Page 114 of Forged in Fading

“I’m perfectly fine. If you’re done trying to drown, I’m going to find a change of clothes.”

His own tunic and pants were soaked, hugging the muscles of his body⁠—

Alvara forced her gaze to the sky, tracking a seagull in its search for land.

“I’ll do my best,” Boden said. “I have a feeling you might not be willing to jump in after me a second time.”

If only that were the truth.

At the end of a long day spent avoiding Boden, which was essentially impossible on such a small vessel, Alvara glared at the sleeping hide they had to share if they both wanted to survive the frigid night.

For whatever reason, the humans stored bigger versions on their ships, requiring two people per sack to fend off the cold. It hadn’t bothered her the first night, seeing as her only other option would have been to share with a complete stranger.

But now, freezing to her fading didn’t sound so bad. She could give it a try, just for tonight.

“Second guessing the sleeping arrangements, are we?” Boden opened the hide and settled himself inside.

After the kiss—no, she shouldn’t even call it that, because he had been out of his mind and she had only done it to save his ass—Alvara wasn’t sure how she would feel sidled up to his body all night.

“Not at all,” she said with an air of confidence that she in no way felt. She slipped in next to him, pushing her body against the outer seam to put as much space between them as possible.

“I have every faith in you. We all do, Alvara. Tomorrow will be successful, I’m sure of it.”

Oh. He thought she was acting like a lunatic because she was nervous about meeting with the dwarves. That would make much more sense than her real predicament, which involved trying and failing to ignore the spark along her skin when his leg brushed against hers.

What was wrong with her? They were friends. She wouldn’t lose Boden to some romantic spat, and they couldn’t afford to focus on anything but the impending ela season, which meant the battle loomed near. He had only kissed her because he thought she was the selkie.

She didn’t lie to him, not completely. “It could, or it could go poorly and change everything for the worse. That’s what scares me the most.”

“It can’t hurt to try. You would be upset with yourself for not giving it a chance, knowing the outcome could change everything for the better.”

She wished he wasn’t only talking about the dwarves.

Chapter Forty

Solid ground, thank Vitharen. The soil underneath their feet radiated heat, even though they stood at the base of towering mountains. Alvara had anticipated a host of issues in meeting with the dwarves, but a lack of doors was not one of them. They had hiked inland from the shore, but now a solid slab of rock blocked any path forward, smooth as a freshly forged blade.

She beckoned cobwebbed memories of her father, the stories he told of the dwarves and their realm, Dervahem, though limited in number, that might offer them a clue on how to enter. They were master smiths, created to craft weapons for the gods and endowed with inhuman strength. Sunlight was said to turn them into the stone they inhabited, rendering them imprisoned in their own kingdom.

Sunlight…

“What are you thinking about?” Boden stepped toward the rock and stretched out his hand, grunting. “It won’t budge, not even with my magic.” He still stank of saltwater, as did she, from their unfortunate encounter with the selkie.

“Dwarves can’t be in sunlight,” Alvara said. “I think we may find an entrance to their kingdom once the moon rises.”

“And until then?”

“We wait.”

The moon burst through the clouds, washing the stone before them in soft tendrils of silver light. Finally. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could spend playing this boring dice game with Boden and the other men to pass the time.

Symbols of all kinds glowed on the stone where none had existed before, and one of the sailors reached his hand toward a carving. Alvara lunged, but not fast enough to stop him. The moment his skin touched the stone, he transformed into a solid statue.

Curses rained from the humans, and Boden shoved the Dwarvish book into her hands and took a step back. “Did I say I know Dwarvish? Because I might have misspoken. And I’m not so sure our lives should hang in the balance based on my ability to read a book.”

“A little too late for that, don’t you think?” Alvara plopped the tome back in his grasp and pushed him toward the glowing slab engraved with some kind of poem. “Just don’t touch it.”

“Thank you for that. I’m fairly confident I figured that part out.” He inhaled a long breath, blowing it out as he flipped open the pages he held. “I breathe life or burn it, time you can find something me, but look something long and you shall no longer see.”