Page 8 of Shardless
“Of what nature?” Lady Castaro asked. Her voice was crisp and refined but somehow still laced with warmth. The Marquess’ younger sister, Sarina Castaro, was the heart and soul of Harbor Manor—and the only mother Taly had ever known.
“I’m afraid I can’t say,” Syn replied with ashrug. “Very secret. Very precious.”
“Is that so?” the man, Lord Emrys—Skye to those that knew him—replied dubiously. His hand grasped the side of the wagon, and his fingers curled underneath the tarp, blocking her view. “I must say, I’m curious now. What could you possibly have stashed away that you couldn’t show us?”
“Now, Skye,” Lady Castaro admonished, and Taly could perfectly envision the way she placed a motherly hand on his shoulder. Shards, how she missed Sarina. Even though the fey noblewoman made a point to keep tabs on Taly’s whereabouts, they hadn’t talked,reallytalked, since Taly left the manor. “Sorry, Synna. Skye’s in a bit of a mood right now. He and Ivain had to meet with the Sanctorum this morning.”
“I am not in a mood, Sarina. I’m being perfectly cordial.” Skye’s fingers drummed against the inside of the cart.
“I’d heard the Sanctorum was in town,” Syn said carefully. “I hope there’s not trouble. After the Marquess kicked those butchers off the island, I thought we’d finally seen the last of them. Do you think they’ve found another time mage?”
Taly tore her eyes away from the hand that was slowly creeping toward her. The Sanctorum was a special task force sanctioned by the Dawn Court. They had a single purpose: to hunt down and kill time mages and their sympathizers. If they were back, that didn’t bode well for the little island.
“No,” Sarina replied hastily. “Shards, no. They’re just here to investigate a few rumors. Apparently, there’s been talk that someone is trying to sell time crystals in the backrooms of theSwap.”
Syn shook his head. “Rumors are all they had last time, but that didn’t stop them from burning our villages. It’s a miracle your Taly managed to survive.”
“We’re keeping a very close eye on them,” Skye said. “Ivain is even redirecting some of the Gate Watchers to oversee their visit. They’ll be accompanied at all times.”
“Yes,” Sarina added. “And even if the rumors are true, there isn’t anyone left that could use time crystals. All the time mages are dead, their High Lady is dead, and the Time Shard is gone. That means all of this fuss is over nothing more than a few pretty pieces of stone.”
Skye’s fingers faltered in their rhythm. “Are you sure we can’t see inside your cart? It smells… interesting.”
Taly’s heart sank. As a shadow mage, Skye possessed the unique ability to enhance his physical form by channeling aether. While many shadow mages limited the use of this power to increasing their fighting prowess, Skye preferred to use his magic to sharpen his senses. When they were children, he was always listening for changes in her heart rate or breathing, sniffing her out when she was hiding. She could hardly ever get anything past him.
Which meant that Syn had been right. Skye already knew exactly what, or more precisely,whowas hiding underneath the tarp. Depending on when he activated the aether augmentation spell, he could’ve known long before she and Syn had even rounded the bend.
“Skye, you’re being rude,” Sarina admonished.
Syn laughed. “Leave the boy be, Lady Castaro. I’d be offended if he weren’t a little curious.”
As Sarina began redirecting the conversation, Skye’s fingers continued drumming against the side of the cart, only inches away from her face. So far, all of his movements had seemed nonchalant and inadvertent, but Taly knew him well enough to see through the act. In his fidgeting, he had managed to move the edge of the tarp just enough that she had to press her back against a crate to avoid the beam of light that threatened to give her away. His head turned, and a set of eyes so green they almost seemed to glow peered into the shadows, searching. A second later, he had already turned away to nod at something Sarina had just said.
For a moment, she considered reaching out and twining her fingers with his. The temptation was so strong that before she knew what she had done, her hand was hovering next to his. She quickly pulled back.
Bad, she silently reprimanded herself. Even if she desperately missed the man that used to be her best friend, she shouldn’t do anything that might encourage him to seek her out. She had worked too hard to distance herself from her old life—from him.
Skye sighed as he pulled his hand away, smoothing out the tarp as he said, “Well, Synna—we won’t keep you. Make sure thatprecious cargoof yours gets to Ryme safe and sound.”
Syn tipped his head as he urged the mare forward, and Taly breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the cart begin to move. After a few moments of listening to the creak of the wheelsand shying away from the edge of a crate that dug into her back as they lurched back and forth, she crawled to the back of the wagon and peeked through a hole in the tarp.
She barely managed to suppress her squeak of surprise when a pair of glowing green eyes immediately found hers. Even though they were far enough away that her human eyes could no longer pick out the details of his face, she knew that Skye could easily see her with his magically enhanced senses. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he said something to Sarina, and Taly couldn’t help but laugh when the noblewoman turned and whacked him on the back of the head. Gathering up her skirts, Sarina ran ahead, stopping to call back to him when he didn’t increase his pace.
“You can come out now,” Syn said when they passed another bend in the road. She could hear the smile in his voice. “Unless you plan to hide back there all day.”
“Uh… yeah,” she mumbled as she crawled back into the driver’s seat beside Syn. It had been almost a year since she’d seen Skye in person, and it was by far the longest period of time they’d spent apart since she was six and he was ten. She had half-expected him to come running after them, but when she looked back, the road behind them was empty.
“Shards, girlie.” Syn nudged her with his shoulder. “I’ve known you and that boy since you were younglings. Why don’t you put everyone out of their misery and just talk to him? I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but surely it can’t be all that bad.”
“It’s… complicated, Syn,” Taly replied quietly. That certainly wasn’t a lie.
She slouched down in the seat and closed her eyes. On days like today, it was certainly tempting to give in to the ever-present urge to just go home—back to her old life at the manor.
But she couldn’t.
She couldn’t go back. She couldn’t allow herself to get too close to the people who had shown her kindness in a world that had so little left to give.
The girl they knew was gone, and no matter what, she could never tell them why.
