Page 102 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

“No.” I placed my hand on his chest. “You did right by her.” I smiled, my heart so full it ached. “Thank you for never giving up on us. I never doubted you, Calroy.”

The name felt strange on my lips. Foreign and familiar at once. Not Theron the pirate. Calroy, god of the sky.

He smiled, nothing like the smirk I’d grown used to.

Ranis and Minha turned and kept their bowed position, one knee to the ground, heads low. And beside them, the keeper descended, hovering lower than it had before, its faceless head dipping in the same reverent motion.

Calroy and I turned to our friends.

I was Yeri, goddess of the sea. But I was also Star, the girl who had grown up in a cavern, who had learned the names of animals from drawings in the dirt, who had never seen a pig or a cow or a canteen until days ago. That was all I’d known for twenty-five years of my life.

Yeri felt like a dress that belonged to someone else, but not anymore.

“You can all get up,” Calroy said. “Please.”

When they rose, I stepped forward and pulled Minha and Ranis into an embrace, one arm around each of them. Then I gave the keeper a curt nod.

“How did you know I was Yeri?” I looked between them.

“He told us.” Minha pointed at the keeper. “We believed him because Theron… I mean… Calroy confirmed his statement.”

“But he was with me the whole time.” I narrowed my eyes at the faceless figure.

“This is the land of the dead, Yeri. My name is Oscan. I am its keeper. I can be everywhere and anywhere at once.”

“Fair enough. And I suppose you also said those things to upset me. Is it true you do the Seelie queen’s bidding? Does she know I’m here?”

“No.” The keeper’s voice carried something that might have been regret. “I apologize for my rudeness. I had to light a fire under you.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I had questions. Many of them. But they dissolved when a spirit-like form rose from where the waterfall pooled, the water parting around it.

I recognized him. The god of the afterlife. Tall and thin, pale skin, dark hair pulled into a top knot, the golden threads of his tunic catching the dim light. The same face from my memory.

Minha gasped, her dagger out before the sound left her throat. Ranis pivoted beside her.

But Theron was already moving. One moment he stood beside me, the next he crossed the distance in a burst of speed that didn’t belong to any mortal man, stopping inches from where the spirit hovered above the pooling water.

He couldn’t grab the deity. The god of the afterlife was mist and water, but the power rolling off Calroy was enough to churn the waterfall behind the spirit, the air crackling and charging.

I’d never seen the look of rage on Theron’s face before. This wasn’t the pirate captain. This wasn’t the man with the smirk and the carefully measured words. This was something older and far more dangerous—jaw tight, eyes dark, every muscle coiled, the air around him electric and alive.

The god of the sky with his power back.

“Calroy.” My voice came out stern. “Wait.”

He turned to look at me. The power still crackling in his eyes. Beautiful and yet so deadly.

“I see you’re still as dramatic as ever, sky god.” The spirit hovered, unbothered by the crackling power. “Stand down. You can’t harm me in this condition.”

The power in Theron’s eyes didn’t dim, but he didn’t move forward either.

“It’s about time you found her.” The spirit looked between us both, heavy in its expression. “I wasn’t sure you would. I hoped. But hope is a fragile thing, even for gods.”

The waterfall churned softly behind him.

“Once the Seelie queen learns that Yeri’s memory has returned,” the spirit’s voice rippled across the surface of the pool, “everything changes. What is coming will require all of us working together. And time is running out.”

Chapter Thirty-Two