She floated, but her rage did not leave her.
Sheburnedwith it.
And the water— the water grew hotter. Until bubbles began to rise and the water began to churn.
She held her rage close. Let herself merge into it, until she knew nothing else.
Her thoughts began to slow.
Hala.
Hala had abandoned her. Abandonedthem.
Hala’s priestesses. Selene’s sisters.
Her beloved goddess had left them to this. To be broken and slaughtered, to die alone on the edge of the world.
Perhaps if Hala had not stopped them, she would avenge them.
The girl opened her mouth and screamed again against the salt and the agony that poured down her throat. It was no match for the pain inside her heart. And in that moment, she was grateful she could not love. For she could not imagine a greater agony than this.
Punish them.
Punish all of them.
She screamed, and screamed, and screamed again.
***
Far above her head, where the girl could not hear, people began to cry out.
Her body floated. And soon, she was not alone. Others joined her. So many others. Twisting, bucking, and falling. So many that it seemed as if the sea could not hold them all.
And then—
The world twisted. It flipped, and turned, and spun.
So many fell, as the world turned upside down.
On the shore, the soldiers fell to their knees, and they screamed, too. They begged, and pleaded, but they could do nothing.
The whole world began to scream.
But the girl who might have one day been Selene Amaris took no pleasure in the screams that filled the world as it turned and flipped and changed.
She had no thoughts at all.
For the girl was dead.
Chapter two
Callan
“This place smells like a latrine.”
Ignoring Esme’s grumble, I eye the ruddy-faced barkeep glaring at our salt-crusted clothing and the marks on the faces of those around me.
My fingers tap out a rhythm against the small, aged wooden table. It wobbles even beneath my light touch, and I press my foot down against the leg to hold it steady as he thunks down several iron flagons overflowing with golden beer.
