“Don’t be afraid.” Esme tries to offer comfort. “They won’t hurt you.”
“I know.” My voice is bleak. “Not until I’ve fixed the Never, at least.”
I wonder what manner of welcome I might find here, in this place filled with the metal men that spilled faeyte blood down the temple steps. If I will find a welcome at all, or if I even want one. “There is nothing more they can do to me. I am not afraid.”
No, afraid is not the right word. Behind my back, I push my wrists together against the railing, scratching at my skin.
“Heading in.” Callan turns the rudder, angling the ship. My feet almost slip as it tilts downward.
“Don’t forget to play dead when we get there,” Rio calls out from beside me. “Give them a good show.”
He rolls his shoulders back with a sigh. “I’ll miss this. Even the food. The rations in the guard quarters are worse than the cells.”
I swing my head to him. “You’re a guard?”
“I am.” He scratches lightly at his throat. “Callan refuses to run these trips without us, so we get a break. But it’s back to mundane life once we set foot on solid ground.”
“Oh.” I had assumed that they would remain together. A vague sense of disquiet settles in my chest. “All of you?”
“Smee works in the castle— uh. Temple.” He offers me an apologetic look. “Sorry. I know it was different before.”
“It’s not a temple anymore.” It’s almost better that they don’t call it one. “Call it what you will.”
He nods. “So, Smee is Asteria’s worst kitchen maid—”
She scoffs. Then hums. “Possibly.”
He snickers. “Merrick retired from the guard a few years ago, so he stays in the town with Leo and tutors the children.”
My eyes search them out. They’re seated down on the main deck, Leo leaning against Merrick’s side. Sol is beside them. “And Sol?”
“Solomon managed to score himself a spot as Matthias’s assistant, although he’s as liable to kill someone as heal them. Lucky bastard. But Matthias is the best healer we have, so he gets a little more influence with Petyr.”
“And that’s his partner?” Sol glances up as if he can hear us.
“It is.” Esme sighs. “He’s been unbearable this trip with Matthias left behind. I promise that he’s usually at least mildly tolerable.”
She sticks her tongue out at Sol, and I can almost hear his scoff from here. My eyebrows fly up when he pulls a face back, his expression twisting.
“See?” Esme points out. “We’re not even down yet, and his mood’s already improving.”
As we get closer, vague outlines become clearer and more detailed. I make out the solid stone wall that stretches around the edge of the dock. My heart begins to beat unsteadily. I remember that wall. Remember how my feet slipped on the slick moss that covered it. It’s taller now, no longer flush with the ground but rising up, as if to prevent others from doing as I did. And it stretches out as far as I can see, branching into gray lines that run toward the town and its circle of homes, all of them facing toward the center, where the town hearth sits. “Why do you need so many walls for an island?”
“Not everyone is a fan of Petyr’s rule,” Esme says drily. “The walls were built around the town to stop people trying to escape the reaping.”
It doesn’t sound familiar. “What’s that?”
Rio taps his cheek where his mark stands out against his skin. “Since we lost so many of our young people in the Shift who would have entered our military when they reached their majority, Petyr changed the conscription process. It’s done by tier now. Those with lower tiers got recruited first, since maegis is useful for running things.”
“The tier fives were taken just before we left.” Esme bites down on her lip. Her eyes flicker to Rio, and the six in his cheek.
“I doubt he’ll go any higher,” Rio muses. “There won’t be anyone left, otherwise.”
My brows dip. “I don’t understand why there is a need for a military at all. If nobody can leave or enter Asteria, what is the purpose?”
“Tradition.” Rio scoffs beneath his breath. “To give people something to do, or something to fear. There are a lot of rumors about what goes on in the compound. Petyr runs it as its own place, separate to the town and castle.”
Frowning, I open my mouth, butVolatusdips again. The figures in the distance, standing beside that wall, turn fromsmall specks to discernible silhouettes. There are dozens of them.
