Bone Crier's Moon (Bone Grace #1)(83)

My body quakes with guttural rage. I turn on the owl. “I know what you’re trying to tell me, but I won’t hear it. Ailesse isn’t going to die!” I may be Odiva’s daughter, but I can’t really be her heir unless my sister is dead. Furious tears sting my eyes and smear my vision. All these weeks can’t have been leading up to Ailesse’s death and my ascension. I never agreed to be a part of that.

The owl hops off the parapet and screeches at me.

“No!” I cry. I’m not playing this game any longer. I’m not completing my rite of passage or ferrying souls or even opening the Gates of the Beyond. I’m going to focus on saving Ailesse before it’s too late. There has to be another way to save Dovré from the Chained.

And suddenly I know what it is.

I’ll give Odiva the bone flute—the one I spent the last three days carving.

I race away from Castelpont. I run full speed for Chateau Creux.

I don’t care what the silver owl or even Ailesse wants me to do.

I’m not giving up on my sister.





38


Bastien


I QUIETLY STEP FROM THE scaffolding and enter the room off the quarry, careful not to wake Ailesse. She needs her sleep. Every day she needs more.

She rests on her side with her back to me. I set down my pack and drift closer to her. My body shivers with heat. Ailesse’s auburn hair lies in swirls like dark flames and shining water. That’s how my father would have described it. He’d study her from every angle before trying to capture her with his chisel and hammer. He’d save his money so he could afford to sculpt her from marble instead of limestone.

“Your father carved this one for you, didn’t he?” Ailesse asks on a weak breath.

I stiffen. Because she’s awake. And she’s thinking of my father, too. Her hand is on my most prized possession. I see it on the ground over the curved line of her waist. My dolphin sculpture. I’m not sure how I feel about her touching it. It’s the only sculpture my father never tried to sell. It was his gift to me. He often took me to the coast to see dolphins, my favorite animals. We’d watch them jump from the water in pairs. “What makes you think that?”

“Because it’s the best one.” Her slim fingers glide along its tail. “That’s proof of how much he loved you.”

I shift my weight from leg to leg. I don’t know how to reply. I’ve learned to live with the pain of losing my father, but I never shared the sorrow. Jules and I shared the anger instead.

Jules. I sigh. She and Marcel weren’t anywhere in the castle district. Hopefully, Birdine has better luck finding them tonight.

I set down my lantern and pack. It’s filled with more food and supplies. Ailesse never asks if I steal what I bring her. Does she even understand the concept of money—what it’s like to need it and never have it?

It doesn’t matter. If I had a thousand francs, I’d give them away for anything that might make her smile. “How are you feeling?” I move closer, wishing I could see her face.

Except for her fingers tracing the dolphin’s back, she holds perfectly still. “Did you know I once hunted a tiger shark? I killed her with a knife, and I didn’t even have graced strength—not until she gave it to me.”

“I have no trouble believing you took down a shark.”

She rolls over and finally meets my gaze. My pulse races. Her skin is pale and her umber eyes are weary, but she’s still breathtaking. She doesn’t know it, but every day when I’m gone, all I think about is her.

“I know you’re strong, Ailesse.”

“Not enough.” Her chest falls. She glances at the lanterns and candles around the room. They’re fine candles, ones that don’t smoke or sputter. I never rationed them like I said I would. I keep bringing her more. “It’s not enough light,” she confesses.

I can’t stand seeing her in pain any longer. I have to get her out of here. “Are you well enough to walk?” I offer my hand. I know somewhere that might be safe. I haven’t risked taking her there yet, but now I’m desperate. “I want to show you something.”

After a tense, stretched, and nerve-racking moment, she reaches up and sets her hand in mine. The warmth of her skin instantly settles me. I pull her to her feet, and her earthy, flowery smell fills my lungs, better than any perfume.

I help her down the scaffolding and onto the floor of the quarry, then lead her into a tunnel she’s never been through before. My lantern faintly lights the path ahead—a mining tunnel, free from any skulls and bones. I don’t want anything to upset her.

We step over rubble and duck under places where wooden beams hold up the fissuring limestone ceiling. We slide through narrow spaces and crawl over piles of bricks. Every time our hands come apart, my fingers ache to touch her again. As soon as possible, I take her hand once more, and she weaves her fingers tightly through mine.

“There used to be a great house in Dovré,” I say as we come near our destination. “The baron who lived there turned the courtyard into an aviary, and he covered it with a dome of leaded glass. The house is abandoned now; half of it collapsed into a quarry. The dome fell, too, but the glass didn’t shatter. It was so strong that most of the panes stayed intact.”

We step out of the tunnel, and Ailesse gasps. I set down my lantern. We don’t need it anymore. I let go of her hand to give her a moment alone. She walks under the wide beam of moonlight and tips her head back. Vines hang from broken sections of the dome above us, and ivy creeps all around it. Despite that, light finds its way through. A silver glow shines down in a dust-flecked shaft.