All's Fair in Revenge

Chapter 41: Reckless

I never thought much about the cold until I lived among the humans. They gave Liv and me frowning stares as we snuck out of the castle's kitchen door the following day. It was near midnight, most everyone but the staff slept, and I had just woken from a glorious day of blissful, uninterrupted sleep. I'm sure I'll never know why Eyr granted me such rest, but I would not question it.

On the beach, soft waves rolled over feet and sucked on our hems, its lullaby filling the air with hope. Liv gestured enthusiastically for the wine bottle we shared between us. "Alharelian wine must come from Elysios, no?" It dribbled from her mouth into the sand, its redness bloodying the shore. She licked a drop from her stained lip. "You know, it's too bad what happened to them."

"I'm surprised you're drinking." I took the bottle from her and sipped. "No one sticks to those outdated edicts more than you do."

"Nathara makes it look fun." Liv yanked the bottle back. "And, if we're going to die soon, I figured it'd be unfortunate to die sober."

From the time it took us to walk the cliff, Liv had conjured seventy-two reasons why my new plan was a bad one. Sixteen of them ended in my death. Fourteen of them ended with hers too.

"You're not going to die."

"The second you tie your soul to the prince your life is forfeit."

"And if I return home, my mother will have it. At least it's my choice this way."

"I don't think that's what Arin would want, Hana."

"Well, we don't know what Arin would want, do we? That's kind of the entire point." A wave crashed and splashed our skirts past our knees. We hardly cared. "I saw her out there."

"Out in the ocean?"

"The woods," I corrected.

"How was she?"

"Still dead."

"Death does tend to be permanent." She sipped. "Is that what precipitated this asinine new plan of yours?"

"It's not exactly new. You knew my intentions in coming here."

"Yes, for a short jaunt to slit some throats and return home in a fortnight, not a bloody coup. I promised Alona she'd—"

"Speaking of you and Alona..."

Liv's head tilted, her jaw chewing on the abrupt change of subject. "What about us?"

"How long?" Liv shrugged. "I've heard voices in your room. Was she one of them?" She shook her head. "It can't have been long after she cornered me in the garden and asked me to leash you."

Liv's grimace faded into a smirk. "You've known?"

"I had my suspicions and tried to keep Thorne at a distance for both your sakes, but tonight was inevitable, I suppose."

"Tonight was not what it looked like. She earned eight or so ticks looking for you and because she's clumsy and squeamish she tripped over the sofa and took me with her."

"I know what I said yesterday and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did, or at least not in the way that I did." I paused and stared at Liv. "I was angry because it looked like my friend was too preoccupied to care whether I was left for dead in the woods or not."

She concentrated on a particularly shiny rock before meeting my gaze. "For all's sake, Hana, I knew you weren't dead. When you didn't return, I was worried sick. I waited all night at the tree line for you to come back only to find Sybil had arrived. We took shifts looks for you. Eventually, Thorne got tired of waiting and told us not to expect him to return until he found you. I begged to go with him, Sybil too, but he refused. He said it was too dangerous for her out there."