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“Torvo!” Dev cried, sliding onto her knees at her brother’s side. He nearly knocked her down as he collapsed forward to the deck, writhing in pain. His injured wing didn’t look good.

Sharlyne rushed toward me, face pale, worry etched in every crease.

“Take him to Kendara, and make her fix him,” I instructed Dev. Then I turned back to Sharlyne. “The pirates?” I demanded, barely on my own feet again.

“We have them all bound in the hold, but…” she hesitated, refusing to meet my eyes.

A storm brewed in my chest as I grasped her arm, demanding her attention. “What is it?”

“It’s Rune,” she said, finally meeting my gaze. “She’s gone.”

Forty-Two

Nyah

“Idon’t understand,” I said, straightening on the stone sofa, flanked by creatures of legend. My hands fisted at my sides, nails digging into my palms as I fought tears of frustration. “You’re gods—how can you not be able to right the wrongs Balram has committed?”

“Even we have rules.” Darvol’s vehemence was becoming something I expected from him.

In a way, he reminded me of Rivven, with his ever-shifting moods and reactions. Thinking of the man so far away and how I’d left him in danger made my heart clench.

“But why can’t you destroy Balram?” I leaned forward. Refocusing my attention on the matter at hand.

Zariah frowned. “As long as Revka is physically apart from us, we cannot cross the boundary.”

“But I’m here now. You said I’m part of Revka. Doesn’t that count?”

“I wish that were the case. But we need all of her, not just part. The boundary is firm.”

Closing my eyes, I steadied myself. It wouldn’t do to get angry with a god, or whatever they called themselves. I had to try a different way.

“Where is this boundary?” I asked.

“The moment you crossed it, I came for you,” Darvol answered.

I nodded in understanding. “It’s in the sea. Does it have something to do with Synbari?”

“Yes,” Zariah said, setting a hand on my arm above my still clenched fist and sending another wave of calm over me. “Our domains are centered around the isles. Our power source is on the island of the gods below the temple humans built. And only one of us at a time can stray too far from the source as long as its—as we’re—not whole.”

“The source?” I echoed. Every time I thought I had wrapped my head around something, more questions arose.

“We will show you,” Darvol announced. He gestured, sending small schools of teal fish rushing toward the edges of the salmon-colored coral surrounding us. “Come.” He waved his hand again, and another whirlpool lifted me from my seat, threatening to carry me on a second impossible ride.

“Wait,” I protested, shoving at the water that felt far too much like a giant hand.

It dissipated, and Darvol’s eyes flamed again.

“I need to go back to the ship to help my friends first. Please,” I added, appealing to his gentler side. I glanced to Zariah for help. “I left them when they needed me. People could die. They could already be dead.”

The shock of speaking to the gods and the knowledge of my nature had blinded me to the urgency of the situation. Shame burned through me. I should have demanded to go back immediately. If I’d let them down—if any of them had perished because of my selfishness, I’d⁠—

“You may not return,” Darvol stated.

My head snapped toward him, my hair floating in a cloud to partially obscure my view.

Zariah spoke as I opened my mouth to protest. “We would indulge if we could, my dear. But we need your presence. It is of the utmost importance.”

“Importance?” I seethed. Magic rose within me, somehow stronger than I’d ever felt it—like a tsunami of light pouring through my cells that threatened to break me apart as it crested. Around me, the sea currents stirred. Small creatures darted for shelter inside the coral. “And why is what you want more important than the lives of those I love?”