Low tide is in two hours. If you can put one foot in front of the other without keeling over, I suggest you take advantage of it.”

I dip my head. “I’ll go,” I say quietly. “I need to leave.” The words taste like ashes on my tongue, but I force them out anyway. “I just need you to say my name again. Just once more before I go.”

He goes still, his eyes flickering to mine before darting away, fixing on some distant point over my shoulder. When he doesn’t respond, I try again, hating the tremor in my voice.

“Kiaran—”

“Go,” he cuts me off. “Get off my island.”

He pivots on his heel without a word. Heading back to his precious tower, no doubt. Back to his throne of claws and teeth and conquered bones.

Something small and fragile withers in my chest, cracks spiderwebbing through it. Anger flares, sharp and bright. It burns through the fog of pain and exhaustion, lighting me up from within. Lends steel to my spine as I call out after his retreating back.

“I’m dying, Kiaran.”

The words fall like stones.

He freezes mid-step, shoulders gone rigid. Even the ceaseless roar of the sea seems to hush. The world holding its breath.

I forge ahead before I lose my nerve. “The magic your mother gave me comes with a price. I’m only a temporary vessel unless I find that Book.

” I pause, shutting my eyes against a swell of vertigo.

Nausea rises in my throat, and I swallow it down.

“I don’t have time to chase you in circles, trying to convince you to help me.

But I’m going to find that Book and do what I can to break your curse.

You put me back together, saved my life more than once.

And I will never stop being grateful to you. I wanted you to know.”

But before I can leave, my knees give out, and I collapse to the sodden ground. I barely feel the impact, the wind lashing my face. Everything feels distant, muted.

Suddenly, he’s there, hauling me against him. “You impossible, reckless creature,” he growls, gathering me close as he rises to his feet. “You can go and find the Book after you’ve slept somewhere that isn’t the ground.”

Kiaran starts off through the trees, arms tightening around me. I let my head rest against his shoulder, cheek cushioned by the folds of his coat. Let his familiar scent enfold me. Ward off the biting chill.

“Say my name again,” I mumble.

“Tell me about this Book,” he says instead. “My mother told you to find it?”

I let my eyes drift closed, soothed by the rumbling cadence of his voice.

By the sway of his gait, the solid heat of him.

“Aithinne . . . said it might allow the wielder to bend time.” Even stringing the words together is an effort, exhaustion dragging at me.

“It’s hidden outside the realm. Through a doorway.

” I burrow deeper into his arms, chasing his warmth.

“If we find it . . . I can fix this. I can bring everyone back. Stop the realms from crumbling . . .”

“That’s enough. Stop talking. You’re barely conscious.”

“You’re always . . . bossing me about.”

“Someone has to. You have no regard for your own life. You’re a complete menace.”

I fade in and out after that. Snatches of sensation filter through the murky haze. The whisper of fabric as Kiaran settles me onto something soft. The brush of careful fingers smoothing my hair from my brow. The fleeting press of lips, there and gone.

And just before the waiting dark claims me, I hear it. Soft as a sigh, intimate as a caress. A single word, heavy with unspoken meanings.

“Kameron.”