She ignored them, looking Safire over. “Are you all right?”
Safire tore her gaze from the water to stare at Eris. After a long moment, she whispered, “Why did you do that?”
Eris’s mouth parted, but she didn’t have an answer.
The sea spirit had been offering her freedom. It would have killed Safire—the very person determined to bring Eris to her enemies. It would have even taken the manacles off Eris’s wrists.
If Eris hadn’t stopped it, she’d be free right now.
She clenched her teeth.Why are you so stupid today?
And then the sound of heavy footsteps thudded down the dock. Eris looked to find several men dressed in black. The lamplight pooled around their polished black boots, reflecting off the silver buckles. Blades crisscrossed against their backs.
Lumina soldiers.
The sight of them brought a rush of panic.
She saw Day, suddenly, kneeling before one of those blades. Smelled the scrin burning behind him. Heard the weavers screaming, trapped beyond the doors.
She stumbled backward.
Safire grabbed her, stopping her from falling into the sea.
As the Lumina shoved her up the dock and through the city gate, she said to Safire, “I wish you had let me drown.”
Better to drown than be given over tothem.The ones who took everything from her.
This was Eris’s worst nightmare come true.
Twenty
Eris saved my life.
Safire’s mind hummed with the realization as she fiddled with the ends of the blue ribbon tied around her wrist.
Why would she do that?
Eris could have easily let that monster kill her. Kill all of them. She’d be free right now if she had.
As they walked the streets of Axis, Dax and Roa rode on horseback up ahead, flanked by their guards. But Safire kept back, watching over Eris. Several Lumina soldiers walked with them, each one bearing a circle of seven stars across their chest.
All around them, the sounds of drunken voices clashed with music and clapping. Everywhere Safire looked, ribbons streamed from ankles and wrists, faces were smeared with silvery paint, and blue forget-me-nots were plaited in the hair of men and women alike—as well as strewn all over the cobblestones.
Safire, who would normally be memorizing every streetcorner and storefront and face right now, kept her attention on Eris—whose hands were now free of their bonds.
Safire had made the girl a promise. So, as soon as they entered the city, she demanded they find a blacksmith to remove Eris’s manacles. The Lumina soldiers refused, saying the empress was impatient to meet her guests. Safire insisted, saying she hadn’t brought the empress’s fugitive all this way for the girl to lose her hands to such a barbaric practice.
This was perhaps the wrong thing to say. Accusing your hosts of being barbarians? Not the best first impression. The soldiers all narrowed their eyes at her, and even Dax threw his cousin a desperate look. One that said,Please don’t ruin this.
But Roa came to her defense, pointing out a forge across the square.
Now, Eris walked at Safire’s side. Her hands were bound with rope now, but even this felt awful. The girl’s wrists were brutalized, the cuts deep and bleeding. The rope was clearly irritating them.
Most of all, Safire could feel Eris’s energy coiled tight, as if waiting for her chance to run. It was the reason Safire kept the end of the rope firmly in her hand—to keep the thief from escaping.
“We’ve been trying to catch her for years,” said a sudden voice from beside her. Safire looked to find a tall young Lumina soldier at her side. The chest of his uniform bore the Skyweaver’s crest like all the others. “How did you manage it?”
“Actually,” said Safire, her attention fixing on something in the distance, “she caught me.”
