Page 91 of Bloodgrove

“You had the sea. He has this city.”

“Only a small, bitter taste of the thing we long for. The one who imprisoned us knew how to torment an eternal soul.”

Will looked out over the sea, the horizon blurring beneath the next approaching snowstorm, the world cast in mercury and lead. What kind of man would he have become if he had never found the Albatross, never been given its magic? He was good at what he did. He needed nothing supernatural for that, and yet… His fingers slid over the curve of his belly, where he felt the cold sea and a second heart beating.

The Albatross wrapped its tail around Will’s legs and lifted him onto the balustrade. “My most beautiful one, salt of my sea, come with me. Let me show you the wonders of our magic. The night is still young.”

“Will!” Eric’s voice tore him away from the sight and touch of the god.

Startled, he turned and felt the Albatross calling the sea behind him. It beckoned to him, inviting him to fall into the god’s arms. Instinctively, he reached for the Albatross’s claw, not wanting to let it go, while at the same time knowing there would be no coming back.

A wave rose, and the wind whipped its spray into the air where the water hurled itself against the rocks with the full force of the ocean. Will let go of the Albatross.

“My pearl of the deep,” he heard the god’s voice say, but then it vanished with the wave as it collapsed back into the sea.

Clouds moved across the moon, and Will was left alone.

Eric hurried through the garden, his coat drawn tightly around him.

“Will, what are you doing out here?” Eric’s shocked expression finally ripped Will completely from the dream—if it had even been a dream. Who was to say that on a night when demons and spirits danced across the land, the gods could not reach through the veil as well?

Eric was beside him the next moment and lifted him from the balustrade. Will cursed when he stepped into the snow and the ice burned against his skin like fire. The only warmth was Eric, who pulled him closer still, his gaze fixed over Will’s shoulder on the balustrade and the sea beyond it.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked, forcing Will to look at him. In the gathering storm, silver hair whipped wildly around them.

How was he supposed to tell him how empty he suddenly felt? How lonely his heart beat inside his chest? How much he missed being filled with the god’s terrible love?

Only slowly did the danger sink in. Eric had come out into the night of demons, when even the most powerful mages locked themselves away, and had found him somewhere between dream and reality.

Pressed close together, they made their way back into the house, but Will remained silent.

Chapter 48

Will and Eric were two small black silhouettes against the vastness of white. With their hands buried deep in their coat pockets, they trudged through the landscape, fresh snow crunching beneath their boots. On one side, the cliffs dropped steeply toward the sea; on the other, jagged mountains rose, while the rolling hills opened before them.

Duke Wilkinson had arrived, and the two men had decided they did not want to be in the house for the reunion of the betrothed couple, preferring instead to brave the weather for a walk. The castle was barely visible in the distance anymore.

“What did I see last night?” Eric asked after long minutes of silence. “In that second when the moonlight broke across the wave…”

“…you saw the Albatross.” Will bit his lower lip and squinted toward the pale patch in the sky that was meant to be the sun.

“He looks terrifying, but not as though he means you harm.”

“It's hard to tell. You came at the right moment.” Would he otherwise have accepted the offer? Let himself fall into the intoxication of his magic and be carried away to whatever the god wanted to show him? He shoved his fists deeper into his coat pockets and pushed the thought aside. “What you said about Elodie last night was beautiful.”

Eric gave a low grunt and turned his face away.

When no answer came, Will sighed and looked up into the white sky. “So it was never a problem that I am not a woman.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Eric’s head jerk toward him, but he continued. “It is sad that it took a truth serum for you to explain yourself.”

“I owe you nothing.” Eric’s words cut like the wind. “But no, it was never a problem that you are a man,” he added more softly.

Before Will could answer, a long, mournful cry reached him, sinking all the way into his bones. He recognized it at once as the sound he had heard during the sleigh ride. “Did you hear that?”

Eric stopped beside him and lifted his head into the wind. But the world remained silent. At last, he called his dogs back, and they came bounding through the snow in long strides.

“What did you hear?”

“It sounded human… I heard it on the way here too.”