Chapter 34
Reva
In the days that come after Kit’s venture into the palace, there’s a thrill running through the spine of the city, thanks to the king’s new decrees, revolutionising how non-human inhabitants of the city are treated.
Not content with influencing the king, Finch has also decided to dress once again in his monk robes and head around the city, passing out ‘blessings’, aka cursed coins that according to the two brothers, will ‘fix up their fucked up thinking’.
I join Finch on one of the late afternoons, after he passes off his robe to a crewmember. Dagger and a handful of the others take great joy in handing out the coins, followed closely behind by a boar. Although they did have to be warned not to lob the coins at passersby.
It’s the strangest thing to be able to walk around with Frannie and Finch while they’re out in the open, no longer having to hide themselves.
I’m feeling oddly shy as we walk a little behind the others, sauntering on while one of Finch’s tentacles wraps itself around my arm, while the other idly wraps around my shoulder in a cool embrace. I still haven’t broached the subject of the joint bond that feels like it’s strengthening every day.
“What next, then? Now the world’s your prize clam?” Finch asks me.
“My oyster, you mean?”
“That too. You’re free, love.”
I dip into another alleyway, shoving yet another arrest poster into my pocket to burn later.
Finch follows close behind, his tentacles tearing haphazardly into the posters, plucking every other one into his pocket.
When I turn around, he’s even closer than before, deftly shifting my hair from my face with a little smirk.
“How about you? You’re free too,” I say.
Finch hums under his breath, his fingertip trailing over my shoulder and down my arm.
“I’ve never thought much about it. It feels as though there are countless possibilities ahead of us and I’m finding it slightly overwhelming, love.
We need a little time and space to think, somewhere we’re not always looking over our shoulder.
” He grins, intense eyes locking with mine.
“And, of course, there’s this intriguing woman my brother is rather smitten with and I’d like to get to know her better. ”
I cock my head to one side as Noush preens inside of me. “Oh, really?”
He nods. “Mmm. She’s both kind and accepting, love. Two things that have never meant more. A real bright spot when things can be bleak.”
Oh.
I was expecting him to say something charming and maybe a little odd, not something quite so raw.
“A-and Jack?” He’s the unspoken name in all of this. And I don’t think anyone quite knows how to deal with his betrayal.
“Another thing I need to think more on,” Finch says, confirming my train of thought.
I wonder how we might be able to alter the mate bond that has my soul linked to Jack’s without harming any of us. Noush has been pretty quiet since we met Jack’s new fiancée. She was the one who pushed for us to go to that restaurant and find him. She knew something was off.
She just didn’t realise how right she was.
Finch hesitates for a moment before his hand finds mine, our fingers interlocking together and I suck in a sharp breath.
He’s touching me, by choice and a little thrill goes through me. His answering smirk tells me that he felt my response.
“Well, isn’t that interesting.” He slowly lifts my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the delicate skin on the underside of my wrist. I shiver and his smirk widens.
“I think I may have discovered a new favourite form of entertainment,” he says.
He’s a dangerous, dangerous man.
Finch then gently tugs me out of the alleyway onto the street, keeping our fingers linked together. My entire body is buzzing and elated as we head back to the hotel to meet the others.
Which is why it feels like the entire bottom falls out of my world when one of the bonds in my chest goes dark.
I clutch at my heart as it pounds like my airway is blocked as I desperately search through the mess of bonds. Noush? What’s happening?
It’s Torin, she replies, sounding just as panicked as I feel. It’s like he just blinked in and out of existence.
... THE STORY CONTINUES in Tides and Treachery, available autumn/winter 2026.
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