Page 20 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

Maybe so. But hearing it did very little to ebb my displeasure.

“What is your errand?”

Theia tipped her watering can, watching a smooth cascade of liquid pour from its spout. “Find the first Steward. The one who lit the candle. Climb the Mountain of Truth to the top where you’ll find the Temple of the Fates. You must remove your shoes before stepping inside. Walk to the center and dig deep into the sand using your hands. Ask a question.” She paused to raise her eyes to mine. “You will get only one.”

“Climb a mountain and ask a question.” I couldn’t keep the annoyance from my voice. Brows low, I purposefully avoided Kye’s gaze.

“Yes. You’ll know when you’ve dug deep enough. You may go,” Theia said before disappearing through the rows of her night flowers. I could have sworn her lips twitched before she faded behind the starry leaves.

“Fine.” I opened my mouth to demand where to find the one who lit the candle, and Kye caught my hand, tugging me back through the water-curtain.

The little boy had vanished. Kye waited until we’d crossed half the moonstone floor before sighing. “I know you want to return to mortal land. Let’s avoid angering the gods before we do.”

“The gods are playing us for fools,” I hissed. A nearby attendant paused, raising a critical glance in my direction. I ignored her. “Darkness and the Fates were the same. They’re ancient and bored. They don’t care about our lives. They don’t care about Thaan. They’re placing bets across the table from each other, each one guarding their hand.”

“All right, well, they’re still gods,” he said, crossing his arms and leveling me with a more indulgent look than I’d have liked. “We’re nothing more than cards in their hands, Leihani. Face down on the table. Which card are you?”

Hands on my hips, my eyes lifted to meet his.

“A queen.”

He studied me for a long moment before giving a small nod of approval, flicking his eyes to the open exit ahead. We made our way across, and his question thrummed in my thoughts. We’d just climbed down the bright steps outside when a blur made me cast a casual glance over my shoulder. The motion was thoughtless. Careless. My eyes simply tracking a shift in environment.

But at the sight of the Naiad leaning against a tall pillar, I stopped.

I don’t think she meant for me to see her. She tensed, just slightly. Her mouth parted in apprehension, though she didn’t say a word. The silver light of Perpetuum hit her raven hair, staining it almost blue.

Her throat tightened, though her body remained as still and hard as the stone she leaned against. As though she’d been caught and fossilized on the spot.

I’d seen her before. Not in my own distant memories.

In Nori’s.

My brows furrowed. “Are you hiding from me?” I’m not sure what I expected. To have seen her in the crowd of Naiads that had gathered at the edge of Perpetuum when I crossed the sea of stars? A reunion like the old man’s? Intimate and quiet, yet somehow profound?

I’d have rebuffed her, even if she’d been waiting among them. Maybe she understood that. Maybe that’s why she’d kept to herself.

A year ago—Mihauna, even mere weeks ago—I’d clung to any details about her life. Had cradled the book Selena had given me. Had hung on Queen Sidra’s words as she recounted meeting Cebrinne. Had even paused at learning Pheolix had known her.

Had I known then that I’d find my mother, I would have probably been nervous. Excited. Ready to sit with her for hours, soaking up everything from the shape of her eyes to the sound of her voice.

But I gazed up at her now. And only felt hollow.

I didn’t wait for her to answer. I’d waited my entire moon-damned life.

“We have a mountain to climb.” I turned on my heel and walked away. Her stare sat heavy across my back all the way across the sand.

11

Kye

The Mountain of Truth was simple enough to find. Everything in Perpetuum was flatter than a fucking board, except the silver peak in the distance.

Cebrinne fell into step behind us, back straight and mouth hard, not a word to be found. I couldn’t decide if she remained mute out of pride or shame. Maren walked as though her mother didn’t exist, and I denied the impulse to let my curious gaze wander back to her. I knew who she was. Had heard Selena’s explanation through our bond before it had been severed.

I wasn’t one to let awkward silences unnerve me. I’d had enough of them growing up. Fights between my parents had been nothing short of explosive, punctuated with long periods of cold shoulders and furious glares. My father making a spectacle of women on his arm in front of my mother. My mother cleaning her nails as though she didn’t see them, as though the pageantry of betrayal was the dullest thing in the room.

This wasn’t some taciturn contest to determine who held the power by caring less.