Page 94 of Shardless

Despite his better judgment, Skye replied, “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know enough to see the connections.” When Skye ignored him and started up the stairs, Kato tried again. “Taly’s human. Ava’s human. Or,washuman. It’s not hard to connect the two.”

Skye stopped in the middle of the stairs, Kato’s words bringing him up short.

“Struck a nerve?” Kato cooed mockingly.

Squaring his shoulders, Skye turned to face his brother. “Marshal Emrys. I’m assigning you to funeral pyre duty.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Skye said with a deceptively innocent smile. “As High Commander Ivain Castaro’s Precept, I’m the highest-ranked member of the Gate Watcher leadership in the compound. That means you’remineto command,Marshal. And we need people on pyre duty.”

Kato chuckled grimly, knowing when he was beaten. “Of course, sire,” he drawled, giving Skye a practiced bow. As he marched away, he waved a hand, looking over his shoulder as he said, “Tell Taly I said hi. I assume you’ll be keeping her in your room tonight. That’s smart. A pretty little thing like that is probably good at findingtrouble.”

Skye didn’t grace him with a response. That’s what his brother wanted—to rile him. To push him to say something that he would later regret. He wasn’t going to give the older fey noble that satisfaction.

With a sigh, Skye retreated into the keep. The sooner he saw to his duties, the sooner he’d be able to retire. And Kato was right about one thing—he had no intention of letting Taly get away from him tonight.

Chapter 20

-An excerpt from the Dawn Codex

The anima is what connects us all. It is our essence, our soul, our light. Be ye fey or mortal or beast—the Shards have blessed you with a fragment of eternity and a place in Moriah.

With a groan, Skye fell into one of the chairs situated in front of the fireplace. He had spent the last two hours giving orders to the Ensigns, the newest and greenest members of the Gate Watchers. Then he’d tracked down what was left of the Gate Watchers’ chain-of-command, before he finally,mercifully, managed to make it up to his room.

Letting his eyes drift over the oaken fixtures, gilded fireplace, and various other flourishes decorating the suite typically set aside for Ivain, Skye almost felt guilty. How many people wouldbe sleeping outside in the rain and cold while he slept in a soft bed with a fire happily crackling in the background?

Another sharp stab of pain lanced his shoulder, chasing away any lingering doubts.If the other Gate Watchers wanted to give him a plush bed and a warm fire, who was he to argue?

Though he couldn’t hear the shower running in the background, the door to the washroom was shut, and he could just make out the sound of Taly humming to herself on the other side. In fact, now that he was looking, he could see signs of her sprinkled all throughout the room—small indicators that told him what she’d been doing before he came up.

Through the wide, open entry leading to the antechamber, her things were scattered across a long table set against the wall—both pistols, disassembled and cleaned, as well as the two air daggers. Her jacket and stained clothing had been washed and hung up to dry in the closet, and the remains of a half-eaten sandwich were sticking out of the front pocket of her pack. Like him, it looked like she hadn’t been able to stomach more than a few bites of food, just enough to keep her strength up despite the ever-present memory of those sickening creatures. She had even started a fire, and the warmth now permeated every inch of the spacious room.

Though Taly had apparently managed to keep herself busy since they’d parted ways, that did little to explain to Skye just how she wasstillin the washroom. He was suddenly very glad that he’d decided to play it safe and jump in the Ensigns’ shower in the bunkhouse downstairs. While using a semi-communal shower wasn’texactly optimal, at least the water had been warm.

Sinking down even further into the impossibly soft, overstuffed chair, Skye decided to close his eyes for a moment, comforted by the gentle, tuneless melody emanating from behind the washroom door. He started when the sound of hushed cries drew him back to the waking world. Slightly dazed, he looked around for the source of the sound, only to find Taly sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. She stared at her hands, the cuffs of an oversized shirt pulled back to reveal the bruises marring her skin. Her shoulders trembled beneath the billowy fabric.

Dropping to the floor, Skye crawled across the narrow space and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey,” he said gently, twining his fingers with hers and pulling her closer. Taly jolted, drawing in a sharp breath. “It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted. Her shoulders tensed, and she tried to push him off. “It’s just the smoke from the fire making my eyes water.”

“Of course it is,” Skye agreed readily. “Unfortunately for me, though, I don’t have your emotional fortitude, and I could use a hug.” She glared at him even as she leaned into him, and he smiled when he felt her body relax. “Hell of a day, huh?”

Taly barked out a mirthless laugh. “Your ability to understate is truly unparalleled.”

“What can I say? I try.”

Taly sniffed and viciously wiped at her cheeks. “Why do my eyes keep leaking? Every time I turn around lately… Shards, what an annoying habit to pick up.” She shook her head, turning to stare into the fire. “I was actually doing okay until I stopped long enough to think about all of this. Has it really only been a single day since we left Della?”

“Less than that actually—we didn’t leave until midday.” Skye moved a hand up to gently comb through her damp hair. “At the very least we’ll have some good stories to tell when all this is through. You especially. How many mortals can say they managed to kill one of those creatures? None of the humans downstairs, that’s for sure.”

When she turned away, her face crumpling as a fresh wave of tears streaked her cheeks, Skye realized his mistake. “Shit. You’d never killed anything before, had you?”

Taly shook her head vehemently. “No. When I was salvaging, I had to protect myself, but most things left me alone if I fired off a warning shot. I think the closest I ever got was about two months ago when I got hungry enough to try to hunt a rabbit.”

Skye buried his face in her shoulder, trying to hide his smile. Taly. Hunting. That was something he never thought he’d see. He would never forget the look on her face when Ivain asked if she wanted to learn how to hunt—scorn, outrage, and just the slightest bit of uncertainty since she had been right in the middle of spooning herself out a second helping of Eliza’s lamb stew.

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