Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty
Emmeline
Roremar wasn’t at Fated Ink. Desmond wasn’t either, not that he would have helped her.
All the lights in the parlor were off, and Emmeline was too panicked to wait for someone to return.
She wrote a quick note with Mystique ink and took off again, renting a horse to get across the isle as quickly as possible.
She had to find that ring. Had to, or she’d never forgive herself, Metrina’s ominous hint about it aside.
She knew she had it when they were swimming the other night, and truthfully she couldn’t remember seeing it on her finger since.
It was careless not to notice, but it was practically a part of her.
She never took it off, never thought to look for it.
And she’d been so preoccupied with the Academy and the case.
Metrina had shown her crashing waves. It had to be here. She scoured the rocky alcove where she’d sat with Roremar.
“Please be here,” she begged as she slipped and scrambled over wet rocks, gravel scraping up her bare feet. “Please.”
Her heart beat erratically, the wide ocean taunting her.
Memories flashed through her mind, two identical rings and hands much too small to bare them.
These are special, girls. My mother gave them to me. Heirlooms, and I know she’d want you to have them now.
She crawled along the crest of beach that lined the inside of the cave mouth, turning over rocks and digging into weathered crevices, playing the memories again and again. She dug until she hit the packed wet sand, moving along the perimeter toward the stacked boulders she’d sat on with Roremar.
We’ll always have these, Addie. No matter what.
“It has to be here,” she muttered as crushing disappointment flooded her chest.
She dug until the hem of her skirt was soaked through, stained from kneeling in the shallow sandy ocean. Dug and dug as her waves turned frizzy from the sea air and throat scratchy from anxious breaths.
Until her palms ached from the cold water, and she finally pulled herself onto the ledge she’d sat on with Roremar. Rocks were stacked to the top of the cave, and she picked between every crevice, chest seizing more with each inch.
Until—
Her heart stuttered.
There, wedged into a pair of rocks, a slip of silver gleamed.
She didn’t dare believe it, but using a dagger, she pried the ring out.
A slick strand of browning seaweed curled around the band, probably how she hadn’t seen it there immediately, but her eyes stung as she freed it, sheathed her dagger, and slipped the ring back on her finger.
Tears sprang free, utter relief and longing for the people this ring symbolized.
Losing it would have been like losing them all over again, and a part of her had feared it was a sign from the Fates. That they were telling her to give up on this case. She was never going to catch the murderer or transfer to Valyn.
Never going to find her sister.
Now, though, standing in that hollow cave, with the cool band back around her finger, Emmeline promised she’d never relent if only they’d guide her.
As her vow settled like pinpricks against her skin, something landed on the ledge beside her. Emmeline jumped, meeting a familiar feline gaze.
“Cirre?” she asked, panting as her heart rate calmed.
The panther only sat primly beside her. The crescent mark on her head glowed in the moonlight sparkling over the ocean.
“What are you doing here, girl?” Emmeline wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, shivering from her damp dress.
Cirre blinked her jade green eyes, then rose onto all fours and leaped gracefully down the boulders to the sandy cave floor below.
“Cirre?” Her voice bounced off the stone, cracking over the rolling tide. But the panther kept walking, gait silent, tail swishing in her wake. When she flicked a glance backward, Emmeline swore it said to follow.
Emmeline’s Fates pounded at her mind, urging her on. Her skin buzzed, like starfire was pulsing through her veins, reminding her of Metrina’s message to come here. Of the promise she just swore to trust where the stars led her.
So magic trembling within her, Emmeline did.