Page 41 (1/2)

She squeezed hiht fire All warolden I could listen to you talk forever"

"I could never do that"

She laughed at hiht his lips to her ear "Your scent is like violets in early spring," he whispered Then he laughed at hih it was true, he sounded like the worst kind of fool

"Was Vale a good Blood Lord?"

Aria was too eager to learn about her Sense to sleep so they walked into the night

"Very good Vale is calh He’s patient with people I thinkI think if it weren’t a time like thishe would be the best man to lead the tribe"

Maybe that had held hie for Blood Lord, asTalon, Perry realized He still couldn’t believe his brother had been captured "He wasn’t going to go after Talon," he said, reether "Vale said itthe tribe’s safety It’s the reason I left"

"Why do you think Vale changed his mind?"

"I don’t know," he said Vale had never put anything above the good of the tribe before, but Talon was his son

"They’re together Will you still try to bring them to the outside?"

He looked at her

"Talon is being cared for," she said "You saw hiiving up"

Aria slipped her hand into his "Even if it’s better for hio? How could I do that?"

"I don’t know I’"

Perry stopped "Aria" He was going to tell her he’d rendered to her That nothing was the same anymore because of her But what difference would it ether And he knew she had to go home He knew exactly how much she needed her rine?" After atoo "Aria, I don’t understand how you can be so chirky right now"

"I was just thinking Soon you’ll be Peregrine, Blood Lord of the Tides" She swirled a hand in the air as she said it "I just love how it sounds"

Perry laughed "Spoken like a true Aud"

Chapter 39

ARIA

Aria heard song everywhere

Shifting in the trees Ru on the wind It was the same terrain, but she saw it differently When she looked into the distance, where she’d seen nothing before, she now iht be there A man ould hear the world as she did, in endless tones He was an Audile That was the only thing she knew about hiely, it felt like a lot

A day after she’d discovered her ability, she noticed her own footfall growing quieter Soun to choose her steps with greater care When she rinned

"I noticed that too Easier to hunt," he said, patting a hare strung over his shoulder "Most Auds are quiet as shadows The best end up as spies or scouts for the larger tribes"

"Seriously? Spies?"

"Seriously"

She practiced sneaking up on Perry, deter before they were to reach Bliss, she pounced on hi her arms around his neck as she planted a kiss on the blond scruff over his jaw Finally she had accoh and kiss her back He didn’t do either He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers

"Should we rest?" she asked, feeling his weight settle onto her shoulders She could see the hills where Bliss was supposedly nestled on the horizon

Perry straightened "No," he said His green eyes were tight, like the day was too bright for hi, Aria I don’t knohat else to do"

Neither did she, so they walked

They reached the hills late in the afternoon They climbed one and another, and then almost suddenly, there stood Bliss, a man-made mountain amid earthen hills Aria had never seen a Pod froest do structures were the service do 6 She’d spent seventeen years in Reverie’s Panop Contained in one place It see, the Pod’s deep charcoal shape was fast blending into the night

Perry shifted his weight at her side, silent as he took in the scene "Looks like a rescue There are Hoversthirty or so, and a bigger craft At least fifty people out in the open"

To her, what he described was just a sht The soft drone of engines carried to her ears

"What do you want to do?" he asked

"Let’s get closer" Theywhen they reached a rocky perch Now Aria saw a large square opening in Bliss, a wide-open cavity on the smooth walls of the Pod The Guardians who came and ore sterile suits She knehat that meant The closed environment was coh her limbs