My throat caught.
Maz glanced at me, his eyes softening. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there that night. A boy died in my place. Loss is never simple.”
I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to ask him everything he knew, every detail of his encounters with Mother. But fear and anger and a dozen nameless emotions clogged my throat.
Because he was right. Loss was never simple.
Sigrid called for Maz just then, slicing through the taut thread of regret between us.
But before he left, he briefly rested his hand on my shoulder. “Knowing the part I played in your sorrow—the reason you saw us as enemies—eases the pain of the part you played in mine. But we Dags are a proud lot. We fight as hard as we love, and we never surrender on either front. If someone turns their back on us...” He shook his head. “However, it brings me some comfort to know my gut”—he patted his flat stomach—“was always right.”
On that cryptic note, he sauntered away.
I let loose a fractured breath, but the emotions remained, scratching at my insides.
My eyes caught on a dark figure leaning against the railing several feet away, his face angled toward Dagriel.
Aiden. Had he been listening?
I whirled away, fists clenched. Gods, I hated showing him any weakness, like I had when I admitted I couldn’t swim.
He didn’t deserve to learn about the family he’d torn apart and abandoned. He had enough weapons to use against me. All the more reason to go back to Aquinon as soon as possible.
Another day or two, and I’d never have to see him again.
As we nearedthe shores of Dagriel, the sun broke through the gray blanket of sky.
My lips parted in wonder as I drank it all in. I’d never traveled anywhere. This was my first time outside Rellmira, or really Aquinon.
The land was so different here. A thick blanket of furry, pointed trees and others with white trunks and shockingly golden leaves covered the rocky shores.
In the distance, huge snow-capped mountains rose to the sky. I’d only ever seen them drawn in books, and no picture could do them justice.
The air was crisp and sweet as if it’d just rained, releasing all the scents of the earth.
A loud shout arose as we rounded a bend and came into view of a river mouth where a dozen large boats had lain along the black shore like dry fish.
What looked like a hundred Dags waved and called out. Children in fur capes shrieked with joy and chased each other around the rocks. Huge dogs barked and splashed in the surf, long pink tongues lolling.
The Dags on the ship shouted and waved back, Maz and his sisters loudest of all. Even the grieving bone-rattlers smiled at such a raucous welcome.
A strange sense of longing pinched my chest. So many people who were so happy to see each other. What must that be like?
Skelly commanded his crew to lower the anchor and prepare the remaining rowboats. The bone-rattlers hurried to do his bidding, but didn’t climb into them. Perhaps they preferred their rollicking tub to solid ground.
Aiden and Nikella loaded the first boats with the wounded, taking great care not to jostle them. The rest of the Dags impatiently waited their turn.
This time, I didn’t fight my way to a boat. Instead, I clambered down the rope ladder into the last one. A Dag woman wrenched the oar out of my pale hand and propelled us to shore.
The distance across the water was mercifully short. I practically flung myself onto dry land with a sigh of relief. But now it was the dark shore that pitched beneath my feet. I half-sank, half-fell to my knees, grasping the smooth, wet pebbles between my fingers.
The Dags were still making a world of noise, but now cries of sorrow and sobbed names reached my ears. Tears glistened on almost everyone’s cheeks, of relief, of sadness—I couldn’t tell. Perhaps all of it. The Dags seemed to be a people who felt everything out in the open with each other.
Delysia had hugged me at Mother’s funeral, and Everett had held my hand. But we’d saved our tears for the privacy of our bedrooms. Away from Father’s disapproving eyes.
“That bitch should’ve died on the executioner’s stand like the traitor she was!”
Murdering bastard. I hoped he wandered the Longest Night even now, stalked by his demons.
