Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2)(12)

Everything stopped. The cherry blossoms froze, suspending in midair around her. The sound of the wind vanished, and a sudden dead silence fell over the Realm. After an instant, the petals rose up in reverse, then seemed to catch and flitter down again, normally, floating to the ground as sounds returned.

Aria saw the shocked look on Hess’s face. “What was that?” she asked. “What just happened?”

“Come back in three days,” he snapped. “Don’t be late, and you’d better be on your way north by then.” He fractioned out, disappearing.

“Hess!” she yelled.

“Aria, what’s wrong?”

Roar’s voice. She shifted her focus. His eyebrows were drawn with concern.

“I’m all right,” she said, quickly running through the commands in her mind to take off the Eye. Aria gripped it in her hand, rage blurring her vision.

Roar moved closer. “What happened?” he asked.

She shook her head. She wasn’t entirely sure herself. Something had gone wrong. She’d never seen a Realm freeze before. Had Hess done that on purpose to scare her? But he’d been nervous too. What was he hiding? Why the sudden urgency that she go to the Horns?

“Aria,” Roar prompted. “Talk to me.”

“Hess knows I’m here. And he wants me to head north right away,” she said, choosing her words carefully, making no mention of Talon. “He doesn’t care that the pass is frozen.”

“He’s a bastard, Hess.” Roar’s gaze moved beyond her, up the beach. “But I’ve got good news for you. Here comes your chance to break the glass.”





5



PEREGRINE


Perry walked down the beach toward Aria, aware of his every step. They’d only have a few minutes together at best, and he couldn’t reach her fast enough.

He met Roar halfway. “Keep an ear out?” Perry asked.

“Of course,” Roar said, cuffing him on the shoulder as he walked past.

Aria stood as he reached her. She pulled her dark hair over one shoulder. “Are you sure this is all right?” she asked, looking past him.

“For a little while,” he said. “Roar’s listening. Reef’s farther in on the trail.” It felt wrong to have men guarding him from his own tribe, but he was desperate to be alone with her.

“Did you find Cinder?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I will, though.” He wanted to reach for her, but he scented her temper. She was nervous about something. He had an idea what that was. “Twig—he’s an Aud—he told me what happened in the cookhouse. What people were saying.”

“It’s nothing, Perry. Only gossip.”

“Give them a week,” he said. “It’ll get easier.”

She looked away and didn’t answer.

Perry ran a hand over his jaw, not sure why it felt like they were still pretending around each other. “Aria, what’s going on?” he asked.

She crossed her arms, and her temper cooled and cooled, turning to ice. Perry fought against the weight of it settling over him.

“Hess knows I’m here,” she said at last. “He’s making me leave. I need to go in a few days.”

He remembered the name. Hess was the Dweller who’d thrown her out of the Pod. “Does he know it’s not safe to go north yet?”

“Yes,” she said. “He doesn’t care.”

Her fear gripped him suddenly. “Did he threaten you?” Perry asked, his mind churning.

Aria shook her head, and it hit him.

“He has Talon. He’s using Talon, isn’t he?”

She nodded. “I’m sorry. This is one time I really wish I could lie to you. I didn’t want to burden you.”

Perry fisted his hands, squeezing them until his knuckles ached. Vale had planned the kidnapping, but he still felt responsible. That wouldn’t go away until Talon was home safe. His gaze moved up the beach.

“This is where he was taken,” he said. “Right here. I watched the Dwellers kick him in the stomach and then drag him into a Hovercraft at the top of that dune.”

Aria stepped toward him and took his hands. Her fingers were cool and soft, but her grip was firm. “Hess won’t hurt him,” she said. “He wants the Still Blue. He’ll give us Talon in exchange.”

Perry couldn’t believe he had to buy his nephew. It was little different from what he would have to do to get Liv home, he realized. Vale had traded them both for food. Everything pointed to Perry going to the Horns. He needed the Still Blue—for his tribe, and for Talon. And he had to settle a debt with Sable for Liv not showing. Maybe then his sister would finally come home.

“It’s sooner than I thought,” he said, “but I’m going with you. We’ll leave in a few days and hope the pass is clear by then.”

“And if it’s not?”

He shrugged. “We’d battle against the ice. It would probably take us twice as long, but we could do it. I could get us there.”

Aria smiled at what he’d said. He didn’t know why, but it didn’t matter. She was smiling.

“All right,” she said. She wove her arms around him, turning her head to his chest. Perry brushed her hair away from her shoulder and breathed her in, letting the strength of her temper bring him back. One breath at a time, his anger faded into desire.