Island of Exiles by Cameron Erica

Author:Cameron, Erica
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Heartless, Three Dark Crowns, A Shadow Bright and Burning, Leigh Bardugo, LGBTQ, high fantasy, forbidden romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2017-02-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Eighteen

The day of the next herynshi, our squad is assigned to the wall. I despise being trapped here for eight hours, but today it’s useful. This assignment on the day of a herynshi means Tessen and I will be able to put the next phase of our search plan into motion sooner than we hoped.

Of course, we have to survive the shift on the wall first.

“If you don’t stop pacing, you’re going to draw attention,” Tessen says.

I keep pacing. “People would pay more attention if I stopped. It’s not exactly a secret that I hate being stuck here.”

“True. You never have been known for temperance.”

“Why should I be?” I turn to make another pass of the ten-foot wall. “I’d rather be doing something useful than standing here watching the desert grow.”

The true beginning of the storm season has brought the cloud cover and steady rain that, most years, feeds and fuels our city for moons. Usually we don’t see the desert bloom fully until the end of the rainy season when the sun comes back, but something in the world has broken this year and the seasons are running out of order. The plain is no longer a stretch of red, brown, and beige; it’s a thousand shades of green.

Looking at that green only unsettles me, so I pace. I don’t know who’s more relieved when our shift ends—me, Tessen, or the ahdo guards watching us go.

Most days I’d go to my room or meet the squad at the training yard. Today Tessen and I head straight for the undercity. In our other trips through the undercity and to the bikyo-ko, we kept to areas where our presence could be justified. Today we won’t have that luxury.

Today we’re searching the saishigi chamber. The last room I know for certain my brother was in.

Below the city, we walk through the caves with purpose. My mouth is moving, but I’m not fully aware of what I’m saying—something about Etaro and the time ey almost tumbled over the wall watching the flight of a mykyn bird. It’s harmless if anyone overhears it.

I stop talking once we reach the yonin tunnels. I try not to even breathe loudly when we approach the stairwell that will bring us to the top of the saishigi core. Sanii said it’d be empty, but Tessen inches forward, listening at the bottom of the stairwell. He presses his hands against the stone and closes his eyes. The expression on his face is so intent that I know, even without understanding how, that he’s experiencing the world in a way I never will.

When Tessen smiles, the curve to his lips is the same one I saw last week in the mural caves. I’ve seen that smile more than once since then, and each time I have a harder time not acting on the invitation there.

The way the left side of his mouth lifts higher than the right is a challenge and a plea at the same time. I want to answer both.

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