Page 189 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

That Thaan had built his grief around himself like a cage, confusing isolation with power and locking himself inside. But like so many scars Thaan had left behind, they healed over the surface faster than within. It had taken him a long time to pull those memories from his thoughts like dusted old letters from a box, unfolding and reading through them, letting himself relive our first few months in his tower.

All the hate and anger and mistrust we’d strung through the hallway like garland between our doors.

All the hidden want and heartbreak beneath them.

He huffed a short laugh. “To treason. And to your last night without warmth from the sun.”

This, I believed, he was more excited about than I was. I was perfectly comfortable living under a constant shadow from the sun’s rays while here in Leihani, soaking in the balmy climate instead.

We’d finished building our home under the last few withering days of dry season, a choice Nori and Olinne had turned their noses up at.

“Why would you want to sleep here when you have an entire colony under your feet?” Olinne had demanded to know.

I’d smiled, reveling in the irritated scrunch of her nose. “Because of the entire colony.”

We did sleep there, sometimes. Kye held his breath and let me tote him underwater, careless of the siren tails flashing below the surface. We also stayed in Venusia from time to time. The ammonite’s shell had been mended, and some of the Naiad families had returned, though many opted to stay in Juile where the water was warm year-round, laden as it was with volcanoes.

We weren’t shy about returning to our tower in Laurier Palace, either. Hadrian had let us keep it for ourselves, though Diara had infiltrated my old rooms across the hall.

“Are you sure you don’t want one flight,” Kye asked, “before it might burn you alive?”

The volare swished as I upended the long neck against my mouth, gulping down fizz and warmth. “Very.”

The one and only flight in Kye’s sun-molten arms was already more than I ever wanted to experience again. I loved to watch him practice, though, like a firebird among the clouds. I only worried when he flew too high for me to see, disappearing behind the atmosphere where stars shine abroad, holding his stupid breath before turning around and careening back.

Mihauna, it upended my stomach, thinking of how fast he could move.

We passed the bottle back and forth, drinking from its throat among the crickets like we weren’t a queen and a royal prince. Just us and the music of the rolling sea under the crackling fire of the stars.

A small clap like thunder behind the trees, and I knew he was here as my stones flickered blue.

Darkness.

My gaze slanted to Kye’s. He rose first, reaching to pull me to my feet just as shadows plumed through the wide fan leaves of the nearby palms. Smoky tendrils and a smile hidden under black mist, like something born from the deep chasms under the tide.

“Hello, little wraithling,” he purred. Shadowed eyes slid to Kye. “And mister wraithling.”

Kye crossed his arms, his jaw an unfriendly square. I’d come to understand, after nights awake staring at the ceiling, reliving the night Selena had died and wondering what I could have done differently, why Darkness had switched sides, helping to lead me into Nahli and set my nerves at ease by killing a harmless bird. That he’d seen Thaan take control of Selena’s mind, had known she’d force the stones from me.

He’d played into the hand he’d been dealt—aid whoever held Thaan’s heart. Even when it meant abandoning me for a few minutes within Thaan’s grasp.

I knew it. I understood it. But I didn’t like it.

And Kye was even less fond of Darkness’s strategy than I.

Darkness propped his elbow over his opposite arm, nestling his chin in his knuckles. “Mister sunshine, I see. Aalto’s children were always devoid of humor. Too much light burning in their head to leave room for any laughter.”

“Caecus,” I said, my tone like the flat of a sword.

Darkness leaned into Kye, curling a dusky coil over his shoulder. “If you ever want to learn how to have a chuckle, Sola, rise in the west and set in the east. That will throw the entire world upside-down.” Inky drops slid to Kye’s elbow, falling into the grass. I stifled a shudder, knowing how cold Darkness’s touch could be.

His smoke burnt away where their skin met. Darkness hissed softly, shimmering far enough that they grew back, hiding his arcane tattoos. “Certain you want your warmth from the sun back, wraithling? He seems a bit…hot-tempered.”

I set my hands against my hips, waiting.

“No fun, no fun,” Darkness chanted, a white slash through the black. “All right then, wraithling. I’ve come to end a bargain.” He twirled his finger gently. Dim strands of light glowed around his fingertip, woven through the air in every direction like the thick fibers of wool, each one as delicate as spider silk. He swirled through them until they tangled in a glowing knot, no bigger than the seed of a dandelion, and caught it in his palm, holding it out for me to take.

I’d seen it once before. A kernel stolen from the strands of truth, he’d called it the day he’d taken it from me.