Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2)(35)

Just as a sliver of sun peeked out over a river that lay down to our right, Ilyan began a quick descent to a small community surrounded by farmland.

“Are we going to be farmers, Ilyan?” I asked my voice stretched out as I yawned again.

“No, I have had more than enough of that to last me a lifetime,” he said.

I couldn’t think of why Ilyan would choose to be a farmer. The work seemed far too slow and monotonous, but then he had also lived in at least three churches that I knew of. They were both odd choices.

“Do you see that house in the middle of the main street, the one with a green roof?”

I looked eagerly toward the center of the town, easily picking out the green roof amongst the brightening buildings. The house was huge. Daydreams of my own bed and bathroom filled my mind. I had lived in close proximity to Ilyan for far too long.

“It’s not much,” Ilyan said, but I scoffed at him.

“As long as there is a giant bed, in my own bedroom that I can sleep in for the next two days I will be happy.” I grinned and bobbed happily a little bit, careful to keep Ilyan’s hands against my skin, and the shield Ilyan was protecting me with intact.

“There is a bed, of that much you can be sure.”

“A bed?” I asked, terrified. “What do you mean a bed?” I wiggled around in his arms, craning my head to look at him.

Ilyan looked down on me for a minute, his lips turned up at the corners, before looking away.

“I mean, there is one bed where we are going.” I didn’t miss the hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Not two?”

“Not two.” He didn’t seem too torn up about this.

“But the house is huge...” I looked toward it aimlessly, my excitement dashed.

“We call it the haunted house. We haven’t used this safe house for decades, so I am hoping that if there is a spy they won’t be able to find us here.”

“The haunted house? Why would you call it a haunted...?” We were close enough to the house now that I could see large portrait windows, and the family inside having breakfast.

“Someone lives here?” I yelled in a panic.

Ilyan clasped his hand over my mouth. We landed on the roof right against a window that obviously led to the attic. The glass was so old and grungy I couldn’t see inside. Ilyan’s hand moved down my arm to wrap tightly around my unbroken hand, keeping contact with my skin. The motion reminded me that we were nowhere near safe.

“Someone lives here?” I asked in a whisper the second Ilyan had removed his hand.

He looked to me with an exasperated face that I knew all too well, our feet securing us precariously on the steep roof.

“Yes, Siln?, someone lives here. The safe house is in the attic. We will be confined to a very small space for a week – and only a week,” he added hastily as my mouth fell open in panic. “We call it the haunted house because while they can’t see us, they will be able to hear us moving around and talking.”

“So we are like, ghosts?” My panic was steadily increasing.

“Ano, and thanks to your nightmares, we are going to be very loud, scary ghosts.” I blushed and turned away.

My nightmares. I still needed Ilyan every night when I woke up from my tormented dreams. No wonder he hadn’t been worried by the one bed thing. He was turning into an over-protective older brother. I shook my head and turned to Ilyan who had opened the window to pull me inside.

‘We stay in the attic’ had been an exaggeration. Ilyan pulled me into a tiny alcove that was partitioned off from the attic by wood paneled walls. Each wall had a window that looked into the family’s cluttered attic. I could see the windows having been installed for security purposes, but my guess would be that they were actually to prevent someone from going crazy in the eight by eight box I had been led into. The windows mirrored the one we had come from, magic shimmering over the glass to keep the family from knowing we were here.

I plopped down onto the bed that took up the whole room, and a plume of dust filled the air around me. I pulled Ilyan’s hand that was still wrapped firmly around mine and forced him to sit next to me, causing more dust to fly into the air.

“Please tell me this is a nightmare, Ilyan. Tell me I am going to wake up any minute.” I couldn’t keep the whine out of my voice. I had gone from a studio apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom to a room with a bed in the attic of someone else’s house.

“It’s only for a week, Siln?.” He squeezed my hand and I fought the desperate urge to pull away.

“And then where, a Murphy bed in a bowling alley?” I was mad, and Ilyan’s laughter at my comment only made me more upset.

“No, somewhere much better than this. I promise you.”

“Where?” I asked.

“I have a little house in the south of France. It’s right on the beach and has a few bedrooms and bathrooms. It’s mine. It’s not a safe house. No one but Ovailia and Talon know it’s there. After a week here I am going to take you there, until we figure out who has betrayed us and you are ready to kill Edmund with your own hands.”

“A beach house?” My spirits were soaring already. I had never been to a beach in my life, let alone one in France.

“Yes.” Ilyan said. “With your own bed.”

I bounced a bit, sending more dust in the air, as I wrapped my free arm around his neck, bringing his tall torso down to my level.