Let the Storm Break (Sky Fall #2)(17)

I rack my brain, trying to guess what clue I could have missed— but nothing he’s said has made sense.

Not until he unfastens his cloak, letting the silky fabric slide to the ground.

Pants cover his legs, but the rest of his body is exposed. What’s left of him, anyway.

He steps into the moonlight, giving me the full effect, and I can’t stop myself from gasping.

Pricks of light leak through his skin—a million tiny holes that make him more empty space than person.

I want to gag, cry, run away from the horror.

But his eyes hold mine—sad and vulnerable as he whispers, “There’s much more power in pain.”





CHAPTER 11


VANE

T

his place is messing with my head.

I’m so freaking tired, but every time I close my eyes, my mind floods with all the doubts I’ve been trying to deny. All the questions I’ve been trying not to ask.

I never realized how much the pain of my bond calmed me. Gave me something to hold on to—something to prove that my connection to Audra is real. Now that it’s gone it’s like all my pathetic insecurities are feeding off each other, leaving me needy and desperate and tempted to do something really stupid, like wake Arella up and ask her if she thinks her daughter loves me.

I know I’m being crazy. Audra told me she loved me before we kissed—and I made sure the whole thing was her choice.

But she’s been gone so long.

Twenty-four days may not sound like a lot. But considering we were only together for five days—and most of the time she spent fighting with me or accidentally almost killing me—it’s a long time. Enough to make me seriously wonder if she’s really coming back.

I hold my right arm up to the dim candlelight and focus on the braided copper bracelet Audra gave me.

I can almost feel the sparks of her touch from when she latched the band around my wrist. She found it in the ruins of the storm that killed my parents and held on to it for ten years so that I’d have something that belonged to them.

She wouldn’t do something like that if she didn’t care about me, would she?

Then again, she did give it to me after she told me that loving me would be a permanent mistake . . .

She changed her mind after that, though.

But . . . couldn’t she change her mind again?

Stop it!

I’m tempted to say the words out loud so that maybe I’ll actually listen to them. It’s just this place making me crazy.

When I get back to the winds and find Audra’s trace, the rushing heat will blast away these stupid worries—though I have no idea how I’m going to pull that off. I’m sure the Gales will be watching me even closer now, which makes me want to bury my face in these pillowy things and scream until I have no voice left.

Instead I stare at the silver compass set into the center of my bracelet. It usually channels my heritage somehow and points to the west.

Right now it’s just spinning and spinning. Like it’s feeling as lost as me.

“I wish Liam were here,” Arella whispers, making me jump. I didn’t realize she was awake.

I roll over and find her sitting in the center of her floor, staring at the ceiling.

“Liam?”

“Audra’s father. He knew how to weave the winds into lullabies, and they always gave me the sweetest dreams.”

I really shouldn’t be encouraging her, but I can’t stop myself from saying, “He sounds like his daughter.”

Audra used to send winds to my room every night. It’s how I dreamed about her for ten years, watching her grow up along with me. How I fell in love with her before I even knew if she was real.

“He was,” Arella agrees. “That was the hardest part, after . . .”

Her voice cracks and she turns away, but through the chains I can still see the tear that streaks down her cheek, leaving a shiny trail on her gray, dirty skin. It almost makes me feel sorry for her.

Almost.

“You get that it’s your fault, right?”

She opens her mouth and I expect her to blame Audra—me, anyone she can think of—like she did the first time I confronted her about this.

All she says is “I know.”

She walks to the farthest part of her cell, keeping her back to me. I watch her shoulders shake with quiet sobs, trying to understand how the frail, broken woman I’m looking at could be the same person who murdered my parents and tried to kill Audra right in front of me.

She really does seem different now.

Which is the most dangerous thought I can have.

Arella’s smart—and patient. Odds are this is just another part of her game.

“How are your memories, by the way?” she asks, smearing away her tears with shaky hands.

“Why? Did you commit any other murders you don’t want me to remember?”

“Of course not, Vane,” She rubs the skin on her wrist, which I notice is bare now. The gold cuff that she used to wear is gone. “I only ask because I’ve been worried things might be a bit . . . jumbled.”

I glare at her, hating that she’s right.

She knows it too.

“That’s what I was afraid of. Releasing memories is a very tricky thing. I had a feeling Audra didn’t do it properly.”