Page 87 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

There had been too many moments between Kye and me that had smeared the line between life and death, too many times we’d flirted with that sullied boundary without knowing where it began and where it ended for him to mollify my fears now.

But I glanced at him, and he was straightening, curling his knees underneath him to push upright. The olive flush of his skin was returning in vibrancy, and his breaths evened, the black tar wiped from his eyes and mouth.

Eyes closed, Emilius smiled. “You thought I’d kill him,” he laughed softly. His heart continued an unsteady beat, and he looked as though he’d stepped into Death’s realm already, hanging onto the realm of mortals by a finger. But his heart had steadied, and the soft whoosh of his blood, though thin and slow, was enough. The blunt end of his arm was sealed, and as sloppily and hastily as I’d done the job, he wouldn’t die today.

At least, not from this wound.

I shoved him away, letting him roll onto the floor among the muck he’d just forced out of Kye and Brido.

“You’re not finished,” he slurred. “Come back and mend my hand.”

“I can’t,” I snapped, reaching to help Kye onto his feet. “I spared your life. Touch my husband again and I’ll burn this palace to the ground.”

“How clarifying,” Emilius wheezed, “that you’d save an enemy for a human.”

The string of words came from Emilius's voice. But they didn't sound like they belonged to him.

The hair lifted at the back of my neck. Almost to the door, I slowed to glance back at him. Just once. Just for a moment.

Then I opened it, and Kye and I left the King of Calder stretched across his tower floor, covered in black liquid and a sea of his own blood.

39

Maren

Nori.

Half a breath passed before she answered. Yes, my Queen?

The dull banging in my head had sharpened into a knife-point against my skull now that the King was no longer distracting me, the sunlight streaming through the wide panes of glass so bright and unfiltered it felt like a voice screaming directly in my ears. I stumbled to the wooden railing, leaned across, and before I could stop it, the spare contents of my stomach heaved up my throat.

Kye gathered my hair behind me as I brushed the side of my arm roughly against my mouth. Are you in Leihani?

I’m close, she answered. I could almost hear the familiar calm of deep ocean through her thoughts, a silence as full and still as nothing else, and knew she was somewhere near my colony.

Swim to my island. If there are any royal ships there. I paused, swallowing the taste of bile. Sink them.

Surprise traipsed from her mind to mine. And any humans aboard?

I exhaled as I pushed fully upright, shutting the bright, glaring world out. Drown them.

Nori has always harbored a mistrust for humans—especially men. More than mistrust. She hated men the way an archivist hates mold or a farmer hates floods. Men were a blight on the seas, somehow both predator and prey, but mostly a pest that had infested all the corners of her life. I knew she wouldn’t shy from thinning their numbers.

Still, she seemed to hesitate, the connection between us soaked with dead air.

Did something happen? Nori finally asked.

Sink the fleet. Then send someone to find my father. Make sure he’s safe.

Yes, my Queen, she said, and the link between us snapped out.

I sighed, squinting up at Kye, who had developed an expression of worn patience whenever he knew I was conversing with Nori in my head. His stupid ring hung heavily over my thumb, and I pulled it off, returning it to his finger.

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Funny. Come with me,” he said, taking my arm and helping me down the stairs. “What did he want?”

“Leihani,” I murmured. “Are you hurt?”