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"I guess thatmy belly in my arms, I turned to look back to shore Ever careful, Ronan had made certain to row out farther than we usually did Like, really far Hoould I ever detect the gate from here? Unease o closer," he said grimly, and I didn’t have to look at hier us both with this foolish endeavor"

What to say to that? He was right, of course Responses like Thanks or I know didn’t quite cover it, so I only nodded I knew exactly howfor me

I tried not to wonder why

The keep looh its shadow fell directly over ry to subsusilly That the black maws in its facade wereatthe boat’s edge harder than I realized--and I gave thehtly, just enough to prove to myself that I wasn’t afraid That I didn’t secretly fear I washard "Now if only I could figure out where the cliff ends and the castle begins"

Soed entleness in his voice surprised me My tone hadn’t provoked hi the more snarky my commentary, the more stressed I really was He was one of the feho understood that about me

Hiet Carden

The only vaan here and now

A nudge again, harder this tiue, when I saas just handing me a pair of binoculars Our eyes aveout for me

I quirked a half smile, but it aze to the binoculars instead They were cohtly "Thanks"

It took ray jostled in narrow fra waves and weed-tangled rocks zoomed into view It tookI tracked upward, finding the keep as a reference point, and then slowly brought the binoculars back down, systean to doubt I’d even know a sea gate if I saw one, it cae hole covered by what looked like a thick iron grate I squinted A gate--the gate And it wasn’t nearly as poetic as it sounded, either If anything, it put hway overpasses, spilling into concrete runnels like urban riverbeds

Deep black, this wasn’t just a flaw in the rock face; it had to be an entryway A tunnel And it was uessed--the tide wouldn’t need to rise so very high in order to access it by boat Concealed beneath a wall of shrubbery, it would’ve takenalone So close to sea level, waves licked mere feet below Did the tunnel ever fill ater? It was so to consider

"I assu for?" Ronan sounded tense-- this close to vaet so close that worried hi the un rowing away already "We’re done here"

Vaotten for the moment, I plucked at the neck of my wetsuit "I don’t have to swim?" I practically shivered with relief

"Oh, you’ll swilint that told me he’d make me pay for this little errand

Daht?

A s us forward I gripped the hard bench to hold on, and…ow I felt the tiniest tear inet mad at me," I told him "If you didn’t want to row me out here, you didn’t have to"

He raised his brows "Is that so?"

"Yeah It’s so"

He was gri me ample time to consider his reaction I’d threatened to take the boat out myself, and he believed he had no other choice but to help ness and trueness of that impulse sank in Blew h friends left to be risking theged the oars along the water’s surface, pulling us to a stop The boat bobbed, and he waited, but I didn’t budge Our eyesto make me do deep-water exercises

I huffed "Fine"