Page 161 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

“I’m waiting for word from Nori,” I answered. She’d left only hours ago, and though she would have arrived at the heart of the Juile Sea by now, the sun had only peeked its rays over the east minutes ago.

Diara shifted, uneasy. “Are you sure they won’t attack her?”

“No.” I sat a little higher. “I’m not sure. Though I believe their intention is to hide, and they wouldn’t risk discovery unless it was a last resort.”

Nori knew the waters. She’s grown up exploring them under Sidra’s rule. If she needed to escape, she’d know how.

I glanced across the faces seated around Selena’s table. Then to the ones leaning against the walls. Kye and Aren to my right; Cebrinne and Ano to my left. Pheolix across from me, flanked by Aitne, Hadrian, and Diara. Though we’d taken up every chair and surface but Selena’s, the room felt empty. Olinne was helping prepare the Juile colony for Venusia. The silence hovered like a tall shadow, Leal’s playful complaints and Selena’s calm voice drifting like ghosts among us.

Knuckles rapped quietly.

Kye pushed to his feet, darting a quick glance at me. I hope this isn’t a mistake.

It’s not, I answered, watching him walk to the door. Kazimir stood on the other side, his black-rust hair pulled back in a low, rumpled pony. It looked like he’d provoked a fight with shoe polish and lost. Black rimmed his right eye, shining where it caught the light, his lip swollen. Kye stood aside, inviting the Rivean who had once killed him through the door.

Kazimir waded to the table, sliding into the empty chair beside Pheolix. His eyes caught mine, and his mouth offered a shy tilt.

“Fair luck to you if you’re still sitting there when Selena comes back,” Pheolix said.

Kazimir’s eyes widened, as he realized where he’d just sat—why the rest of us watched him with such rigid focus. “I’ll stand,” he said quickly.

I waved him quietly back into the chair. “You’re fine where you are. I’m just waiting for—"

My Queen.

I stilled, and their faces perked as they noticed my eyes slanting sideways, listening to the voice inside my head. Yes, Nori?

The beach is bare, with no sign of anyone. But inland, beyond the canopy of the palms and ferns, I’ve caught movement. Twice.

My pulse skipped. You’re sure they’re not Leihaniians? It was nearly pointless to ask—Leihaniians didn’t step foot on Neris Island. It was forbidden, cursed by Nahli, the volcano goddess who slumbered there.

No, Nori murmured. These are not humans.

A flare of heat sparked, deep in my chest. Thaan on my island, right under my nose. It seemed almost fitting that he’d shelter there, the islands in which I’d been raised, while I sat here in Laurier Palace, the city of towers he’d once lived in while searching for my mother. My teeth ground together, though something smooth and enticing unrolled before me like a spool of triumph.

I knew exactly where he was, and he had no idea.

I leaned into my backrest, unable to help the curve that stole across my lips as I raised my eyes to look at the faces gathered across from me. They straightened, sharpened, glanced at each other with dark light behind their eyes.

For once, we held the element of surprise.

For once, we held the upper hand.

He is three steps ahead, but one day he will stumble. He thinks he is invincible, but I have been with him for far too long. I know his secrets. I know his weaknesses. I know how to stop him.

It had been nearly a year since I’d sat over the red cliffs with Selena, listening to her promise to help me end Thaan, but the words were as clear in my memory as the day she’d said them.

Two pieces of a crystalized heart pressed against my thigh, hidden within my pocket.

Nori’s consciousness grazed mine, waiting for orders. Return to the water and let no one see you, I said. Find Olinne and tell her that Thaan and his drones are on Neris Island. Tell her to gather anyone who can’t fight and send them—I hesitated. My eyes skimmed the table in thought. Send them to Xiane in Paria.

Yes, my Queen.

“All right,” I said, pointing to the map I’d drawn on the back of one of Selena’s scrolls. “In three days, we’ll invade Neris Island, a small volcanic isle north of Leihani. We have two objectives. Get Selena safely out. And kill Thaan. We will have to fight Thaan’s drones, but once he’s dead, they’ll be free.”

“Why wait?” Aren asked.

Aitne pushed to her feet, drifting from the red-dusk window to our table, staring numbly across its surface. “My Queen needs a few days to recover from the shield weed in her blood.”