Page 3 of Tides of Shadows

But I also knew that White City could be my only hope. Maybe they knew a cure there.

“It is time for me to go,” I said softly.

“Forget about me,” he said pleadingly. “About me as I am now. Remember only the good times. Go, live your life, regret nothing.”

“Don’t say that.” Tears welled. I turned my face so he would not see it.

“Life is too short, Nerissa. And too fragile to dwell in the past,” he added. “I know something about that.”

There was still a spark of light in his eyes.

“Sail without fear.”

“Without fear,” I echoed.

I kissed his forehead and fled before more tears could fall.

I ran down the stone stairs without looking back. The longer I lingered, the harder it would become to leave. I made for the harbor. Sea air filled my lungs, salty and comforting. Along the way, I passed all the familiar paths. I knew every turn, every stone. I brushed my fingers over the moss on the walls, as I always did.

Everyone waited at the harbor. Everyone I knew since I was a kid. Some were cheering for my travel, I could see some were worried. I didn’t want to show any sorrow on my face. Now I had to present my Family proudly.

Father waited at the deck. He embraced me tightly in his huge arms and helped me board the ship. I think he knew that if he didn’t make sure of this, I’d run away at the last minute.

The weather was perfect. Too perfect. Not a breath of wind.

As though the islands themselves wanted me to stay.

The helmsmen raised their hands, carrying wind Elementar bracelets. Their lapis lazuli stones chimed softly. A single breath was enough to fill the sails.

The ship moved.

There was no turning back.

Chapter

2

Ididn’t want to be here.

No matter how much I tried to pretend I was ready. How often I told myself I was doing this for my father, for our Family. My heart kept shouting one thing: get the fuck out of here. I stood on the ship’s prow and let the wind tear at my hair. I fixed my eyes on the horizon where the White City rose up, whiter than salt, its domes reflecting sunlight. The pride of the Ten Families. The center of the Dominium. A city that would swallow me whole the moment I showed weakness. The last time I’d seen it I was a child, holding my father’s hand. Now I had to fend for myself. I was to represent our Family, our failing trade, our desperate hopes.

I should have been on a ship going the other way.

Instead, father sent me here like his own errand girl. “See to the future of Family Veymaris,” he told me. “Our ships sit idle in port, the coffers are running dry. We need trading partners, contacts, connections. Secure us new contracts with the help of Roderick. And if you happen upon a suitor, preferably a wealthy one who likes the look of you, even better.”

Fantastic. Father had always possessed a sick sense of humor.

Roderick, our steward, stood beside me. He’d served our family as long as I could remember. He was like an uncle to me. Broad-shouldered, with a soft belly, a generous mustache, and an old-fashioned sense of humor. I was glad he’d come. We’d traveled in a small group, we couldn’t afford to keep many people in the White City. Roderick brought his two sons, Kael and Brenn, knights in their mid-twenties, assigned as my personal guard. Though everyone knew that, if it came to it, I’d probably end up saving them.

Stepping off the ship, the port’s clamor washed over me like a familiar tide. I was used to it in Thalrock, where the salt breeze never left your skin and the crash of waves had been my childhood lullaby. I learned to swim before I could walk. The wind carried our laughter and the sailors’ curses from distant voyages. The islands were wild and fickle, one day the water was calm as a mirror, the next raging like a storm at the ocean’s core. Life there was simpler, rawer and truer than in this polished metropolis.

“Lady Nerissa, by the gods… is everything made of marble?” Mirabel whispered, craning her neck at the city.

“Marble, palladium, and vanity,” I answered dryly, striding down the wet gangplank. “White City always liked to shine brighter than it deserves.”

Mirabel’s cheeks flushed with excitement, she couldn’t tear her gaze from the alabaster domes, he soaring towers laced with golden filigree, the bustling docks where dozens of sails danced in the light of the setting sun.

“It looks like a dream…” she breathed.