Page 81 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

The pink blush across her cheeks darkened, but her gaze was steady as she met mine. She dragged a chair so that she was sitting next to me and sighed heavily. “Yes.”

“So?” I pushed, eager for details. “Is it official? Have you even kissed yet?”

She bit her lip. “We were alone in Nordhavn, Marina. What do you think?”

“And?”

“And that’s all,” she replied primly. “I barely know him, Marina.”

I groaned.

“It’s not that simple,” she said, smoothing the blankets to do something with her hands. “It’s…it’s not…”

She struggled for words, and I turned to look at her properly, trying to ignore the ache in my side where Caspian’s stitches lay. “It’s what?”

“It’s not how this was supposed to be,” she said firmly, sounding so unhappy that it broke my heart a little. “I know you and Caspian were a…a surprise, but it is right. Perfect. But my parents expect me to mate a selkie and have selkie children. What will they say if I bring home a siren and claim he’s my mate? And all we do is argue with each other and stare awkwardly. Is this how it’s really supposed to be?”

I blinked. It stupidly hadn’t even occurred to me that Sereia might be struggling. My love for Caspian now felt so natural—so second nature—that I had somehow already forgotten how it had begun.

“You have to remember,” I said, still holding Caspian’s hand between mine. His breathing was steadier than it had been, and I wondered if the sound of my voice was enough to soothe him, even in this state. “Myrelationship with Caspian began with him kidnapping me. You should have seen how we bickered in those first few weeks.” I smiled at the memory. “It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, but there was that inexplicable pull. The desire. It was enough for me to look past our differences and consider a different path than the one I’d been told I had to take.”

“You were forced together,” Sereia pointed out. “Under peril and adventure and danger. It's natural for affection to bloom in those conditions.”

“And you and Astraios weren’t?” I teased, smirking at her. “I recall you telling me he crashed through your window while on a secret mission for me. Sounds like adventure and peril.”

“Seas, he was so handsome,” she sighed.

I laughed and nudged her shoulder with mine, the humor giving me a brief reprieve from Caspian’s injuries. “The bond muddies everything. I wondered more than once if what I felt was real or just some twist of magic. But when it’s reciprocated, it’s…” I tried to put into words what my bond with Caspian was like, finding it impossible. “It’s an indescribable connection. Consuming and terrifying and wonderful.”

“But what..” She paused, considered, and tried again. “What if he leaves? What if he won’t wait for me to be ready? What if this is my one chance and I ruin it?”

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. And I know Astraios.” I pushed a lock of her silver hair back from her face and met her sky blue eyes. “He will wait until the world ends, if that’s how long you need.”

“You think?”

“I know,” I corrected. “Talk to him. Fight with him. Honestly, it makes forexcellentforeplay.”

“Marina!” Sereiapretended to act scandalized.

“And when all of this is finally settled, we can send you on some diplomatic mission or other to give you an excuse to have your own adventure. You waited years to find each other. You can give yourself a few more months to fall in love.”

I looked at Caspian, still and injured and pale, lying in a bed that I was determined he would wake from. Mira would come and heal him, and he would be the same strong, handsome, irritating male I’d fallen in love with.

He had nearly died on that beach. I’d seen him flagging in his fight. Seen how deep the Stormcrow’s blade had pierced. If the sea dragons hadn’t answered him, I would have lost him.

No. I would have felt it and saved him. But the thought still terrified me.

“You have time, Sereia. He’s your mate forever, whether you claim him now, or in a hundred years. But if I were you,” I added, kissing Caspian’s bruised knuckles, “I wouldn’t wait that long.”

Chapter 29

“Urchin.”

I looked up from where I’d been sipping my tea, my cough having returned in full force.

“Cas,” I croaked, my voice hoarse from coughing and shouting and generally not getting any rest. I scrambled to put the teacup down, my hands shaking as I took his in mine. “How do you feel?”

“How do I look?” he countered, hiseyes barely cracking open.