Page 152 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

“He didn’t even see you,” Aegir observed softly. “If he had been cordaed to you, he never would have run past.”

Inside my head, my lip curled, a wrathful spark igniting like wildfire. But even under the burn of anger, I was glad Aegir had locked my body like the cold porcelain of a doll. That I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how riled his words made me.

He waited until Kye thrust the door open on the other side before commanding me to lead again. We slipped through the palace halls, stole from shadow to shadow to the cliffs. A heavy trail of saltwater led down to my ocean. The Venusians jumped in, and I felt them like a hum in my blood, foreign bodies within my sea. Uninvited.

At the edge, Aegir rotated me to face him, pulling my shoulders out from under the cloak. “Can you swim in this dress?” he asked, appraising the snug fit of my corset, the small buttons of my sleeves. Away from Laurier Palace, I often wore my Juile silk, but on the days I stayed indoors, I played the part of human, swathing myself in fine satin and tulle and chiffon.

I fought with myself over the answer, which only required a yes or a no. A closed-ended question begged only a simple word, but the truth was, I probably could swim in it. Though it might try to drown me.

“Speak freely,” he said, stepping away to watch me.

The small bit of granted freedom released my rigid body like a noose loosened from my neck. “Not well,” I answered with a voice like steel armor.

Aegir cut a glance to the palace over the distant hill. A soft glow illuminated the southern tower we’d just left. “Take it off, then,” he said. “Quickly.”

I stripped to my skin in front of him and Sindri, grinding my molars so hard I expected them to crumble. Aegir’s gaze remained on the tower, but I met Sindri’s eyes with cold hatred as I shed the human clothes from my body one layer at a time, my back straight as an arrow.

“All right then,” Aegir said as I pitched my underthings viciously to the ground. He flicked the waist of my discarded skirts with his toe, flipping it over. Then kneeled to feel around the outside of my pocket, confirming his search with the soft click of his tongue. “Sindri, cut this pocket loose. Don’t touch the stones. Then make sure no one trails us. Maren, follow me.”

And I did.

A silver byssus dress lay waiting for me at the entrance of Venusia.

Like he had at the edge of the cliffs, Aegir glanced away as I slipped into it, a long swathe around my neck and across my waist, tying the ends together over my hip. The garment was longer than the ones I kept, unleashing a train that swept the floor behind me, fine silk clinging to my damp skin. Aegir called the water smoothly away, wicking me dry until the waves of my hair bounced off my shoulders. His green eyes met mine, soft. Almost apologetic.

“You can change your mind,” he murmured. As if he didn’t want anyone to hear, even though we stood alone. “I can save you.”

Somewhere between Laurier Palace and here, the fire in my arm had numbed. Now hot spines pressed into me like I’d thrust my arm through a briar of stinging nettles, a throb that panged and pulsed along with my heart. The line Sindri had drawn with his knife had sealed, rosy-pink and shining.

“Save me from what, exactly, Aegir?” I asked, just as quietly.

“From making a mistake.” His fingertips grazed the length of my burning arm lacing with mine. “Making the wrong choice.”

Unable to pull my hand from his, I simply stared at him with hardened eyes.

He stepped an inch closer, his chest brushing against my own. “Once I formally declare you an enemy of Venusia, your fate is sealed.”

“Declare it then,” I said, wishing I could rip my hand out of his. “You are little else to me now.”

He tilted his head. “Are you saying you would have had me eventually? After he died?”

I laughed coldly. Cruelly. That’s what had sealed this decision for him, the final stroke against his pride. Some savage piece of my heart urged me to cut him down, to root into weakness like a termite to a tree, so that even after I was gone my tunnels left him empty and fragile, crumbling under the weight of the next Naiad to turn him away. I held it under my tongue like bitter fruit, soaking in the burn of it instead—of all things, I didn’t want to place a target on Kye’s back born of spineless envy.

“No,” I said.

Water sloshed behind us; Sindri was climbing to the entrance. Aegir dropped my hand, lengthening his spine.

“Why do this now?” I asked, calling his attention back to me. “We have both stones, all we need is to find him. Why now, when we’re so close?” My star-wielding was more powerful than his, I was certain. As much as he’d coached me, honed my skill, he’d never revealed the level of his own, had never given me the chance to compare.

And Kazimir—he’d known something, seen something when he’d looked at Selena’s portrait. I’d had both stones ready in my pocket, pieces of Thaan’s heart to render him mortal. We were here, the finish line I’d dreamed of since Thaan had made me prick my thumb and vow my blood.

“Because, of exactly that.” His lips thinned as he pressed them together, deciding how to answer. “I’ve come close to killing Thaan before. Several times. But I could never cross that line. Known he was mine.” He held out his hand as Sindri approached, the Oculos laying my satin pocket in his palm. Aegir’s fingers curled around it. “I can’t let him slip through my fingers again. You should understand that, I think. How slippery he can be.”

“I am just as close as you,” I said, the words like grit in my mouth. “We could have crossed the line together. Could have ruled as you and Sidra once had, two colonies side by side.”

“We could have.” Green eyes flashed to mine. “But then I always would have wondered.”

“Wondered what, exactly?” I shot calmly back. “Why I chose him instead of you?”