Warmth creeps into the broken parts of my heart. For this is familiar to me, in a way nothing has been familiar for so long,not in any of the ten years I spent beneath the blazing single sun of Terrosa.
This, at least—at last—I recognize.
Tears prick at my eyes, the back of my throat beginning to ache.
This world, this Never Sea, this Sea of Stars, whatever they choose to call it… it feels like home.
And it hits me then, in a crash of realization that weakens my knees as I press back against the railings and stare up at the seven phases of Hala’s moons. The phases I once lived my life by, every meal and activity and ceremony planned according to the shifting will of our goddess.
This is not some sort of fever dream. I am no longer trapped behind the walls of the Murenger, numb and broken and chained.
I got out.
And no matter what awaits me on the other side, I am goinghome.
My breathing shutters, my heart squeezing and turning in my chest. Shifting away from the railing, my iron grip loosening and leaving splinters buried in my palms, I take a step. Another. Behind me, Esme says my name, a question on her lips.
My tears fall without stopping, but I can’t stop looking.
“Selene?”
My eyes lower, still glistening. Callan’s face blurs, wavers and then clears in my line of sight as I blink, moisture spilling down my cheeks.
His eyes—those damned bronze eyes—theyblaze. Alight with maegis, with the maegis that will somehow hurt him when we stop. Even his skin seems to glow as he comes to a stop in front of me, as if an inner light is shining through.
He could be Caelum himself. The thought is almost an absent one. A memory, of the stained-glass pictures that filled thewindows of our home. Of the old stories I listened to from the dark edges of the Asterian town hearth whenever I could. Stories of the sky god, aglow with power as he travelled across the night sky, chasing the goddess he loved.
Callan could be one of the old stories, one day. If the Travelers survive. If any of us survive to tell the tale of the bronze-eyed Caelumnai who steered a ship into a sky of stars.
Emryn and Leesa would have loved this story. Would have listened, agog, before asking a hundred questions and begging to hear it just one more time from the beginning.
And the pain begins to creep back in.
He is your enemy.The small voice whispers at the back of my mind as we watch each other.
Enemies is too strong a word. The faeytes did not have enemies. We had friends, companions, sisters.
They are all your enemy. They made it so.
Callan’s brow furrows. “Your eyes.”
I focus. My words come out as a croak. “What about them?”
He shakes his head, his own eyes still bright from the casting. “It doesn’t matter. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Rio calls out from behind us. “All of us are fine. Thanks for asking, Cal. Excellent steering.”
Callan lifts his eyes up, as if asking Caelum for patience. When I follow his gaze, my own widens. I was so entranced by Hala’s moons, by the memories they invoked, that I did not notice what sits above them.
There is no sky. The sky isaroundus, surrounding us, below us, but not above. Above us roils an ocean, waves churning and swirling, tipped with white foam and stretching as far as I can see. I can even smell the faintest tang of salt, feel the mist against my face as I lift it to better take in the deep, dark depths. Within those waves, lightning flickers and crashes, illuminating the water in patches. My mouth falls open as a jagged flash revealsthe silhouette of something impossibly large and sharp-tailed, swimming through the water.
“I always think I’ll get used to it eventually,” Esme murmurs as she joins me. She’s staring up too. All of them, even Callan. “But how do you ever get used to that?”
“Welcome to the Never Sea,” Callan says quietly. “And the Sea of Stars.”
Pulling my attention from the waves above us, I cross to look over the railing once more. My stomach tilts and shifts as I rapidly back away, my palms pricking with sweat and my head spinning.
“Yeah,” Rio says heavily. “Gives a whole new meaning to the termoverboard.”
