Finally, he dropped his rope and spit out a particular curse he’d heard Loto say recently. It had sounded quite bad, and the look on Cassia’s face confirmed it.
“All this over a knot?” she asked, retrieving his discarded rope. “I should hang you by your boots for an hour.”
“I can’t get it. My knots keep slipping.”
She raised one black, perfectly arched brow. “So?”
So, she expected him to be like her and Papa, and he couldn’t tie a stupid knot.
Cassia slanted a smirk and showed him how to hold the rope steady. Her fingers moved with ease, though she moved slowly so he could follow. “You know, Augustus, everyone aboard this ship was once terrible at tying knots.”
“Not you.”
“Even me.”
Augustus tilted his head up. His mother was great at everything. Plus, she was probably the scariest person in the world. “You’re lying.”
A laugh jumped from her chest. “Everyone makes mistakes when they’re learning. Sometimes, they continue to make them after they’ve learned. And there’s nothing wrong with that.” She brushed his hair away from his eyes. “It’s only when we give up that we truly fail.”
Cassia pulled him close to her side and dipped her head to speak near his ear as if sharing a big secret. “Mistakes mean you’re trying.” She kissed his head, then guided his hands back to the rope. “Now, let’s try again.”
In the dream, Augustus learned to tie the knot, and his mother’s eyes shone with pride. And when he opened his eyes in the morning, the sun highlighted Selene’s soft expression.
She swept hair from his brow and smiled. “You were dreaming of your mother.”
“I was.”
“It wasn’t a nightmare.”
Tears pricked the backs of his eyes. For the first time in months, a great weight seemed to have lifted from his chest. “I have much to tell you.”
Selene nodded. “Good. Because I’ve waited long enough.”
They spent hours tangled in that room, and Selene wished it had been the reunion she once imagined—full of promises and soft touches. But too much had happened.
Far too much to forget.
Augustus had been lying to her for months. Dimitrios, too, had kept the prophecy from her.
The worst part was that Augustus knew how she felt about being protected in that way. Had she known the truth, she could have prepared better. Worked harder in the training arena. Or…maybe nothing she’d done would have made a difference. But now she’d never know.
By midday, she learned what happened to theAkias, and a part of her soul crushed in on itself. She pictured Mettius’s hands bound, his face bruised, his voice refusing to scream. Her escape led Thorne’s ship to stop in Okos. He would have sailed on by if not for her. And now Mettius was there in her place.
She would blame herself for the rest of her life.
“It’s more likely,” Augustus said, stroking the gooseflesh along her arms, “that the ships would have passed each other regardless. This still would have happened, only you would have been stuck in the middle.” His gaze lowered. “I’m glad you didn’t have to witness that.”
“We have to find Mettius.”
“We will.” He released a sigh and sat back on the bed, which was starting to feel like a rock beneath her. “But maybe you should stay here. Omar has family here and plans to leave the children with?—”
“I’m never leaving your side again.”
“Selene.” He swept a thumb across her scar. “You didn’t see the crew. He’s capable of much more than you realize.”
“I don’t care.” She climbed into his lap and held his head steady. “We stick together. Forever.”
“You say that now, but apparently,”—one of his eyebrows kicked up—“you have another soul mate. You’ll be fine without me.”
