Read The Perilous Sea for Free Online

exclaimed. “I sometimes forget the day of the week, but never the month or the year.”
    She gathered up the courage to push open Mrs. Dawlish’s door. In the midst of the parlor, surrounded by junior boys, Titus’s voice carried to her. And suddenly she was ready to win a hundred cricket matches, write a thousand Latin papers, and live among dozens of noisy and sometimes smelly boys for the remainder of her life.
    He was back. He was safe. She scarcely knew what she said or did for the next few minutes, until they extricated themselves from the other boys, with the excuse that the prince needed to unpack his things.
    The moment the door closed behind them, he kissed her. And went on kissing her until they were both breathless.
    â€œI am so glad you are safe,” he said, his forehead against hers.
    She spread her fingers over his shoulders, over the warm, slightly scratchy wool of his daycoat. Beneath her hands, his frame was spare but strong. “I was afraid they wouldn’t let you out of the Domain.”
    â€œHow did you get out?”
    She touched the top of his collar. His clothes had been laundered with some kind of evergreen essence; the faint fragrance reminded her of the spruce-covered ridges of the Labyrinthine Mountains. “I’ll tell you after you make me a cup of tea.”
    The Master of the Domain started to pull away. “I will do it now.”
    But she wasn’t ready for him to leave her embrace yet. She caught his face between her hands. When she’d passed through Delamer, she had bought a pendant with his portrait on it. The whole of summer, she’d only had that tiny image for company. But now she could drink him in—the dark hair, slightly longer than she remembered, the straight brows, the deep-set eyes.
    She rubbed a finger across his lower lip. His eyes grew dark. He pushed her against the wall and kissed her again.
    â€œSo . . . cream or sugar in your tea?” he asked after a few minutes, his breaths uneven.
    She smiled and rested her cheek against his shoulder, her breaths as ungoverned as his. “I have missed you.”
    â€œIt was a mistake for us to go back to the Domain together. I should have realized that when agents of Atlantis could not locate you here at school, they would come to believe that you must still be in the Domain. I should have known they would watch me relentlessly.”
    She laid a hand on the front of his jacket. “It wasn’t your fault. We were both lulled into a false sense of security.”
    He took her hand in his. “Of course it was my fault. My task is to keep you safe.”
    â€œBut I am not meant to be kept safe,” she said, rubbing the pad of her thumb along the outside of his palm. “I am meant for fearsome risks and epic clashes. Remember? It’s my destiny.”
    He leaned back, surprise written over his face. “So you believe it now?”
    After all the harrowing and marvelous events of the previous Half, how could she not? “Yes, I do. So don’t apologize for not guarding me every second of the day. I am but walking the path I am meant to—and a little danger here and there serves to keep my reflexes sharp.”
    Wonder came into his eyes—wonder and gratitude. He touched his forehead to hers again, his hands warm on her cheeks. “I am so glad it is you. I cannot possibly face this task with anyone else.”
    At the catch in his voice, unexpected tears stung the back of her eyes. They would be at each other’s side until the very end—she cherished that certainty even as she feared it. “I’ll keep you safe,” she said softly. “Nothing and no one will take you away from me.”
    Because it was far too early in the Half for actual crying, she added, “Now make me some tea and tell me all about how terrible it was to spend your summer in the same opulent palace as the most beautiful woman in the