Ossian’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve got to be joking. Why would he do that?”
“To stop the world from burning.”
He leaned forward. “Since when has he cared about the world burning?”
Since he saw my skin blistering, I think. I shook my head. “Let’s not worry about his motives.”
“I’d say love would do that to a person, except I happen to know that Salem can’t love. It’s literally impossible.”
An empty feeling rose in me. “Whatever his motives, I need to figure this out, as fast as I can. I know he’s the devil and all that, but I want to get him out of his prison.”
“And why would that be, Aenor?”
I cleared my throat. “Just seems like the right thing to do.”
He started rowing, the water splashing over us. “Yeah. Better sort it out within days, ideally, or he misses his whole destiny thing. He’d get in a right mood about it. Start burning things again.”
I blinked. “What is his destiny, exactly? It wasn’t freeing his sister?”
Ossian leaned back in his boat as he rowed. “Oh, he didn’t tell you? I thought you two must’ve bonded, what with you being alive and all. And him in a cage.”
“We didn’t get around to the destiny discussion. We were busy thinking about killing each other.” And thinking about doing other things with each other, I supposed. “Where are we going, Ossian?”
“I have a house nearby. And I sense heartbreak.”
I nodded. “Oh, here we go again.”
“I owe you vodka and ice cream.”
I stared at the dull gleam of light beneath the sea, my heart twisting. “Well, that actually sounds very appealing. And very necessary right now.”