Water engulfed him—freezing, black ocean waters, squeezing the air from him and dragging him under before he could even draw breath. Within barely moments his limbs began to slow, his muscles tightened, and the daylight above him drew farther and farther away.
He kicked out, but the currents were too strong, dragging him beneath blocks of ice drifting at the surface. Stars burst before his eyes, giving way to ghostly apparitions.
Then, the tides around him shifted, and threads of light began to coalesce, darting around him like fish. From the depths of the ocean came whispers, the sound of song.
Ruselkya,Ramson thought as a chorus of song drifted to him.
Swim,they sang to him.Swim, Ramson.
This far up north, it was too cold. His limbs were frozen, his chest threatening to burst from lack of oxygen. It grew dark.
Then, something plunged into the water and pressure twined around his chest. Again, the waters shifted—but, no, this timehewas the one moving, cutting upward through the depths.
Ramson burst through the surface, coughing, spluttering. Hewas dimly aware of someone hauling him up, and the miraculous feel of dry wood warming his back. A face hovered over him.
“Amara bless, it’s really you,” Daya panted, water droplets falling from her hair, her lashes, her face. “Someone out there’s really looking out for you, con man.”
“It’s Captain now,” Ramson rasped.
“I saw your boat from a distance,” Daya said. “I didn’t know who you were—if you posed a threat to Ana—so I followed you.”
He looked around her cutter, then back to her. “Ana. Where’s Ana?”
Daya’s eyes flitted to the expanse of ice stretching before them. Her face shadowed. “We got here and saw all the smashed-up ships. She told me to leave and get help.”
“Well, you got help,” Ramson said, and, gritting his teeth, pushed himself to his feet and stumbled to the gangplank. They were at the edge of the ice now. There—somethingwasthere across the expanse, something he hadn’t seen before: a slip of crimson lying still against the backdrop of white like blood upon snow.
Everything inside him seemed to freeze.
“Go,” he heard Daya say. “I’ll hold the ship. But hurry.”
He was barely aware of descending to the ice, of his knees nearly giving way as he stumbled forward. In the distance, the sun’s first rays stained the horizon red, spilling over onto the colorless sea and ice.
Onto her.
She was laid out on the ice, her crimson cloak spread behind her like wings, red puddled around her head like a crown. Ramson knelt by her. Her eyes were shut, frost limning them white; her skin was ice-cold to touch. He gathered her in hisarms, burying his face in the crook of her neck. There, against the curve of her throat, a pulse: faint, and slowing.
It felt like a dream—a worst kind of dream, anightmare—for him to carry her to Daya’s ship. The journey back was a new kind of agony as he sat with Ana’s hand in his, finger on her wrist. Sensing her heartbeat die out, second by second. The clothes on his back had frozen over, but the kind of cold in his heart hurt far more than anything physical.
At last: the shores of Cyrilia, waves rocking their boat as they drew up. Linn, rushing over with a group of Kemeiran soldiers, then calling for ahealer, healer.
They laid Ana out on the sands of Cyrilia, the healer’s hands deft as he began work.
Ramson bent over the girl he loved. Closed his eyes.
And in that moment, the boy who had never believed in the gods whispered a prayer.
In the darkness, there was light. It shifted into the faces of those she’d loved: May, Luka, Yuri, Mama, Papa, Markov, and Henryk. She was cold, but growing warm. Her heavy heart began to lighten.
Ana could feel herself smiling.I’m coming home,she wanted to say to them.
But the glow began to fade, and the shadows around her began to bloom. They morphed into silhouettes, faces she’d known a lifetime ago from what seemed like a distant dream.
Ana hesitated, looking to the brightness. She found May’s ocean eyes.
Go back, Ana,her friend whispered.They need you.
Our empire needs you,Luka murmured, his words falling like sunlight.
