Page 118 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

Are you safe? I felt stupid asking such a thing as the corner of a step raked down my spine.

Yes. Did you make it to the palace?

“Let us walk!” Aren burst out below me. “Let us walk, you sadistic fucking asshole.”

Thaan halted. Turned. Stalked down to Aren over our bodies one step at a time, his two hands joined together at the fingertips. “You want to walk?” the siren asked in barely a whisper.

The invisible strings broke away. Aren pushed to his feet, his arms shaking with pain, a split in the side of his mouth that painted his teeth red.

Kye.

Stay, I started—

“Go ahead,” Thaan breathed. “Walk.”

Glaring at Thaan, one hand locked onto the rail, Aren lifted his boot.

His leg snapped backwards at the knee. Bone crunched as Aren fell into the railing, his face paler than the moon. His other leg bent wrong the next moment, folding sideways. He screamed as he plummeted down the stairs.

At the very bottom, Leal reached to catch him—but the strings jerked us again.

The stairs erupted with shouts loud enough to shatter my eardrums, so layered and distorted with anger I couldn’t make out which voice belonged to who.

“Fucking coward!” I roared along with them, watching Aren crumple at the bottom.

Kye!

Stay where you are, I shoved at her as calmly as I could, rolling to my knees to try and climb upright. Beside me, Hadrian wrapped his arms around Diara’s head, taking the brunt of the stairs. I managed to align myself on all fours, scrambling to stand, and the stairs gave out. Even floor replaced them, cold marble polished to a glassy shine. Ahead, Thaan doubled in pace, and my feet slid out from under me.

It felt like fighting a current in the river, one that pushed and smashed, ignoring the strokes of my limbs. With an open hand, Thaan waved at the glass doors ahead. Instead of swinging open, they shattered. Shards crunched and grated under my weight, jagged like knives. Tiny fragments embedded in my hair and flesh.

And then Thaan stopped. We rolled behind him, gathering our limbs and bearings, pushing ourselves to our feet. Thaan stood facing out over the cliffs, the horizon that hid a distant Leihani. I reached for Diara again, and relief flooded when Hadrian’s arms unfurled her, eyes open and aware and she held onto him.

Everyone else seemed all right as well. Battered and bleeding, but alert. Even Cebrinne and Ano were with us, the Leihaniian man helping her rise shakily to her feet. I glanced back at the broken doors, where Aren lay underground.

“You will all stay here,” Thaan said without looking at us.

The only one not standing, Pheolix sat over his heels, pinching an open gash along his arm closed. “She isn’t in Leihani.”

Thaan turned. “No?”

The drone shook his head. “She’s in Venusia.”

I bared my teeth at Pheolix—then realized the clouds in his eyes had vanished, icy daggers in their place, staring directly at me, gauging my reaction. He slumped forward as Thaan snapped back out of his thoughts, striking for me across the cold grass.

“Venusia,” Thaan mused, lifting my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. “Well, you’re more foolish than I thought.”

I spat at him, a globby red spray that peppered his face. His mouth curled in a silent snarl, and he shoved me away.

“These games, Selena,” Thaan said, rocking his head with a faint laugh. “After thirty-five years, you are learning, aren’t you? Full of tricks and surprises. A twin, a prince—back from the dead. A Marequus? I haven’t seen one of those in…” He trailed off, sweeping back to Selena, who had pulled a limp Pheolix into her lap. “Where are my stones, Selena?”

Jaw clenched, she glared up at him. “You almost sound worried.”

He thrust his fist above his head, and Pheolix followed, hanging in midair.

Selena leapt to her feet. “No!”

“Where are my stones?”