Page 143 of Salt in the Seas
“She won’t be going alone,” a familiar voice from the back of the crowd called, “because I’ll be going with her.”
Once again the crowd parted, but this time it was for Gellen. As he made his way to the dais, Nori’s face grew blotchy with scales. She shook her head but didn’t say anything, perhaps taking her own advice to let people choose their future. Or perhaps she saw the way his offer gave them an edge.
Elder Algaen exchanged a look with his wife, and Gaeren could imagine what they were wondering. If Nori and Gellen went together, would that solidify their future as a couple? Was that worth the risk of sending her across the barrier? Even Gaeren wondered if this could be the solution.
No matter what Nori had said, he didn’t think there was a third path. Her mother would have remembered any other path that left Nori alive. But maybe this could create a different version of the second vision. A version that allowed Nori time to earn her Awakening and to be with Gellen.
Nori pursed her lips, watching Gellen’s approach as though calculating his demise.
They were a good match.
When Gellen reached the stage, he gripped Nori’s hands in his. “Please let me go with you. Not because I want to protect you, but because I love you.”
A wave of lovesick gasps tore through the crowd. But the loudest reaction came next to Gaeren’s ear from Aeliana.
“Oh, it’s about time,” she murmured.
Gaeren laughed. “You’re one to talk.”
She glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I haven’t seen you declaring your love for Lukai.”
She frowned. “You know very well why.” Then she leaned closer to him to get a better vantage point, and he beganto wonder… did he know? He reached under his sleeve to tug at the braid still on his wrist, as if it might remind him his focus was on protecting her and nothing more. But the heat of her pressed up against him became far too distracting.
“Give it up already,” he muttered at his bond mark, which twitched incessantly.
“What?” Aeliana asked.
“Nothing.” He turned his attention back to the dais, where the elders had finished deliberating.
“All those in favor of letting them go?” Elder Algaen asked.
Four of the five elders raised their hands, including Nori’s father, and Gaeren’s heart beat faster. Had Nori actually done it?
“Very well,” Elder Algaen said. “In an hour’s time, once we’ve raised the gallows again, we will hang those responsible for murdering the sprites, then let the others return to Vendaras.”
CHAPTER 54
Nori’s gazesought out the corner where Aeliana and Gaeren hid, panic flashing across her face before she could school her features.
“No,” Aeliana whispered. “They can’t do that.” She glanced at Gaeren, whose face had gone white. “There’s still time to fix this. She’ll have the starbridges. We can stop it.”
He swallowed hard.
She reached for his chin, forcing him to look at her. “Do you hear me? We will fix this.”
He nodded, then licked his lips. A strange urge to kiss them swept over her, and she shook it away as her bond mark throbbed painfully. It was only her fear that this was his last night propelling her to do something so ridiculous. He would have many more nights and many more chances to kiss his bondmate, not her. She rubbed her palm against her tunic to scratch away the itch.
As if the elders had instructed everyone to return home, the crowd started dispersing, and Aeliana pulled Gaeren down the street. “We need to get back. They can’t know we left the hut.”
“What about the others?” he asked, even as he followed her. “They’re out in the woods and there’s a big hole in the hut. The soldiers will realize they’ve been drugged.”
Aeliana had no answers, so she kept running. They had to at least try. If the hut was found empty, they’d never be allowed to leave.
When they reached the woods, they ran even faster until they heard their names shouted in the wind. Velden stuck a webbed hand out to wave them down, then guided them through a copse of trees to a small clearing where the others waited.
Despite their exertion, Gaeren’s face was still pale, so Aeliana filled them in on everything that had happened as quickly as she could.
