Page 24 of These Eternal Bones

The giggle bursts from my lips before I can stop it.

Halting something no doubt painful and violent on Elric’s lips as he brushes a hand through my hair, assuring me he’ll be quick.

The townspeople part for him like he’s on fire, and the wind kicks up, making a harsh shiver run down my spine.

As much as I am still thrilled about the snow, the wind I could do without.

For the past few days, it’s been so bad that the cottage has rattled at night.

My bed is piled with blankets to ward off the drafts.

Not even painting outside has been any fun.

It’s part of why we’re here . The wind blew over my cart, leaving a huge rainbow-colored patch of snow in front of the cottage.

Belatedly, I remember which shop sells paints. My head snaps up to see Elric speaking to the old woman from before, the one he had a history with… fed from.

The sharp, burning pang of jealousy hits me hard and fast. Just as I decide to follow him inside, Cartiel’s snarky voice stops me. “I’m not even gold. More of a bronze, really.”

He frowns at me as I turn my glare on him. I don’t have a smile to offer the rude man at the moment. “Looks pretty gold to me.”

That does it. He crosses his arms, stepping in front of me, matching my irritated posture as my eyes dart to the wide windows behind him. Finding Elric still speaking to that woman, her eyes darting time and time again to us through the shop window. “Funny, it’s almost as though I didn’t ask you.”

“Oh yes, forgive me, seeing as you announced it out loud to no one in particular, standing right beside me.” I snap back.

My attention is back on Elric as his head snaps to the side, as if he’s listening to something close by.

“Miss?”

The tiny voice breaks us from our bickering, the little girl's eyes wide on Cartiel .

“Oh, hi,” I answer, trying to offer her a comforting smile.

She doesn’t return it as she hurriedly slams a note in my hand, her blonde curls bouncing as she rushes away back onto one of the neighboring docked ships.

My gloves run over the thick parchment, frowning.

It’s a ripped piece off some other sheet of paper; the words are cut off.

Maybe some kind of shipping ledger. I’m about to put it in my pocket when I see the other side, the words scrawled there in hurried, sloppy writing.

We leave in an hour. My brows knit together as I struggle with the next word.

Be- I give it up, moving to the next, the st-or-m. Be s-a-f-e.

They’re offering me a way out.

An escape.

It must’ve taken me far too many seconds to make out the note because when I look back toward the ship, a woman is there, her clothes ragged but warm. Her eyes are darting to the store, wide and panicked, as she motions me to them.

To run.

She takes a step forward just as Cartiel steps in front of me. “Not another step.” He warns, and it's then that I see the full group…the men, six of them, waiting behind her, just out of sight.

A deep dread fills my stomach as I take a step closer to the bronze man in front of me, his eyes lighting from within him.

The dread doesn’t last long before spice and cedar again cloy around me, infiltrating my senses, his chill seeping into my back.

It’s his hands on my waist that bring my attention back to him, his dark eyes almost… daring. To me or them, I’m not sure.

“Come, syringa, let’s get you home.”

My breath rushes out of me as I nod.

It’s short-lived .

“Legend says he takes one every couple hundred years! You won’t come down off that cliff if you go back up!” My head snaps toward the voice, only for one of his tendrils to wrap around my neck, crawling up to my chin, keeping it forward.

“He kills them! He’s drained them! You’ll die!” The panicked, horrified sound of the woman’s voice sours my gut.

My heart shudders in my chest as a man’s voice joins her.

His apologies are feverish as he urges her back to their ship.

I’m quiet, my head spinning, heart finally resuming its race in my chest as Elric gathers me in his arms. I don’t hesitate, digging my fingers into the lapels of his coat, relishing in the cold there.

His palm opens as soon as we’re back in the coach, and I know what he wants. At that moment, I know he is aware of much more than they’d thought from inside the shop. When he was talking to her… he was listening to me… to them too, no doubt. The knot in my chest loosens as I hand it over.

Elric’s dark eyes study me, not bothering to see what it says.

He knows. We both know what was just given to me, what it means.

What he’d intercepted was a chance for me to leave his cottage, to quit the job he’d given me.

To leave him . For the life of me, I can’t decipher the look in his eyes.

What he’s feeling, but I have the urge to stop it.

To alleviate his worries, whatever they may be.

“That word there, the one that starts with a B, I got stuck on it.”

He doesn’t move for a long moment, too long. Eleven sluggish beats of my heart before he opens up the crumpled note, his eyes darting to the words for a brief second. “Before.”

“Oh.”

Silence falls on us again, his dark claws digging into the fine fabric of the dark, cushioned seat. I swallow hard, my pulse hiccupping as his eyes zero in on the action, lingering on my throat. My belly grows tight as I press my thighs together. “I wasn’t going to go.”

“I know.”

A flush builds on my cheeks, trailing down the high neck of my gown as I nod, turning my attention out the window.

I can’t for the life of me wipe the stupid smile off my face while he clings to his lingering restraint.

It seems fits of jealousy are not reserved for only me.

Seems like a childish thing to glean such a divine sense of satisfaction from.