Page 70 of Greed of Giants
Killian lifted my hand and kissed it, his breath tickling my wrist. I shivered, a trace of delight shimmering, pooling, then fading. “You speak as though it is the end.”
My chest went tight. “It is, isn’t it? You saw what I saw, you know what I know, that sacrifice is required.”
“I know.”
The question hovered on the tip of my tongue. There was no delicate way to say it. “Is that why you’re so calm, because you’ve taken this journey before? What is dying like? Does it hurt?”
His fingers grazed my cheek. “It’s difficult to explain, but you don’t have to be afraid, Ilaris. It’s only the beginning, and before, I had so much regret. Now, I have achoice, and I know it’s the right one. That is why I have peace. We aren’t out there, where the world is burning. We are here, together. And that is far, far better than anything I experienced, or could have imagined.”
I threw my arms around him, holding him close because even so, I was still frightened of what came next. Would I be brave enough to choose this, to step into the unknown? I had always been brave before, but now I felt shaky, unsure. “Tell me how to be calm, like you?”
He cupped my face with his hands, studying me. “Ilaris. The worst that could happen is that the sea serpent dives and we are drowned in the depths. That the Four find us first and slay us before we reach my kingdom. The key isn’t dwelling in the possibilities and the what-ifs, it’s knowing where we are going, what we are doing, and finding the beauty in each moment. Have you traveled the sea like this before? On the back of a beast that could bring down ships? Have you ever slept to the music of the deep water, knowing there is nothing to fear from the voices beneath the waves?”
I smiled, already my heartbeat slowing. I breathed deep, tasting the salt spray on my tongue, feeling the cool mist settle around us. “Kiss me, Prince Killian. Fire Giant. Love of my heart. You always know what to say, and my heart is glad to have you.”
36
Killian
Ashape stood on the swell of a hill, as though waiting for us. He leaned on a gnarled staff, his skin leathery from too much time in the sun. A white beard trailed down his chest and, beside him, an ox chewed the grass with slow, bovine contentment, indifferent to the ruin the world had become.
I glanced behind me as Ilaris and I sloshed out of the water. The sea serpent had already vanished, but even if the man hadn’t been standing there long, he would have seen it release us from its coils and slip away. Yet he wasn’t fleeing in astonishment or shouting in shock. He merely stood there, watching us approach.
Ilaris gave a sharp breath. “I’ve seen this man before,” she whispered urgently. “When I got off the train, he was here, watching me.”
“Did you speak to him?”
She shook her head, then paused, her browfurrowing as though remembering. “I asked him for directions to the village, Stonehaven.”
“And he gave them?”
“He just pointed.” She went quiet.
Then he wasn’t a Guardian, so why was he here, waiting for us, as though he had known the exact hour we would rise from the sea? Fire shifted restlessly beneath my ribs as we closed the distance, and it was Ilaris who spoke first.
“I remember you. You gave me directions to Stonehaven. This was months ago, before everything unraveled. I thought you might have said something else, too, but I convinced myself it was my imagination.”
“Don’t go,” the man said, words rough as though his voice wasn’t used to speaking.
Ilaris tilted her head. “Why?”
“You went. The world burned.”
Ilaris frowned. “But how could you know that? Are you one of the Guardians?”
The man shook his head. “I am like you.”
“I don’t understand.”
The man pointed to his chest. “Ben. The Scholar.”
Ilaris staggered back a step. I reached out, but she caught herself.
“You,” she breathed. “Harlan mentioned you, the last scholar who went to the ruins. You never came back, you never wrote your findings for the House of Scholars.”
Ben tapped his head. “I saw. Truth.”
“You had a vision of the future,” she said slowly, piecing it together. “You knew what would happen if too many curious scholars came here. It was inevitable.”
