Page 74 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

Caspian shook his head, his face a mask of maddening calm.

“Leave me with a dagger—something better than that flimsy thing you brought—and your ingenious hairpins,” he commanded. “Zephyr can pick my cuffs when the time is right.”

“And then what?” I asked, panic mixing with exasperation at my perfect, handsome, noble, idiotic mate. “How will you escape while surrounded by enemies who want to decapitate you?”

“I won’t,” Caspian said calmly. “You’ll save me.”

He explained his plan, which was really more of an amendment to the plan we had first concocted in Nordhavn.

“It will be close,” I worried, biting my lower lip.

Caspian brushed my lip with a thumb, pulling it out from between my teeth. “I have faith that it will be spectacular,” Caspian assured me. “Now lock me back up, Urchin.”

I groaned, acquiescing and hissing to Astraios to throw his dagger through the grate to me. I shoved it down Caspian’s boot and gave the pins to Zephyr, who secreted them away in a hidden pocket in her waistband—something I would absolutely need sewn into all of my gowns and trousers from now on. “My father really shouldn’t have let you keep your clothes.”

“And scandalize his guards? Never,” Caspian drawled as I locked his hands back into place behind his back. He couldn’t hide his wince as magic fled him again, but at least this gave us more time to set his wings properly.

“If you’d never met me, you would have been saved a lot of pain,” I murmured, frowning at the broken, bloody feathers that were once again my fault.

“Urchin, look at me.” Caspian turned, kneeling before me with his gaze fierce on mine. “I would rather die tomorrow than live a thousand lives without you. You are the best part of me. The greatest gift I have ever received. And everything that has happened to me was meant to happen, to get us here. Together.”

“But if I fail—”

“Then my life will still have been better for knowing you. For loving you.” Caspian pressed his forehead to mine, and I shifted on my knees so he didn’t have to stoop. “You are Marina, queen of sirens and selkies, mate of the Siren King, and daughter of sea and sky. You will not fail.”

I nodded, letting my tears fall as Caspian sang.

So sing of sea and sky, my love,

The tale a sweet lullaby.

A story of old, a dream so bold,

The ballad of sea and sky.

“You’re a hopeless romantic,” I teased, wiping a tear away as he finished on a final, quavering note.

“It’s sickening,” Zephyr chimed in, reminding us she was still there and listening.

“Only for you, Urchin,” Caspian laughed, brushing his lips across mine one last time. “Go ready your troops for battle.”

“Don’t die tomorrow,” I commanded, refusing to let his gentle kiss be our last as I pressed another to his lips. “Or I’ll kill you.”

Caspian chuckled as I rose and locked his cell again, the clunk of the door sounding like a death knell.

“Tomorrow, Urchin. Kill me tomorrow.”

Chapter 27

It would have beenfar more poetic for the morning of my execution to dawn cold and clear, rather than the stormy, foggy grayness that held the islands in its fist as we were marched out of the keep and to the beach.

It was still fairly dark, the sun having not made its ascent over the horizon, and the five hundred stairs to the beach were slippery in the lashing storm.

I thanked the skies for it.

None of the guards had checked my boots nor Zephyr’s trousers, thank the skies, and I could sense the tension thrumming through her as we waited for Marina to make her move.

I had a backup plan, of course, although it wouldn’t be pretty. Worst case scenario, I’d attempt to overpower my guards and do enough damage with the dagger for at least Zephyr to get away.