Page 46 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

20

Maren

The Rivean who once killed my husband stumbled and tripped behind Kye’s horse.

We’d tried a prisoner cart first, after Kye had restored Kazimir’s dislocated shoulder with a meaty crack, leaving Sindri to bind his hands with a clever knot of rope that would have made any sailor stare at their boots in shame. The Rivean refused to allow himself inside the boarded wagon, fighting against us like a mad cat to remain outside its enclosure.

Sindri’s avalanche had buried all the Riveans but him. At the head of his march, the Rivean managed to scale a tree before the snowy tide drank him alive. The Venusians had found him, beaten and growling, halfway under a bed of snow and bent branches.

Now, he trailed Kye’s gelding, eyes like narrow shards of steel glinting through the morning sun. Our troupe rode quietly through the alpine forest, each of us huddled under furs.

I was unsure what to do with Nori. Her outburst toward Kye still rang in my ears. You may seethe into the distance as I stand here reminding you that you are worthless. Your life will run its course, while hers will continue on.

I’d sent her and Olinne back through the Sylus Lake along with most of my Naiad army to meet me in the Juile Sea, hoping that by the time I saw her face again, I’d know how to reprimand her. Something I wished I could also do with Cebrinne and Selena.

The happier they appeared, the more isolated I seemed to become. My heart felt betrayed by both of them, but the angrier I grew, the more my guilt bled through the walls of my anger. My own body berated me for it, demanding I forgive them simply because they were my blood. Watching them set my teeth into a grind I only noticed when my jaw began to ache, so I avoided glancing in their direction altogether.

It seemed years ago that I’d climbed in beside Kye’s corpse to weep only to have Selena send me on an errand to retrieve her sister, a mission she’d kept to herself the entire time I’d known her. I hadn’t had enough time to consider the depth of that mission—the underlying purpose within every interaction I’d had with her. Seated on Kolibri’s back with nothing but the trail to stimulate my thoughts, everything she’d ever said returned to me one moment at a time, and though I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t help but latch to each one. They were wounds carved into my hide, and I was addicted to the sight of my own blood.

It would be prudent for you to treat Nikolaos as though he knew nothing of your contract, she’d said in her office when I’d asked if Kye knew he’d be bound to me forever.

Cordaeing with the prince will bring you one step closer to fulfilling your blood vow, she’d promised when I‘d grown restless at the loss of my freedom.

You didn’t write your contract, Maren. But you did sign it, she’d spat when I’d decided to deviate from her plan and find Sidra.

The worst—the sharpest, needling little razored edge—wasn’t any words at all. It had been the look in her eyes after Thaan had left. After he’d forced me to reveal my tail to Kye. A foreboding sorrow had nestled in the depths of her blue gaze before she’d watched us climb to our tower, knowing Kye’s fate was sealed.

Even then, she hadn’t said a word.

Aegir rode beside Selena and Cebrinne now. He’d sent all of his Naiads but Sindri to follow my Juilean warriors through the mountain stream to the sea, an order that I liked as little as everything else.

I’d wanted to decline when he asked to join me on the return journey to Calder, though after he’d subverted a Rivean attack against my forces, I had little choice but to accept.

“What will we do with him?” I asked softly.

Kye tilted his head at me. “The Rivean?”

Even under his thick pelt, Aegir’s wide shoulders flexed as he leaned to the side to cast a short string of words at Cebrinne. Whatever she replied, she answered easily, almost indifferently, though Selena’s posture grew stonier each moment that passed. My mouth pressed flat. “Yes.”

Kye exhaled, crossing his forearms over his thighs to glance at Kazimir. Then followed the trail of my gaze to the male Naiad ahead. “What would you like to do with him?”

Kazimir? Kill him. Boil him. Tear him limb from limb. Strike his heart with a bolt from the sky and leave him for the worms under Kolibri’s hooves.

But my eyes didn’t leave Aegir as I murmured, “I’m not sure yet.”

White teeth scraped Kye’s lower lip in thought. “Did you meet him in Calder?”

I offered a small nod. “Once before. I was with Selena.”

“She doesn’t like him,” Kye said, more question than statement. When I didn’t immediately answer, he straightened, aiming golden eyes to rest patiently over mine.

“I think,” I said slowly, turning the words over in my head as I combed through them aloud, “it’s more that she believes he doesn’t like her.”

Kye frowned. “Any idea why?”

Kolibri’s coat smoothed between my fingertips as I absently patted her neck. Her tail swished gently against her rump. I clicked my tongue.

Our positive connection with the Venus Videre has faded in recent years, a tangle caught in the rope I did not wind, Thaan had once aimed at Selena. The words rippled from the back of my memory as clearly as if I still stood outside Selena’s door, listening through the wall.