of Azrael in his enchanted bed that silenced his screams. Duncan was surly and damaged, but not in the same way. “Why does the autumn’s court fall affect him more than you?”
The question seemed to make him instantly agitated. He rose from the chair, all but knocking it over, but he couldn’t storm out. He stared down at me a second more, then sat.
“You should rest,” he said.
“I know you’re recreationally angry all the time, but you seem extra pissed off today, and I thought you and I were making progress.” I spoke lightly, but my feelings were hurt; our reunion earlier had felt so sweet, for a little while. “What did I do?”
“Nothing,” he said, his tone quick and curt and entirely unbelievable. “There is no point to talking until you’ve broken the enchantment. Until you’ve regained your memories. My feelings for you are irrelevant, because this version of you is temporary.”
“Oh, god, this again. You think I’m going to be a different person once I remember.” The thought scared me too, and a sudden lump rose in my throat. “You’re right. I need some rest.”
I rolled over onto my side so I faced away from him, yanking the blankets up over my shoulder. The dark-wood-paneled wall felt too close to my nose, in the tight confines of the ship, so I closed my eyes.
“Raile is ridiculously powerful,” Duncan said, his voice low and dangerous. “And perhaps as your own magic returns, combined with his, you could break Herrick’s enchantment…and your own, if you wanted to. But you don’t have the most wonderful record, do you? For facing the past?”
For once, I let Duncan have the last word. I just feigned sleep.
He snorted. Then I heard him lean back in his chair, propping his feet up on the side of my mattress, which dipped slightly. I hated knowing he was right there, watching me.
And it was also comforting to know he was right there, watching me.
Typically confusing Duncan.
I drifted off to sleep, or close enough to it anyway, and woke up when I heard him shifting. I lay there in silence as he moved across the room; there was a faint screech as he began to open the porthole, and he paused, perhaps to look back at me, before he continued.
Then he returned to the chair. My hair stirred with the breeze that entered the room, more powerful than it should have been; it felt like a cool, fresh caress across my face.
“Azrael,” he said softly, and the breeze died—or maybe it went to him. Azrael had mentioned in our lessons that the autumn court had wind magic. “Azrael, where are you? Are you…” He stopped abruptly.
There was a world of emotion in the pause that stretched after that. He cleared his throat, then added, “Answer me this time, damn you.”
The wind seemed to flutter around the room, raising papers and ruffling my hair, and then it was gone.
He let out a sigh, then shifted as if he were putting his face down in his hands. I knew he wouldn’t want me to have overheard—or acknowledge that I had—but suddenly, I wasn’t nearly as angry at Duncan. He was just worried about Azrael, as was I, and he didn’t know any other way of dealing with it.
He was terrible at communicating, irrational, grouchy. But beneath that cold exterior was a heart full of love for his brother and his friends and even for me. I loved the bond between Azrael and Duncan, even as it gave me a strange sense of longing; I wanted to have a brother who loved me the way they loved each other, but I didn’t.
Herrick had taken my brother from me, and I wasn’t sure if I could get him back.
This time, when I fell asleep, I fell deeply. But Faer’s face—and Herrick’s cruel words on his lips—haunted my dreams.
Chapter Six
Faer
The finest brandy slipped down my throat before I put the glass down with a clink on the wooden sideboard.
I stood framed by the open doors to my balcony, watching the stars blink into existence above the sea. The wind brushed my face and rustled my hair.
Somewhere out there, Alisa was alive.
Knowing she was out there made me feel a thrill of danger to be out here under the moon’s shine, because she might very well be capable of giving the gargoyles the slip.
She might save me. She might murder me.
I felt the smile slip across my lips. Then Herrick said out loud, “Still