Page 88 of Tides of Shadows

“And who protects him?” I asked sarcastically.

“My Lady, my orders are to guard you.” He stood as if compelled to duty.

“Fine,” I waved my hand. “But don’t complain if you witness something that you shouldn’t.”

We left by the smaller streets of White City. The town smelled of salt and smoke, and beyond it lay the sea. White cliffs rose on one side and a long ribbon of sand on the other. We rode for a time until weariness tugged at me. I dismounted. The wind brought the taste of water, and the voices of the waves soothed me, though a tremor moved beneath my skin.

“Stay upon the hill,” I told them all. “Don’t come any closer.”

I had to loosen what I carried. The dark dreams, the weight of the prophecy, the Plague, the attack on me, on Aidenar, and now these courtly rumors had piled upon my chest. I stood at the shore, the sea calling me like an old friend. I made certain no ship or fishing boat drifted near and that no soul walked the strand.

I closed my eyes and listened to the water. The waves answered each beat of my heart. At first they stirred lightly, then with greater force. I felt the element swell beneath my feet. The sea began to draw back, uncovering sand and shells, until at last a wall of water rose on the far line of the world.

In the distance the horses snorted and stamped. The wind struck my face. I lifted my hands to the sky and gave the element all the wrath that burned within me. The wave towered high as mountains. I held it a heartbeat longer, pouring out every shard of anger.

Then I let go.

The sea broke before me. I stilled the force that might have swept us from the earth and allowed only a lace of foam to kiss my boots. Then the ocean returned to its ancient rhythm.

I stood for a moment, drawing ragged breath. Relief came at last.

I walked back toward the guards. Kael and Brenn were used to such sights, but Peter and the others were not. They stared at me with horror, as if they’d just seen something inhuman. I was accustomed to these kind of looks from men on the islands. They were afraid of me, they wouldn’t even stand close to me. Was my power so disgusting to them?

On my way back to the Palace, I decided we would visit one more place. Father and I had circled endlessly without answers, and her words still rang through my mind.

I signaled Peter to alter our course, and we turned toward the darker district. The same narrow streets I had walked with Aidenar. Eyes followed us from shadowed doorways and cracked windows, hostile and wary. We were outsiders here, and everyone knew it. My hands hovered near my blades. In places like that you never knew what was waiting in the shadows.

As we approached the cramped passage from before, the same skinny man, with his guards, stepped into our path.

“Young Lady, here alone?” Omar said, his voice carrying false concern. “Better not to wander such places without the White Lord. Even with an escort.” He tilted his head toward my companions, his smile thin.

“I have business,” I said.

“You have no business here little bird.”

Since releasing my power, energy thrummed beneath my skin, wild and restless. I had no patience for games.

I closed the distance between us until I stood close enough to see the weathered lines around his eyes. I held his gaze and reached for the contents of his stomach with my power, drawing them upward until bile rose to his throat.

Shock flickered across his face.

“You can be helpful then and ensure that no one disturbs me,” I said softly. “I need no lord as a nursemaid.”

I stepped past him and released my hold on his insides. My company followed without hesitation.

Perhaps I had gone too far. But today, my patience wore thinner than parchment. I stood once more before the small wooden door. I entered without knocking, I had no appointment. When I got inside, entrails lay scattered across the table. Animal, I hoped. Whether ingredients for some remedy or the supper, I preferred not to ask.

The crone stood at her workbench, slicing something that resembled liver into fine pieces.

“I can smell you from a mile away,” she said without looking up from her cutting board. “You walk through this city as though you mean to drown us all.”

“You knew what I am. You knew about the sacrifice.”

She lifted those milk-white eyes to me. I could never tell if she saw anything at all.

“You didn’t ask,” she said.

“You said there are more. More like me, like the White Lord. Who else did you mean?”