?? Bran added. “Much of what she did was rage and violence. Whatever it cost us, it cost her more. She may, if wise, consider more strategy than force. We’ll need to prepare for that.”
“We need to eat.” Sawyer dumped the pasta into a bowl, tossed it with the butter and herbs he’d prepped. “And we need to sleep.”
“You’re not wrong. And we need to celebrate, however briefly, the fact that we’re safe, whole, and together.”
“And ready to search for the next star.”
Bran nodded at Doyle. “For the next. Water or ice, we can’t know, not yet. But the fates sent us here, where the inestimable Riley has again secured us a roof and beds, food. Tomorrow’s soon enough, isn’t it, to plot our own strategies?”
“It’ll have to be, because this is ready. Grab that tray, will you? And the wine. And I could use another beer.”
Sawyer stepped out into the lemon-scented night where a slice of moon shot soft blue light over land and sea.
Annika, being Annika, had fashioned a bouquet of flowers out of napkins, and gathered candles from around the house.
“I couldn’t find the . . .” When the word escaped her, she mimed striking a match.
“Matches,” Sawyer supplied.
“I’ll take care of that.” Bran simply flicked his fingers, and the tea lights and tapers glowed.
With a laugh, Annika clapped her hands. Then rushed over to hug Bran.
“I hugged Sasha and Riley. We’re all together, in this new place.” She turned to wrap her arms around Doyle, coaxed a smile out of him. “We have good food and good friends.”
Last, she turned to Sawyer, embraced him, indulged herself by breathing in the scent that was only his. “Nerezza is not with friends, and can’t have what we have.”
“She doesn’t want what we have.”
Sasha swayed once, then straightened. Her eyes were dark and deep, and saw more than the sea and the slice of moon.
“She has no wish for friends or love or affection. She is lies and greed and ambition, all dark. She is the dark. Now she rages, and she knows pain. But soon she’ll seek, and plot, and come. She thirsts, and the thirst is for blood. Our blood, for nothing else can slake that thirst. She will come, however we curtain our world. The Globe of All will find us. And she will find another, one to join in the hunt. Greed blinds, greed binds. The god takes the man; the man takes the god in a bargain sealed in blood. On this island, in these waters, in the songs, in the sighs, there will be battles new. Blood runs, pain strikes. And betrayal comes with smiles.
“On this island, in these waters, in the songs, in the sighs, the star waits, blue and pure, for the innocent and the valiant. It is not tears that form the Water Star, but tears will be shed before it is found.”
She swayed again, white as a ghost. Bran caught her to him, held her. “Just breathe, fáidh.”
“I didn’t fight it. I swear I didn’t try to block it. I just . . . Everything just felt a little off.”
“The shift. I’ve never traveled with a seer before, not anything like this,” Sawyer added.
“Scrambled brains?”
Sawyer slanted a look at Riley. “Not exactly, but maybe the vision just needed to, you know, catch up. You want some water? I’ll get you some water.”
“No, no, I’m all right. Better.” Sasha breathed out. “Actually better. It was like I couldn’t quite get my balance. Now I can. So maybe, yes, maybe it was the shift. And God, it’s been a day, hasn’t it? I’m just going to sit down.”
“And eat.” Moving quickly, Annika filled a plate with pasta, scooped out the tomato and mozzarella. “You need to eat the food.”
“And I will. We all will. It came on so fast. It was, yes, like it caught up and slammed into me. And so much of it’s brutal. Just the feeling inside it all. Her fury and need to destroy us. Not just hurt or kill now. Destroy.”
“You said she’d find someone,” Riley reminded her. “A man.”
“Yes, but I don’t know if it means male or just human. But she’ll find someone, and this person will join forces with her.”
“After battling a god?” Doyle heaped food on his plate. “I’ve no worry about dealing with a mortal.”
“Says the man who can’t die,” Riley put in. “Humans are canny, cagey, and dangerous. If Nerezza makes a deal with one, it’s because he—or she—is useful to her. Don’t get cocky.”