Astral Tide (The Otherborn Series) (36 page)

But as she got closer, the smooth dark skin began to stand out from the heavy tunic and she knew it couldn’t be her. She didn’t care who it was. She was just glad to feel the loneliness abate a little, the sting of nothing ease off into a dull ache.

She moved slowly, cautiously as she neared him. He was so still that she thought maybe, for a moment,
he
was dead. But her silent steps drew her close enough to see the telltale rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing. Or at least, pretending to. She could never really tell if things like breath were real here, or just habit.

Standing over him, she smiled. There was no sun to cast a shadow and his still, dark form hunched under her with no notice of the change. London reached down and patted the dark head. She let her fingers grip his shoulder, the scratchy tunic coarse beneath them, as she gave him a light shake.

“It’s me,” she said as his eyes opened like shades being drawn and he craned his neck to look up at her from where he sat, cross-legged, on the ice.

“London?” his face registered with disbelief.

“In the flesh,” she replied. “Er— not exactly.”

“How?” he asked, dazed.

“You’re not the only one who can slip around here, Elias,” she said, grinning. “Can’t let you have all the fun, can I?”

“No,” he said, hope dawning over his features like a newborn sun. “I guess not.”

He reached up to take her hand, the feel of his skin the most welcome experience of her life. At least, they wouldn’t be alone here.

It was the last thought she had before the ice cracked.