“Where’s Gabriel?” I asked, scanning the doorway.
Santiago tilted his head toward the cliffs. “Still outside.”
I slipped past them and stepped back into the dawn. The ocean stretched out below, gilded by the rising sun. And there, near the edge of the cliffs, stood Gabriel.
He didn’t turn when I approached.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, my voice barely a breath.
“I haven’t seen the sunrise in three hundred years,” he replied, quiet.
I hesitated. Then stepped closer and extended my hand. “Sit with me?”
He looked down at my hand, then back at my face. Whatever storm lingered in his eyes, it settled as he placed his palm in mine.
We sat together on the edge of the world and let the light find us.
53
Aurelia
The sea crashed far below,the wind carrying its spray up to the cliffside where Gabriel and I sat. His shoulder brushed mine, heavy and unmoving, his gaze locked on the horizon like he could hold it still by staring long enough.
Footsteps crunched behind us. Hayat.
“Aurelia,” he said, voice even but edged with something unspoken. “May I speak with you?”
“Yes, of course.”
I rose, squeezing Gabriel’s shoulder before I stood. His hand caught mine, firm, unwilling to let go too quickly. When his eyes lifted to Hayat, they flicked over him slow and sharp, a measured disapproval that made my chest tighten.
“It’s clear you care for her,” Hayat said, steady but not unkind. “I apologize for my hostility. But if you’ve come to know her at all, you can understand my worry.”
Gabriel gave a short, humorless huff. “Understand it? What I’d like to understand is why you’re here.”
Blood slipped from his nose. He swiped it away with his sleeve, as if it were nothing.
Something in me tightened. Standing between Gabriel and Hayat, I felt the weight of everything pressing in, suffocating me.
“This is my home,” Hayat said simply. He pulled a folded handkerchief from his pocket and tossed it over. Gabriel caught it without thanks, already turning his eyes back to the horizon.
Hayat’s hand brushed mine, urging me gently down the path that wound lower along the cliff. I cast Gabriel one last glance, but he didn’t move, his profile sat in stillness against the sea.
We followed the path my mother once walked toward the ocean’s edge. The gulls cried overhead; the air grew sharper with salt. We walked in silence until the house and the others disappeared behind the rocks.
“Gabriel is very kind,” I said at last. “Don’t give him such a hard time.” I understood Hayat’s suspicion—it was his nature, maybe even his duty—but I needed him to trust me.
At the end of the trail, he stopped. He offered his arm, and I slipped my hand into the crook of his elbow, fingers brushing the firm line of his bicep as we turned toward the water. For a long moment he only watched the tide.
Then, finally, he spoke. “Tell me what you agreed to.”
My throat tightened. “What do you mean?”
I hadn’t told him I’d promised anything.
“You leave for Etherblooms,” Hayat said, voice sharp now. “An item rarely traded, and when it is, it’s bartered for more than coin. You return with an escort squad already preparing to return with no indication they—he—would be leaving without you. Don’t think me naïve, Elli. A bargain was struck. You may not want to say it aloud, but I know. I know my history. Unless you’ve forgotten all those nights we read banned texts together?”
His anger slammed into me, and I flinchedbefore I could stop myself. “Word travels fast even when the gates stay shut, Elli. They said the king chose a bride, but no one said her name.”