Page 122 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

Palto pressed his fist to his heart and bowed his head.

“We’ll be ready,” Rowhan said. “The moment the barrier cracks, we move.”

I looked at all of them. My people. My strength. My home. Fate had brought us together for a reason I couldn’t fathom. I hoped our team was enough to bring the Seelie queen to her knees. Then I walked toward the barrier alone.

The barrier felt like walking through a storm—wind pushing against me, pressing me back with every step. The farther I crossed, the heavier my legs became, each step slower than the last, like walking against a tide. Whatever power had stirred in me since the land of the dead, flickered and dimmed, the onyx stealing energy I couldn’t hold on to.

I would not stop. Never stop. I kept walking.

The queen watched me come with that same unhurried satisfaction she’d worn in the throne room when she’d pressed her finger into my blue blood and smiled.

“Stop.” She didn’t lower the blade at Nam’s throat.

I halted twenty feet from Nam.

“I’m here. Release her.” My voice came out commanding, like a goddess throwing orders, and not the girl who had stood on an auction block.

Nam’s eyes found mine. “I always knew.” Nam’s voice was soft but steady. “From the moment you were born. I knew what you were.”

“I know,” I said. “I met your sister in the forest.”

Relief broke open in Nam’s face. “Sable.” Her voice softened around the name. “She’s alive.”

I nodded as tears pooled.

Nam closed her eyes for just a moment. When she opened them, tears streamed down her face. “I loved you like my own daughter from the very first day I gave birth to you. Though you may not recall, I’m honored that you had chosen me to bring you into this life.”

My legs locked and I sucked in a breath. The words I gave birth to you caught somewhere in my chest, and for a second, I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t recall choosing her in my previous life. Perhaps the god of the afterlife had given me that choice.

My throat tightened. “I love you, Nam. You have been so good to me. You are my strength. My home.” I swallowed. “My mother. My family.”

Nam smiled, peace and love crossing her features.

“Forget me,” she said. “Save your sisters.”

She was asking me to let her go. She was willing to sacrifice her life for the others. I would not sacrifice hers or any of my sisters’ lives if I could help it.

“Enough.” The queen’s voice cut between us like the blade in her hand. Her violet cold, assessing eyes set on me. “Kneel. And give me the pure stones.”

“I don’t have them.”

I had pressed them into Fraya’s hands before we left the Seelie queen’s castle, the last person the queen would suspect to carry them. The woman who had no divine blood, no name recognized, no reason to be watched.

The queen studied me, assessing if I told the truth. Then her expression shifted dangerously.

“Face your consequence, Yeri.”

At those words, I ran with a speed I didn’t know I carried, faster than any mortal. She drew the blade across Nam’s throat and stepped closer to the onyx boulders.

The sound that left me poured from grief and rage. As Nam’s knees buckled, I caught her, my hands pressing against her throat, her blood—red and warm—poured through my fingers no matter how hard I pressed.

Her eyes found mine as I brought her lower.

“Nam.” The word came out broken. “Stay with me. Please.”

She wheezed, struggling for air, but her words came clear. “You—a goddess.” A breath. “Jina—lost princess.” Another breath. “Release—barrier.” Her hand found mine, barely more than a whisper of touch. “Go home… Love… you.”