A gasp escaped me. “What?”
“Break it. Break the storm. That is your name, isn’t it? I’m sure my brother told you about your great-grandfather. It’s a bit ironic, don’t you think?”
“I can’t break a storm,” I snapped.
“Why not?”
“I have no idea how to, to begin with.”
“And you knew how to break the Spine?”
“It told me how to do that,” I said. “It explained it step by step. This is a storm. A random weather event. I can’t break a storm just because I broke the Spine.”
“It’s the same principle, I’m sure,” Dorian said.
“Do you break many storms and mountains?”
Rilen grabbed my arm. “Kimber, he’s right. We need something, anything, that will give us an iota of a chance. We can all hear the ship groaning and protesting against this constant battering. We’re not seafarers. When it sounds like wood is ripping, that’s generally not a good sound.”
“So you want me just to break the storm,” I snapped my fingers, “like that.”
“Did pretty good with the Spine, Mistress Breaker.” Rilen smiled. “Try, at least,ilati? We’re all here for you if you need us.”
“I don’t want to be unconscious for three weeks,” I mumbled. “You idiots will sail us to the southern pole.”
“I’m not that bad of a navigator,” Rilen said.
“I didn’t say it would be you, or a mistake, Master Wolf.”
Aiko chuckled from his spot at the rail where he was desperately hanging on. “The water will be easier than the rock, Kimber,” he said. “Break it.”
I stared at Aiko for a moment. I’d only shared blood with him in the past days between S’Kir and Summer Landing. But I didn’t feel like I was losing my power, not like in the days I spent with Elex.
“Your Highness, can you hold the wheel while I try this?”
Belshazzar’s eyes were wide with shock. He was studying me, and glancing at his brother and then back to studying me. He stepped up and grabbed the wheel, motioning Aiko to join him.
I walked the length of the ship to the bowsprit and looked out at the dangerous waves, lashing winds and the next bout of rain falling ahead of us—so heavy it looked more like a fog on the water.
“How the hell do I do this?” I asked no one. I glanced at Rilen. “The last time, there were walls, and they spoke to me.”
“Think of the water the same way,” he said.
The ship pitched hard and nearly tossed me overboard. Dorian grabbed my right arm, and Rilen grabbed my left.
It was a shock to feel their power there, but it bolstered me. I closed my eyes and reached down into the water to sense the magic.
It wasthere.Bubbling and boiling in the water, tossing waves and currents and eddies around us, flinging fingers of moisture up to the clouds. Following the clouds, I could feel the churning mists.
“It’s magic,” I whispered.
“What?” Dorian gasped.
“The storm is magic!” I ran my own power across it and delved deep into the currents. With a flick and a whip of my wrist, I pulled the magic up, reordered the strands, and shoved them all back into place. I grabbed the disorganized wild magic that was disturbing the weather and led it back to the places where it had been pulled from, showing it how to be comfortable where it was, and leaving it in the currents to find its way home.
I carved through a wave coming straight for us and pushed it to the side to create a calm, flat sea the boat could float on. I overestimated how much power that would take, and carved straight up into the sky, parting clouds.
“Just like your namesake,” Dorian said.
