Page 35 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

His cheek pressed into the back of my head as he smiled. You’re not the only one in this saddle with an estranged parent.

Well, then. My laugh was half-huff and half-chuckle, though it charred my throat. Feel free to impart your wisdom, boy from a castle.

I have no wisdom. I can only tell you I made the same decision. The action itself isn’t the hard part. It’s the aftershock. It’s convincing yourself in the years after that you made the right choice. He pulled my hair over my shoulder, dropping a small kiss into the crook of my neck. Lower your weapons, Leihani.

The corner of my mouth crooked.

My Queen.

Nori’s voice in my head made my stomach drop. I glanced over Kye’s shoulder, realizing we’d allowed too much distance to grow between my Naiads and ourselves.

“What is it?” Kye asked when I straightened.

“Turn around,” I answered him. Where are you, Nori?

She didn’t reply.

I reached for Kolibri’s bridle. “Turn around. We’re too far ahead.”

Kye slowed Kolibri with his knees. We both ignored her when she snorted in outrage. “Why? You were just stabbed. They punctured your lung. You’re still wheezing.”

“Because,” I half slurred through the drunken fatigue that warred on my bones. Kye knew too much about Naiads these days. That we needed rest, days of sleep, after suffering a major injury. My hands slapped against his as I fumbled for the reins, but he fastened an arm around me, pulling me to the side until it was out of reach.

Nori. Answer me, I snapped. “Stop, Kye.”

He’d hauled me deep into his lap, hugged up against one thigh, stealing another empty glance behind us. “I know they’re not fighting because everything in this canyon echoes. We’d hear it. You can look at me that way all you want, Leihani. Where are they?”

I growled my frustration. Nori.

Keep moving, she murmured into my head.

But her voice was thin. Tight. Bound with focus—too much focus.

Cold water dumped over my shoulders, freezing in the pit of my stomach. For some reason, Nori was water-calling.

Nose next to mine, Kye watched, waiting for me to report what she’d said back to him. His shoulders remained relaxed, but his palm nailed my leg down to his, the veins of his forearm pulsing against his corded muscle.

“Turn around,” I said again. This time, he tilted, directing Kolibri in a narrow circle, though his brow hung low and hard over his eyes, his arm stiffening as it wrapped around my waist.

I called to Nori again, but she didn’t answer. The walls of her mind shut me out. As her Videre, I could knock them down if I wanted. A small skirmish broke through my thoughts as I fought myself over whether or not I should force my way through.

Nori, what’s happening?

Don’t come back.

But through the cracks, a familiar voice hammered into her thoughts. Deep and angry.

Where’s the witch?

I angled my head just enough to look at Kye. “The Riveans have my Naiads.”

His jaw lengthened as he stared ahead, glowering at Kolibri’s fresh tracks like they’d personally insulted him.

The sun hovered low, painting the snow golden-pink, stars beginning to glimmer into the sky. I leaned against Kye, letting my weight sag into him as we rode, unsure what might lie ahead. What might demand energy I wasn’t certain I had. Mentally, I prodded at Nori’s barriers, the lines in my forehead carving deeper with every passing second of silence.

Nori.

Silence.