Page 130 of By the Orchid and the Owl
Exile was still a grim future, after all.
“I did something horrible,” Emelle wheezed, pulling back to clutch at her chest. “I couldn’t get them to stop, the owls. Not after I told them…”
She trailed off, concern pinching her blood-speckled forehead. I had just enough alertness left to ask, “Whatdidyou say to those owls to get them to… do what they did?” For Emelle would have had to speak in riddles and timeless wisdom in order to get her request across.
I heard Emelle’s response right as I was drifting off. Right as I felt Coen’s hand cup the back of my head and lower me onto his pillows. Into powdery sleep pitted against Terrin’s slabs of ice that soothed every aching point on my body.
Oftentimes evil things hide in a cloak
Or beneath piles of ash or mold.
But evil prevails if we tuck in our tails
Against eyes gray as silver and hair bright as gold.
When I woke, Emelle, Lander, and Terrin were gone, and I was tucked deep in Coen’s bed.
It was dark, but when I lifted myself up, I could make out the faint silhouette of his figure on the floor. Sleeping with a skimpy pillow and blanket.
Each of his breaths, heavy and on the verge of snoring, sent an ache through the sore parts of my body.
It shouldn’t be like this. Me in his bed. Him on the floor. Us not pressed together, sharing heat and breath and touch.
What had he said last night?I’m trying to keep people safe without having to steal their memories.He wastrying. And maybe that was enough for me. I didn’t necessarily need a Coen that was one hundred percent honest all the time, but I needed him to at leasttryto think of other solutions before he just… whipped out all his deceit that had become a part of him.
Even if I refused to keep him locked in this dome with me, I could have one more night with him.
“Hey. Coen.”
I winced as I slipped out of bed and gently touched the sides of his head.
“Hmm?” He jolted out of his sleep. “Rayna. Is something wrong?”
“No. I just… you don’t need to sleep on the floor. That can’t be comfortable.”
During the months we’d dated, I’d never seen Coen take a sip of ale, but Ididknow what it was like when he was drunk with fatigue, half-asleep and nearly sleepwalking. And this, I decided when he pressed his forehead against mine and lifted me back up onto the bed, was one of those times.
He sank into place beside me. Stroked his thumb along the side of my neck, so gingerly it felt like a feather on glass. His breath was filling my open mouth, and I didn’t close it, missing the taste of him on my tongue, wanting more…
My ice wasn’t quite gone, but there was a part of it that wanted to be melted. Right now. Right here. I wanted to be a puddle of heat beneath him and—
“Rayna?”
I jolted away from Coen at the squeak, and he lifted himself up and away.
“Who’s there?” he asked, in a surprisingly alert voice.
I knew who it was, though, and I patted the bed until Willa came scurrying up onto the covers, clutching something in her tiny, sharp claws.
“Willa? What’s going on?”
“The Good Council is here for the Final Test,”Willa panted, and I clutched Coen’s arm. “All of Dyonisia Reeve’s spiders have arrived from Bascite Mountain. I’ve been warding off the ones near you, but this one—” She nodded down at her closed paws. “—claims it’s on your side. So I thought I’d give it the chance to explain before I bite its head off.”
God, Willa could be ruthless. Just as ruthless as Sasha and Sylvie.
“I just want to see the top of the world,” came a moaning voice.
For the second time since I’d hired it, my spider had gotten itself trapped. Perhaps it wasn’t thebestspy, but I wasn’t about to let Willa bite its head off.
