Page 92 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

My Queen. Nori’s voice almost made me jump.

Did you find them?

Yes. Nine ships off the south-west coast of Leihani. They were not here this morning.

I cursed under my breath, stealing the attention from the remaining occupants of the room. I’d known Emilius was telling the truth. The challenge in his eyes had been too raw, too confident to have been mere attempt at deception. But I’d hoped it had been.

Where is my father?

We cannot locate him.

What? I turned away from them, their pressing eyes, to better listen to Nori. When was the last time he was seen?

Yesterday, on one of the fishing boats. She paused. We’ve sung ourselves aboard the royal ships. All the naval officers are incanted. We’ve searched each one. He’s not here.

There was suddenly not enough oxygen in Selena’s moon-damned apartment. I turned on my heel, striding to her balcony and pushing her doors open with the flat of my hand. The heavy sun hit my eyes like a burning slash of gold, bright and brilliant and hauntingly cold like a chill through my bones.

I stared across the Juile Sea to the distant islands.

What would you like us to do? Nori asked.

Shoes clapped softly against flagstones behind me. My eyes didn’t leave the waves.

“I have to go,” I said softly.

I couldn’t see behind me, but in my mind, I envisioned them with painful clarity. Selena and Cebrinne glancing at each other, the way they’d tip-toe around the subject like I was a growling little wolf pup who didn’t know any better, one misguided word away from snapping at their hands and running.

“Where?” Kye asked.

“Home.” I turned to glance at him from over my shoulder. “Back to Leihani.”

41

Maren

Aegir stood on the sky bridge outside Selena’s apartment, watching the same waves roll below that I had only minutes before.

I must have worn an expression that gave me away, whether determination or distraction or the knuckle-dragging hooks of dread that stemmed from the pit of my stomach, slimy like I’d swallowed a toad. It hardly mattered how I tried; I couldn’t hide my thoughts when my eyes so loved to parade them on the surface of my face.

“What is it?” Aegir asked, studying Kye and me.

“Nothing.” I turned from him, aiming for the stairs.

The Videre reached for my elbow. He didn’t grab hold—but his fingers slid over the corner of my arm, falling through the air. Beside me, Kye stopped, the crook of his jaw a fraction more square.

I stepped smoothly out of Aegir’s range. “I’m heading to Leihani.”

“Now?” Aegir pulled his hands in, relinquishing a step away. “If the human King has been meeting with Thaan, if we have reason to believe he’s here somewhere in the palace—”

“I’m sure he is, Aegir.” Half-turned away, I let my gaze roam sharply over him. “Knowing he is, I think it’s wise you watch yourself.”

“Wait,” he said as I moved toward the stairs. I huffed a short sigh, crossing my arms and glancing back at him.

I had the impression he wanted very much to tell me how I needed to learn patience, how my thoughts and feelings and plans lacked vigilance yet exceeded in impulsivity. I held little desire to listen as he delivered well-intended insults at me. I didn’t care to hear that I was too human, too female, too young—or whatever it was I was too much of for him.

Unlike my face, however, he wrapped himself around his opinions, hiding them behind a cool—if not slightly abrasive—exterior. “I’m sorry. I forget that you were born to a human world. I’ve never known a Videre who has. You might be the first in Naiad history.” His fingers found the crenelations of the bridge, tracing a scarred groove down the aged cobblestone. “Being here, in this palace. Talking once more about Thaan, hoping for an end to his reign…it brings back ghosts I’m afraid to face.”

He let his voice trail, his hand traveling ancient channels in the bridge wall like they’d give him an answer to a desperate question as long as he could carve them open with his fingertip. His eyes were bright, shining thick against the dusk of sunset.