Grace and Fury (Grace and Fury #1)(58)

“You never respond the way I expect.” Malachi ran a hand through his wet hair. He looked out at the hedges, streaming with rain. “When I chose you… I wasn’t thinking. I don’t know why—”

“I do,” she said, rain lashing her face. She couldn’t hold her tongue; she couldn’t be demure. Not when she stood in the center of a thunderstorm, her fear and fury raging just as loud. “Because you wanted to break my spirit. Isn’t that it? That’s what your father said.”

“He does not speak for me,” he snapped, shocking her. “I am not my father.”

“No,” she said, thinking of what Asa had said. Volatile. “You’re worse.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” Frustration filled his voice. Lightning illuminated his reddened cheeks. She cringed at the brightness. “You’re—”

Nomi stepped up to him, an inch away, her heart pounding. “What?” she challenged.

He stared down at her through the flashing rain. “Dangerous.”

His lips found hers with the force of a thunderclap. She froze for an instant, and then she found herself yielding, slick with rain, fevered and shaking. He gripped her tightly, his embrace both a protection from the storm and its own tempest.

With a gasp, Nomi tore herself away. His full lips were parted, his chest rising and falling quickly, as if he’d been running.

She turned into the driving rain and fled.





TWENTY-NINE



SERINA


IT WAS LATE afternoon, nearly twilight, and Serina had almost made it to the eastern beach when a storm swept down upon her. Waves of rain soaked through her thin clothes in seconds, and the wind tore at her hair, flinging the wet strands against her chilled cheeks.

Serina kept walking, doggedly ignoring the flashing lightning and ground-shaking thunder. She was not afraid. If anything, the storm comforted her; Bruno and the other guards wouldn’t be patrolling in this weather.

Eventually, she reached the eastern beach. Instead of huddling in the small cave she’d found with Jacana, Serina sat on the wet sand and let the rain wash her clean. She held up her cupped hands and drank what she could. As she watched the lightning flash over the tossing waves, she thought of Nomi. Her sister would be frightened. Serina wished she could be there to soothe her fears, as she’d done so many times before.

The night before, after she’d been banished, Serina had gone to the cliffs and watched for more fireworks from Bellaqua. She’d thought about jumping. But the next morning, she’d still been there, still trying to figure out a way to get to Nomi.

Now, as the storm pummeled her, Serina let her mind rest. Her empty stomach ached. Her muscles cramped in the needling rain. But she drifted, and it was a gift, this momentary haze.

By the time dawn broke, the weather had cleared, leaving a morning as fresh and clean as any she’d experienced. It was impossible to let the darkness win, when the sun rose from the ocean like a phoenix, draped in fiery orange.

Serina wrapped the gash in her arm with a strip of cloth from her threadbare shirt, and then she glanced around at the wind-swirled beach and worked on developing a plan.

Food, first. She’d eaten nothing the day before.

She scrounged for berries and found the kind Cliff had told her about, that tasted like they would kill her. But they didn’t, and she kept breathing.

She examined the trees that framed the beach, and she walked the rocks that built around the narrow strip of sand. The rising cliffs didn’t interest her, but the tiny caves that pockmarked their base did. The one she and Jacana had found was one of the largest, probably big enough to hide a raft.

She was heading back toward the trees, hoping to scavenge more food, when the sound of footsteps rose above the constant drumbeat of the waves.

Serina headed toward the trail. It didn’t occur to her to hide; she assumed Val had come looking for her. Maybe even hoped he had.

But it wasn’t Val—it was Jacana.

“What are you doing here?” Serina asked. Her friend looked even more timid than usual, curled into herself and half hiding behind her stringy blond hair.

Jacana stopped where the waving golden grass gave way to golden sand. “I thought you might come here. I wanted to check on you. Make sure you were okay.”

Serina joined Jacana and sat, staring out at the water. “I can’t say I’m okay. But I’m alive, so that’s something.”

Jacana held out a flagon. “I snitched this from the supply. I thought you could use some water.”

Serina took it gratefully, tipping a few sips into her mouth. “Thank you.”

“I couldn’t get any food, but that should last for a day or two. And you can use it to collect more.” Jacana glanced back toward the trees. “Oracle is really angry. Most of the girls are.”

Serina sighed. “I know. But I don’t think I’m wrong.”

“I don’t think you are either,” Jacana said. She took off her flimsy shoes and wiggled her toes in the sand. “But it’s dangerous. And we’re all hungry.”

“And why are we hungry?” Serina’s anger snapped and growled in her chest. “Because the Superior doesn’t send enough food? Or because Commander Ricci keeps it all for himself? I heard Oracle and Val talking.… Val said the Commander takes food meant for us.”