Page 42 of The Ashborn

“Are you playing matchmaker?” Kienna couldn’t help smiling.

Tislin’s eye twitched. He quickly blinked it away. “Talk to him about your shadows, please, so he can stop asking me about you.”

When they reached their destination, Tislin opened the door for Kienna to enter. She ascended the stairs and into the apartment where Moira and Calder sat together, drinking tea and eating berries. Calder held a blade and shaped a stick of wood into a bear. Moira snapped her book closed and set it behind her.

She rose, crossing the room to them. “You’re soaking wet! What happened?”

Kienna shrugged and took a berry off the counter. “Tislin pushed me into the water with his shadows.”

Moira gasped. “You what?”

“Those shadows will scare the shit out of you if you don’t know they’re coming,” Calder laughed.

Kienna bit her tongue to hide a smile. The fact that he even laughed was something, but the memory of Tislin wrapping shadows around Calder’s wrists in the middle of his detox made her skin crawl. At the thought, his cat brushed against her leg and purred.

Don’t get attached. I’ll eat that cat for dinner, Ruva growled.

Kienna approached Calder and dropped to her knees beside the sofa. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I still want a drink,” he admitted, “but I can fight it better now that my body feels brand new. I owe that to you.”

“Good enough to build a ship?”

Calder put his face into his palms, and his posture sagged. “I don’t know, girl. I took on more than I could chew out of drunken bravado. We’ll have to hang our hats on this one.”

“We may be able to help with that,” Tislin said, stepping into view. He turned to Kienna. “You must ask Connak first.”

Kienna clenched her teeth. “I’ll be back.”

—Connak—

“Slide into Alverton quietly,” Connak said. “There shouldn’t be much movement, but it’s hostile ground all the same. If there’s movement from River Storm anywhere, you’ll hear it there first. You’ll need to be fast.”

Danek crouched to lace his boots. His ears caught the light, too sharp, too visible. As he stood, Connak reached forward and pulled the hood over his head.

Danek flinched, then laughed softly. “I suppose I’m harder to blend in these days.”

Connak forced a smile. That’s what worries me. “Think of it as training,” he said instead. “Gather what you can before I send more Blades. There have been rumors of shadows. I want to see what they know before I brief Tristian.”

Danek tilted his head. “Shadows? Like the ones of Fire Storm?”

“That’s what you’re going to find out.” Connak adjusted the strap on Danek’s shoulder. “Stay in the alleys. Rooflines, if you need them. Listen more than you look. The older districts with cracked stone and loose shutters are where you’ll find looser tongues.”

“And if I find something?”

“Come back,” Connak bit. He caught Danek’s shoulder, fingers tightening. “Not after you investigate. Don’t interfere. Return immediately.”

Danek met his eyes, the humor fading. “You don’t want a fight?”

“I don’t want attention,” Connak said. “If you’re seen, we lose our leverage next time we need intel.”

Danek nodded once, then he turned and dove into the water, summoning the wind to carry him the seven miles across the channel until his form vanished into the haze. Connak stayed where he was long after. Danek was strong. He trusted he could do this mission. He would have to if he wanted Danek to take over the Blades one day.

As he turned to leave, a familiar call tickled the back of his mind. His heart fluttered at the feeling. He meant it when he told Kienna he’d still be there if she loved another, but it ate at him how easily Danek professed his love, as if it were that simple. As if there wasn’t life-binding magic between them. His and Kienna’s circumstances were far more complicated than love.

He pulled Kienna into his mind, letting the heat of her presence warm him.

Her glacial blue eyes appeared first, followed by her honey-bronzed skin. Connak would wrap his hands deep into her hair if he could, but he restrained with half a smirk. “You can’t seem to stay away.”