Roar and Liv (Under the Never Sky 0.50) - Page 2

I pull her closer. The way she feels against me makes my heart stop. “Of course not. ”

“Me either. ” She plants a kiss on my cheek and darts away before I can kiss her back, leaving me smiling at the darkness.

We walk the beach trail, winding our way to the ocean. When we reach the water, Perry launches himself into the dark waves as Liv, Brooke, and I wait along the shore.

I drop my arm over Liv’s shoulders. “He’s overreacting, isn’t he? I didn’t spill that much on him. ”

Liv taps the bridge of her nose. “It was enough,” she says, and I understand. Like Liv, Perry is a Scire and has a sense of smell as strong as my hearing. It wasn’t being wet or sticky that was bothering him, it was the sweet scent of the Luster.

When he’s done swimming, we pick up the northern trail, which will take us all the way to the cave. The Aether does a slow dance above us, flowing in veils that give enough light to keep us from stumbling in the darkness. Even so, Perry takes the lead because of his night vision. Because Perry is out in front, Brooke is out in front.

“Well?” I ask Liv as we settle into a comfortable pace. Her long blond hair shines in the darkness, and the line of her nose is painted in blue Aether light. “How was he?”

He is Vale, Liv and Perry’s older brother. He’s also the bastard who leads the Tides as Blood Lord and who has never approved of my relationship with Liv.

“He’s fine,” Liv replies. “He was tired from the trip. I could tell he was anxious to get home. ” Vale arrived earlier, after supper. For the past month, he’s been away negotiating with a northern Blood Lord, Sable of the Horns. The Tides’ food situation is getting desperate. Aether storms for the last winters have been brutally strong, torching stretches of farmland, so our crop yields have dropped lower than ever. Vale told us that when he returned from seeing Sable, he’d have solutions. He promised us we wouldn’t go hungry.

“He was in good spirits, seeing Mila and Talon,” Liv continues. Vale’s wife and son are both ill. It’s been hard for Perry and Liv, and I can’t imagine how that must make Vale feel. I try not to think about it. I’d rather not waste my sympathy on him.

Liv kicks a stone. I hear it skitter over the dirt trail. “I think he was relieved to see they’re doing well. I mean . . .

as well as can be expected. He spent most of the night telling Talon about his travels through Ranger’s Edge. He said it was the hardest journey he’s ever taken. That he didn’t know what cold was until this past month. ”

I nod. The Edge is known for its harsh winds and icy slopes. “Anything else?” I ask. Like everyone, I want to know what solutions Vale has come up with.

Liv is quiet for so long that I begin to wonder if she heard me. Finally she looks over and says, “He asked me to go hunting with him in the morning. ”

My knees lock up. “He did?”

Liv turns when she realizes I’ve stopped. She nods. “Perry was there too, but Vale was clear. He only wants me to go with him. ”

“Huh. ”

“Yeah,” Liv says. “Huh. ”

As we resume our walk, I can’t stop thinking that this request—command?—is strange. Vale seldom hunts; he’s usually too busy attending to his duties as Blood Lord. When he does hunt, he rarely includes Perry or Liv. My guess is that he doesn’t like competition and wants to be the only Scire.

There’s little warmth between the siblings now, but it wasn’t always this way. When their father was still Blood Lord, they were close. We all knew what happened to Perry in their house when Jodan drank, and I think the terror of those nights kept the three of them bonded. I can still remember Liv and Vale sitting on either side of Perry in the cookhouse, pressed against him like a human shield after he’d taken a beating. But when Vale became Blood Lord after Jodan died, things changed. Vale keeps Liv and Perry at a distance now. The day he put the Blood Lord chain around his neck, he became their lord first and their brother second.

Liv’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “What do you think he wants?”

“Maybe he just wants to hunt,” I say, but we both know that can’t be true.

Vale always has hidden motives.

After an hour, the trail brings us to a bluff overlooking a small cove. Perry and Brooke have already climbed down to the beach. I see the flash of sparks below—a blade striking flint. Perry is at work starting a bonfire.

Liv and I descend the slope, a climb we’ve done a hundred times. When I hear her foot slide on the loose dirt behind me, I offer her my hand. “Here, love. ”

“I’m fine. ”

“Well, I’m not. I’m scared. Take my hand?”

She humors me—I never fall—but I get what I want: her hand in mine. An excuse to feel a bit of her strength as we make our way down the hill. And a window into her thoughts.

We climb a little farther down before I hear her.

Still scared, or are you better now?

Tags: Veronica Rossi Under the Never Sky
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