Page 184 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

You will lose the heat of the sun for a year.

Kye curved a wide arc into the sky, the sea dropping below. It felt like I’d left my stomach with it. My nails bit into his flesh, my head woozy with another sudden shift in weight and direction. The palace careened back into view, faster than I would have liked, needle-point to a glass giant in the blink of an eye.

I think I screamed. I know I clawed my fingers into him, thinking we would surely collide with his tower. But suddenly the world stood still, the solid ground of the balcony shaking under my feet as Kye set me to stand on the things that used to be my legs, ready to crumble beneath me.

Emilius was still there, face pallid and eyes wide as dish plates. “Nikolaos—” he started.

Kye’s hand twisted into the collar of the King’s jacket.

One moment, Emilius was there, opening his mouth on a plea.

The next, he was not.

80

Kye

Imight have had too much to drink the morning of my brother’s coronation.

It was one of those rare days of Gemnaa when Aalto shone thick and bright, his heat like an oven both indoors and out, rainclouds fluffy and round rather than the wide-spread overcast that usually overtook the sky. Maren sat beside me in the pews of Calder’s Aalton Temple, smiling as the priest set a sunbeam crown over Hadrian’s head.

The crown was perhaps the stupidest thing I’d ever seen, only worn by the King during an ascension. Somehow, though, it suited him, a bright plume of pride swelling in my chest.

King.

I’d have to grow familiar to saying the word without the bite of disgust lingering in the back of my mouth.

A small poke in my ribs, and I glanced down to find Maren with her lips sucked into her mouth, clamping down a smile. Probably at the watery well in my eyes, brought by the dander floating overhead.

There had always been too much dust in this fucking temple.

When we spilled out into the streets, the sun and rain struck at the same time, drenching us to the bone in golden light and clear showers. I gave Maren a spin in it, just to drink in the sound of her laughter.

“I’m going to find Diara,” she said, leaning to the side to slip off her shoes. I’d known the first thing she’d do after the ceremony would be to remove herself from the burden of anything that might shield her feet.

I sighed, feigning irritation as I kneeled to collect the abandoned straps of leather, letting them dangle from my fingers. “Don’t be too long. Pheolix leaves in an hour.”

“I know,” she said. Then wove into the crowd, darting through rain and shine toward the people still emptying the pews.

“Should we wait for Hade?” Aren asked, sliding in beside me. His dog Fox padded alongside him, panting under the bright sun.

I quirked my mouth, raising my brows at my half-brother. “I expect he’ll have a hard time sneaking away. Then again, if he knows a certain someone is coming—” My shoulder rose.

We walked through the cobbled roads of northern Calder City, where streets had been siphoned from traffic for the day. Music floated from every corner, harps and flutes and fiddles and drums. Couples danced, young and old. Traders had parked their carts along the alleys, knowing the crowds would have to pass through. The air sizzled with the scent of roasted turkey legs and berry pastries and almonds toasted in sugar. Children ran past us, bright streamers behind them, shouting and name-calling.

Aren side-stepped as a little girl almost rammed into him. She didn’t seem to see us, so enraptured in her game that she continued sprinting ahead, a long ribbon of cobalt blue flying behind her.

“Think you’ll ever have one of these?” Aren asked, meeting my smile with his own.

My brows furrowed. Once, I’d thought my answer would be never. “I don’t know,” I mused. “Maybe. You?”

“Eh.” He sucked his teeth. “Have to find the right someone, I guess.”

“It does aid in making the choice. You have your eye on anyone?”

Aren snorted. “We can’t all wake up one day to find a siren had accidentally mated with us for life.”

I grinned.