Page 28 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
“What’s the purpose of knowing different knots?” I probed instead.
He grinned up at me. “Because knowing the right knot can save a ship… or impress someone interesting.”
Seems like his confidence never waned.
I rolled my eyes, an expression I noticed happened often, like a movement I was well acquainted with, and he muttered a laugh. The god fiercely tugged at the next knot, his muscles bulging through the white tunic that fit snugly over his body, the buttons undone until midchest, sweat gleaming—
“Is it working?” he asked with a wink.
My heart pounded beneath my skin, but his presence infuriated me. “Not quite,” I responded with a leveled stare, but my traitorous cheeks burned.
My lungs deflated completely before I dragged my next breath in, a strategy to calm the rattling of my nerves before I went on.
“I need you to know that I do not remember… the past of us. And I need time to think, to feel, to untangle myself from this before I can face you, or the shadow of what we were.”
Noctis’s lips twitched. “I feel the distance I’ve caused, and it weighs on me as it must weigh on you.” His hands dropped between his legs, the rope hanging from his curved fingers. His emerald jaded eyes met mine, sincerity in his tone. “Take all the time you need. I will wait. I have centuries if I must, and I will be here, patient and unwavering, until you are ready to face me again.”
I will find myself again. In the space between what I lost and what I feel now.
He must have noticed the hesitation, because he continued.
“I know what you’re actually here to ask. Remember the god-like hearing? But I’m afraid the answer isn’t going to be what either one of us wants to hear.”
“And what exactly do you think I came to ask you?”
“Calvin can’t ever whisper,” he huffed forcibly. “We will be at the Waning Isles tomorrow morning, and I have not yet collected a human soul for entry.”
So, he did know what I came to discuss with him.And itwasactually Calvin that sent me.
His face scrunched, eyes averting as if even he preferred to ignore the necessary conversation.
“It doesn’t get easier handling souls.” His voice dropped low, heavy with anguish. “Souls that are long gone are fine—ready to be taken to their final destination. Souls that have already passed on are no longer within my reach. In this realm, I would have to claim one that still clings to life. And the universe works in balance. If I take a soul, it will demand a soul in its place. Willingly or not. Equal weight. Equal loss. It could cost more than you understand. Maybe even you.”
Never would I understand the cost of what the god would have to do for the mission. And in that moment, I pitied him. To know he might have to take an innocent life... and live with that choice.
My breath caught. Noctis shot his gaze toward me, frantically searching my face. “What’s wrong?”
“I think I may know a way you can get a human’s soul without having to carry the weight of an innocent’s death on your conscience.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
In… out… slow my breathing… in, out, in…
Damn. It wasn’t working.
My nails dug deep in the wooden railing as my feet dangled over, waiting for me to mentally prepare for the plunge.
The sea is my home. My birthplace.But it didn’t feel like it anymore. It rejected me, threw me to shore, and attempted to brutally steal the rest of my life.
“You don’t have to do this,” Noctis spoke quietly, fearfully threading through each word.
Except, Ididhave to. Every quiet moment for the rest of my life would remind me that there might have been another way to spare an innocent life. It’d devour my mind, then my body, and then my soul.
“I won’t let anything hurt you,” he assured.
For some reason, I believed him.
My body shook violently with nerves, but no matter how desperately I worked to hide it, they took over my movements. Sweat glistened my clammy hands with each passing second, wind whipping cool water across the front of my body, but flames burned beneath my skin. If the god knew fear wracked my emotions, he’d attempt to convince me of another way of gaining a soul for entrance into Shadeborne.
