Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 93948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“No, I guess it isn’t.” He shrugs. “Siobhan and Morrigan might be the last of the originals, but what if they’re not? We’ve always been taught that the originals are unknowable and untethered to our world. What if it isn’t true?”
I smile despite myself. “You sound like Evelyn right now.” There’s nothing the witch loves more than questions. It’s delightful and aggravating by turns.
“I suppose I do.”
“It’s something to chase down.” I pat his shoulder again and shift back, breaking the contact. “I’ll talk to Siobhan about it in the morning.”
“Good.” He glances at me. “Try to get some sleep tonight. You’re no use to anyone if you fall over from exhaustion because of all the brooding.”
That surprises me enough to laugh. “You can’t have the market cornered on brooding, darling. It’s rude.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He turns and starts to move away, but stops before he takes two steps. “I meant what I said, Nox. We’re with you. All of us.”
I wait for him to walk away to speak. “I know,” I whisper. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” I believe in the cause. Deeply. I always have.
It’s just my luck that I’ve finally found the community I’ve spent my entire life searching for…only for every single member to be in immediate and fatal danger. Just in time for both Bastian and Siobhan to be aboard, both so damn magnetic that I’ve fled my own damn cabin to escape thoughts of them.
I shake my head. Guess I didn’t do a particularly good job of escaping. What’s done is done, and Bastian is ancient history. It just doesn’t feel like ancient history with the man himself on my ship, disrupting things with his presence. And Siobhan? She’s a future that was never mine to have. Not when she and Bastian have been together for well over a decade at this point.
They met a year after he watched me walk away. A fucking year.
That’s no time at all in the grand scheme of things. I exhale slowly. I shouldn’t be mad all this time later. Life on Hedd’s ship wasn’t particularly pleasant even after I worked my way up to be quartermaster at record speed. And Bastian was a noble-born second son who had never worked a day in his life. It would have ended in disaster.
Knowing that doesn’t allow me to rationalize out of the hurt I feel knowing he did leave his privileged life on Lyari. For Siobhan. Not me.
I give myself a shake and head back to the helm. Eyal is there, just like Bowen said. I nod at him. “Set course for Barth.”
He raises his brows. “Barth is closer than I’d expect you to want to be after our quick escape.”
“I know.” It’s less than a day from where I estimate us to be now. “Morrigan will expect us to head to the farthest side of Threshold. This time of year, Barth should have a dozen islands in close proximity. We’ll be able to lose them there, even if they somehow follow us.” There are countless ways to track…“Fuck.”
“What?” Eyal lifts his voice as I dodge past him toward my cabin. “Nox?”
I ignore him and duck into my cabin. The desk contains the magic that allows communication between the Council and the Audacity. It also allows them to track our movements. If Morrigan hasn’t already reported our treason, she will soon. We need the desk gone and gone now. There’s no fucking time. I was a fool for not thinking of it immediately.
As tired as I am, I draw forth the last dregs of power within me and concentrate on setting the desk aflame—without letting it spread. Fire is a fickle creature, more temperamental than the others. Most elemental users only control one, so I’ve never been able to get a satisfying answer out of the others if they feel like their element has a personality. All four have had personalities to me since the beginning.
Hot and hotter, draining my power at an exponentially faster rate than normal. The desk is spelled, resisting my efforts. “Burn, damn it.” I flick open the small window, diverting power I can’t afford to use wind to whisk the smoke out of the room.
The space wavers before my eyes, but I muscle down and focus harder. If we have a chance at all of escaping, we need this thing gone. There’s a pounding between my ears that feels like someone is ringing a bell right next to my head, but I ignore it.
Finally—finally—the desk crumples. It takes even more effort to catch every spark and divert it out the window. I should get the pieces of the desk, too…
It’s the last thought I have before everything goes gray and I slump to the floor.
Chapter 11
Siobhan
When I circled back to talk to Nox, I expected them to argue, to shut me down, to do anything but collapse the moment I stepped through the door.