Page 86 of Spar of Hearts

“She’s not dead,” she murmured, voice muffled against her dress. Reality seemed to hit her all at once.

“No, I’m sure she isn’t.” His hand hovered over her back. Was this a moment to comfort her? Or give her space? She didn’t seem to take him pulling away very well last night. Her faint sniff made his decision. He wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her back up and down in slow, soothing strokes. The shudders of her body radiated through his arm as she cried.

“I wasn’t taught how to handle this.”

“No one is.”

“This is guessing. No matter what, we’re guessing. On the ship, I know that X means Y. This—this is lives, Roderick. People I care about. And stars, the children…”

This was clearly agonizing for Anya. And while he was deeply concerned about their friends and the children, critical decision-making was nothing new. He could shoulder the guilt if he was wrong. He’d endured far worse.

“I’ll decide then.” He grasped Anya’s hand and stood, pulling her to her feet. “We’re going into Aquillas. If it turns out I made the wrong call, you can throw me back into the sea. We’ll leave a message in the cave here too—arrange some rocks on the beach. Sound like a plan?”

“Yes. Excellent idea.” She sniffed. “I apologize. It seems I can’t think straight today.”

Roderick rested a hand on her shoulder. “Octavio will protect Lady Rowan with his life. I ordered him to. Not that I needed to. He’s quite fond of Lady Rowan, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh I noticed.” Anya chuckled weakly and swiped at her eyes. “But I don’t think she has.”

“Best not to tell her. More entertaining that way.” He winked, making her chuckle turn to a laugh. “Come on. Let’s get to work.”

While Anya burned sticks to write with, Roderick arranged stones into a message beyond the tide line:

WENT ON

R + A

It was good enough. If the Lupus Star did come by, Octavio would almost surely find the cave given his survival training identical to Roderick’s.

It would be easier to leave a detailed message in ashes. He placed the last stone, then stretched his back with a satisfying pop.

“Are you almost finished?” Anya called.

“Yes!” He hustled back to the cave. Anya had her message scrawled onto the wall:

Went on to Aquillas

“Perfect.” Roderick nodded. “Short and sweet. Octavio and Lady Rowan know we’re trying to establish a trade route, so the capital, wherever that is, will be an obvious meeting point.”

“My thoughts exactly. Here is your shirt, by the way.” Anya slipped his dirty white shirt off and held it out. “Thank you.”

Keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it, his heart sang. But he couldn’t exactly make a good first impression in Aquillas without a shirt.

“You’re welcome.” His pulse quickened as he put it on. It was still warm from Anya’s body and carried a little hint of her bergamot scent with it.

Best decision ever.

Ulv, tråkk der dine forfedre tråkketTa med magien din til skaperen, og kom hjem

“Well, the words are still here. Still mysterious. Still gibberish,” Roderick said, holding a luminous ball of moss to the wall.

“There has to be a lever, or a door! Something!” Anya growled. “It can’t just be words.”

Roderick stretched an arm up, searching for more clues above the inscription, but found only unblemished cave wall. Anya paced back and forth in front of the wolf carving. He stepped to the side to give her room, then noticed the other side of the dais was much smoother than where he’d been standing in front of the wolf. He knelt and squeezed the moss over it.

“Paw prints?” Roderick whispered to himself.

“What?” Anya whirled around.