Page 119 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

“Let him go.”

His voice dropped, laced with loosely tied rage. “Where are they?”

“Let him go,” she screamed, shoving him hard enough to force him back a step.

“Let him go,” Thaan echoed quietly, a dark playfulness to the words. “Let him go.” He edged toward the cliffside, a quickly sobering Pheolix floating beyond his fingers.

Selena surged after them. I tried to follow, but my feet had locked to the ground, heavy as lead.

“I should let him go,” Thaan said, watching Pheolix squirm in midair like a beetle flipped onto its back. “I think I’ve used everything he has to offer. I always thought you’d swear yourself to me before you let me kill him. But I suppose a cordae is the one thing you truly did long for.”

Rain splattered over my lashes. Sunlight crawled behind clouds. Thunder broke over the sea, waves clashing angrily against the rocks below. Thaan gazed numbly at the climbing water, a knowing smile fanning from the corners of his mouth.

“Put him down,” Selena ground out.

The drone dropped, his hair flying out over his head as gravity yanked. Selena screamed, and he lurched to halt a few inches below.

The tide smashed across the cliff face, spray flecking up over the sides. Night chased the remaining strands of sun away, not a star in sight. The hair at the back of my neck lifted.

“One drone not enough?” Thaan asked. “Perhaps your sister will do instead?”

Cebrinne collapsed over the compact grass, her body spilling head over heels all the way to Thaan. She hissed and spat, landing at Selena’s feet, blood streaming from a cut over her brow, her fingers deep in the mud as she fought to stand.

Thaan watched calmly, canting his head back at Selena. “And if her, then why not all of them?”

He threw Cebrinne and Pheolix amongst the rest of us, and a gust of wind pierced the sky, shredding the dark clouds above. Diara’s hair whipped over her head. Leather and cloth snapped and thrashed against my back. Air howled in my ears, leaves and dust and loose blades of grass swallowed into a choking squall. Hadrian coughed, tucking his head into his arm to breathe, and Diara pulled him in close, eyes watering as she gazed up at the blaring sun.

A roar cracked over the distant sea, hooves clattering in the sky.

“What do you think, daughter?” Thaan shouted over the din. “Are they worth a lifetime without me? All of them? Why do you think I returned to Cypria, if not for you?”

Worried I’d lose my balance, I leaned into the wind, into its scream, but the words cut through the torturous air. Daughter.

Thaan’s shouts broke over the gale, flaming the tendons in his neck. “Why else would I find some unturned Prizivac to bear my children? Half a century to find one, and it only took a few faces to understand how she’d let me into her bed. And then when I came back, I knew you were everything I’d dreamed when you stood over that water and defied me. You were always clever enough to say no.”

I crashed forward, rolling, tearing at the grass as my feet lifted behind me. Dimas slammed onto the earth nearby, and we curled in together, huddling over the ground.

“You are mine!” Thaan raged. “Am I not enough? What game shall we play next?”

Cebrinne shrieked as she thrashed up and away, Leal and Ano snatching the folds of her dress.

Light flickered under the blanket of the clouds.

“You have seconds to decide,” Thaan bellowed.

“You’re enough!” Selena yelled.

I hadn’t been able to look her way until then. The wind died enough for gravity to claim us, and we clasped each other close, ready in case it began again. My throat ached, ragged with use, and I realized I’d been screaming. Rain poured over us, coating our skin like thick mortar, stinging at the back of my head where blood pounded against my skull.

Trembling, Pheolix pushed to his feet. “No.”

Selena’s attention cut to him. To the rest of us. She forced out a gasping breath; agony laced in her eyes. “I have let you carry the torch for too long. I’ve let all of you carry it.”

“No!” Pheolix said again, legs wobbly as he aimed for her. The vortex grabbed at his clothes and hair, pushing him from one side to the other. He fell into my shins, and I reached to pull him up.

She watched the drone struggle for her, chin raised high as tears spilled down her cheeks. “Release him fully. Never touch him again, and I’ll swear myself to you.”

“No,” Pheolix and Cebrinne both shouted. Selena ignored them, acted as if she were looking straight through their bodies. Wind tugged softly at her hair, lifting the ends.