Page 53 of Skyshade
The stormfinch was singing.
She turned to look at Oro, eyes so wide they watered. They had just seconds. Grim would hear the bird. He would portal here, so they could go into the storm.
She had to get to Grim first. Keep him away from her room. If he found Oro here...
Flashes of their battle echoed in her mind. Blood, everywhere. Her, screaming at the sky, watching them nearly kill each other.
Her voice tumbled out of her. “I have to go.” She stood, immediately missing the faint heat that had started radiating out of him. “Stay here. Stay hidden.”
The stormfinch continued its singing. It was getting louder. Grim would be on his way.
Oro’s brows came together. He looked half ready to demand to come with her, but before he could say a word, she grabbed her clothes in a fist, then the starstick, and portaled into Grim’s room.
He was standing in its center, looking half a moment from going to her.
“Hearteater,” he said, mouth barely moving, as if on instinct. His eyes filled with surprise and happiness for less than a second, before they narrowed in confusion. He was staring at her night clothes. Likely wondering why she hadn’t changed in her own room.
Her heart was hammering so loudly, she wondered if he could hear it. Her emotions were unbridled. Grim was feeling a canvas of relief and devastation and fear—
“I—I need help,” she said quickly.
The stormfinch was still singing. She could hear it faintly, even from down the hall. Would Grim want to go to it?
She turned around in a flash, offering her back to him. “The buttons. I can’t reach them.”
It was a lie. She was grateful he wasn’t Oro, because he would have seen through her in a moment, with his flair. There were only fivebuttons. She could easily twist and get them, but she made a frustrated sound and pulled her hair over her shoulder, to allow him access.
For a moment, he didn’t move an inch. He must have already alerted a guard, because somewhere far away a bell started ringing, warning the nearby villages of an incoming storm. The warning would spread across Nightshade.
They didn’t have much time. They needed to get up into the skies quickly and follow Azul’s instructions.
Yet time seemed to stand still as Grim’s cold fingers brushed against her spine. Her shoulders hiked.
“Sorry,” he said, somewhere close to her ear. “You’re...very warm.”
She swallowed, pulse racing, thinking about the Sunling skin she had just touched. The warmth that had filled her like a gulp of summer air.
Panic spiked, knowing he was still in her room. Just a few walls away.
She turned to look at Grim right in the eyes, attempting to distract him from wondering about anything. “It’s fine. Don’t stop.”
His gaze didn’t leave hers as he undid the next button. Then the next. Then the next. Until all of them were done, and her straps were hanging off her shoulders, back completely exposed. Body turned away from him, but eyes on his, she let the night dress drop to the floor. Watched his throat work.
Then, she turned toward the wall. She shrugged on her long-sleeved shirt and pants. She didn’t know if he was watching, but by the time she had everything in place, he was facing the wall.
“Ready?” she said.
He nodded.
And he portaled them both to Wraith.
The night was starless. The darkness seemed to simmer, full of something she couldn’t see but they both could feel.
Wraith moved silently through the sky, farther and farther up until Nightshade was lost below.
“Worried, Hearteater?” Grim said, leaning in so she could hear him through the wind.
She swallowed. Of course she was worried. Oro was in her room—in Grim’s room—at the very center of the land of his enemies. He had flown across the world. He could be discovered in an instant. How long would he wait?
