Bone Crier's Moon (Bone Grace #1)(108)

I pinch my eyes shut. That doesn’t silence the music.

You could both be so happy.

My chest is a drum of black powder. My nerves are threads of flame.

I have to make this end.

I set my jaw. I imagine myself in the Nivous Sea. I’m turning around in the water to kill the tiger shark, even after Sabine asked me to give her up.

I walk forward and take the bone knife from my mother’s hand. I stop trembling. Her eyes shine with pride. I’ve wanted her approval for as long as I can remember. My throat stings, but I swallow down my rising tears.

“I won’t do this.” My words are iron. My mother can’t break them. Her grin falls as I step closer to Bastien and take his hand. “We’ll do what you said,” I tell him. “We’ll find a way to break our soul-bond. And if we can’t, then I’m prepared to die with you.”

His brows quiver, but his eyes are a sure reflection of mine. He squeezes my hand and nods.

I turn to my mother. “You have no power over us. You can never make me kill him.” I move to drop the bone knife over the edge of the bridge.

She isn’t shaken. “Yes, I can.”

In a flash, she grabs my wrist and secures my grip on the hilt.

“What are you doing?” I wrestle against her. “Stop!”

With graced strength, she drives the knife toward Bastien’s chest.





51


Bastien


MY HEARTBEAT THRASHES IN MY ears. I grab Ailesse’s wrist. Throw all my muscle into stopping the bone knife. Its sharp tip trembles right over my heart. Merde, merde, merde.

I fight to pull it back. My head throbs, muscles burn. I can’t make it budge. Odiva is too powerful.

My eyes find Ailesse. She’s already looking at me. Her face is red. She shakes from exertion.

My throat tightens. I don’t want her to see me die.

A frantic cry shudders through the air. “Stop!”

Someone’s on the ledge. Odiva, Ailesse, and I turn our heads.

A dark-haired girl. The witness from Castelpont.

A boy my age races out from the tunnel behind her. He jerks to a stop once he sees us, eyes round.

“Sabine,” Ailesse gasps without releasing any tension on the knife.

Sabine gives her a flash of a smile, then glares at Odiva. “You have the wrong boy.”

My mind freezes. I stare at her blankly.

The boy scrutinizes me. “That isn’t Ailesse’s abductor?” he asks.

Sabine doesn’t answer. She yanks him close, whips out another bone knife, and brings it to his neck. His lantern crashes to the ground. He struggles to break free, but his effort is just as pointless as mine.

“What are you doing?” he demands.

“Say another word, and I’ll kill you.” Her voice is cold and steady.

“Wrong boy?” Ailesse repeats Sabine’s words. “What are you talking about?”

Sabine prods the boy a step forward. “This is your amouré, Ailesse.”

“But you were my witness at Castelpont,” Ailesse replies. “You saw Bastien walk onto the bridge.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s your amouré,” Odiva says. She isn’t trying to drive the knife into my chest anymore, but she holds it there, resisting as Ailesse and I struggle to pull it away. “Any man could have stepped onto the bridge.”

Ailesse looks at her mother and Sabine like they’ve both gone mad. “But . . . Bastien came when I played the bone flute.”

“He wanted to kill you,” Sabine says.

“He was lured to me. I saw it in his eyes.”

Sabine shakes her head. “Any man would be smitten with you, Ailesse.”

My heart beats faster. I size up the man in Sabine’s clutches. Handsome. Clearly rich. But Ailesse’s soulmate? Impossible.

Or maybe not . . .

My gaze drifts to Ailesse’s auburn hair, tousled and wild from fighting. She’s breathtaking. “It’s true,” I whisper.

Her eyes fill with hurt. “Why are you agreeing with them? That man isn’t my amouré. You are. I don’t care what they say.”

“Isn’t this what we want?” I ask. I wish we could have this conversation in private, without a knife in the grip of our hands. “If we’re not soulmates, then death can’t hang over us. We can be together in peace.”

Ailesse falls quiet, searching my eyes. “But you’re the one meant for me. I’ll never love anyone else. Why would the gods—?” She tosses a scathing look over her shoulder at the only visible Gate.

“The gods have nothing to do with us.” All I want is to hold her and kiss her and convince her I’m right. “We don’t have to play their game.” Is she listening? She hasn’t turned back to face me.

“How can you affirm this boy is Ailesse’s amouré?” Odiva asks Sabine. She’s already looking at him with more approval than me.

Sabine doesn’t answer. She stares between me and Ailesse in disbelief.

“Sabine,” Odiva says pointedly.

She blinks twice. Clears her throat. “Cas, he . . . he heard Ailesse’s song during the last full moon. He caught a glimpse of her as she was stolen away, and he’s been searching for her ever since. I found him at Castelpont tonight.”