“If you were the librarian, wouldn’t you keep the key with you most of the time?”

“So we’re going to mug her?” Val asked.

“You got any better ideas?”

“She usually trains in the barn in the mornings,” Skyla said. “If she keeps the key on her, she probably doesn’t wear it then. I can go ask her to fence with me in the morning—my sword work needs the practice anyway.”

“So we find the key while she’s training. I’ll unlock the door, let Val get a good look at the inside. We’ll get the key back to her before she notices it’s missing.”

“Then,” Skyla said, “we can come back later, when no one will notice. Val can jump into the room and let us in.”

With our plan in place, Skyla left to go find Embla and make a date for a morning workout. I went upstairs to seek out what remained of my lasagna dinner and found a few noodles and cheese crumbs left in the pan. I sighed and started cleaning the kitchen mess.

“Sit down,” said Val, who tugged me to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair. He pushed me into it, and I didn’t resist. “I’ll get the dishes. I don’t know what it is with you and your fondness for pulling all-nighters, but you’re going to make yourself sick.” Val turned to the sink and filled it with water. He crumpled the aluminum pan that had once held my lasagna and tossed it into the trash can. “In fact, you should go to bed. There’s nothing more that can be done tonight.”

I rubbed my eyes and rested my hand in my chin. “Sleeping’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Lately, it’s all bad dreams. I wake up more tired than I was when I started.”

Val squirted a healthy dose of dish soap in the sink before making neat piles of pots and pans for hand washing. He bent and loaded plates and glasses into the dishwasher.

“How very domesticated of you,” I said. “A god doing the humble chores of a housekeeper. Can’t you wave your magic wand or something?”

Val turned and smirked at me. “I’m not sure it wouldn’t end up going the way of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Besides, there’s comfort in manual labor. Your hands are busy, leaving your mind free to wander.”

“And where does your mind wander, Val?”

Val rolled up his shirt sleeves and plunged his hands into the sink to scrub a greasy saucepan. “When you’ve been around as long as I have, there are lots of things to think about. I think about the old days, the friends I’ve had and lost.” He winked at me over his shoulder. “The new ones I’ve made.”

“Is it hard being ancient?” I meant the question half as a joke.

However, Val took it seriously. “It’s lonely.”

“You’ve got friends.”

“Not many who know the truth. When you have to keep things from people, it makes it hard to get close to them—and human relationships are so temporary.” He turned and looked at me again. “And the ones who do know the truth, they either want to use me for something, or they push me away out of fear for what I am.”

“Not all of us,” I said.

Val shook his head. “You’ve pushed me away, Solina. You fear me whether you admit it or not.”

I nodded. “I fear being hurt. I’m afraid of being used.”

“So you see, we’re not all that different.”

“Except for the fact that you’re immortal, and I am very not. I don’t get as much time as you do to recover from mistakes. You must understand my need to be careful.”

Val narrowed his eyes. “There’s careful, and there’s wasting time.”

“It’s a thin line,” I said.

“One that you are treading oh so carefully.”

I chewed on that thought for a moment but could formulate no response. I stretched, yawned, and rubbed my face again. “I’m beat. I wonder where I’m supposed to sleep.”

“I put your stuff in the room you stayed in last time you were here,” Val said.

“Oh? It survived?”

“A little smoky, but it’ll do.”

I shuffled out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my room. Val had dismissed me without uttering a single lascivious crack about my solitary sleeping arrangements. His uncharacteristic grimness would have worried me, but then I found my room, the big four-poster bed, and my pajamas. I didn’t worry about Val anymore after that, and the moment my head hit the pillow, I didn’t worry about anything else, either, not even my promise to keep Thorin updated. Tomorrow, I vowed as I drifted into the warm, fuzzy fog of sleep. I’ll call Thorin… tomorrow.

Chapter Seventeen

“Solina. Get up.”

I rolled over and pulled the bedcovers over my head. Skyla ripped the sheets and comforter away and smacked my hip. I cracked open an eyelid and focused on Skyla, who stood over me, grinning. Excitement shone in her face. Behind her, the pale-purple sky of a predawn morning peered through my room’s window.

“Whaaat?” I whined.

“I’m going out to the barn. Are you going to look through Embla’s things, or what?”

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. “It goes against my religion to get up earlier than God does. Where’s Val?”

“He’s waiting out in the hall. Get dressed and get a move on.”

I groused some more but did as she said, sliding out of bed half awake and drunk with early-morning drowsiness. Skyla slipped into the dark hallway, and Val came in to take her place.

“What are you doing?” I grumbled, poking through my bags for something to wear. “I gotta get dressed.”

“Don’t let me stop you.”

I frowned at him and pulled out a long-sleeved shirt, underwear, and a pair of jeans. Grabbing up my toiletry bag, I shuffled down the hall to the bathroom to brush my teeth and dress in privacy. When I returned, Val was standing at the window, looking out at the scenery.

“What is it?” I hopped on one leg while pulling a sock into place.

Val turned to me and smiled. “It’s beautiful out there, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “It is. I wish I took more time to enjoy it. Mendocino is really a stunning place, out here on the edge of the world.”

“So, why don’t we enjoy it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s do something fun,” Val said. “Everything is run or fight all the time. Let’s go down to the beach and look for shells or go into town and find somewhere good to eat for dinner tonight.”

“That sounds like a date.” I slid my feet into my boots, wrapped a cotton scarf around my neck, and went to join Val at the window.

“You do still owe me one.”