I curl my fingers until my nails bite crescents into my skin. I suddenly don’t want to leave the safety of Shabbe’s walls. I don’t want to meet a stranger. I take a step back. “No go.”
The queen pivots her stare off the large auburn ship that bears the Shabbin crest of two golden serpents, complete with tusks created in mother-of-pearl.
I shake my head, which shakes my body. Or maybe my body hasn’t stopped shaking since I awakened. “I no ready.”
The queen’s black eyebrows lower. “What changed?”
“No want die.” I say, even though that’s only one reason. Granted, a good one.
“EmMoti, no one will harm you.” She catches one of my fists and forces my fingers to open to wind hers through. Once she succeeds, she squeezes our palms together.
“But you say Faeries hate serpents. I Serpent, Taytah.”
“No one knows this but us.”
I blink in surprise, but then realize this isn’t the truth. “Many Crow know.”
“Lorcan has sworn his people to secrecy.”
I try to step back. Her grip around my fingers tightens. Here I thought she’d been offering me comfort, when actually, she’s holding on so I cannot race back into the palace. “Why you want me go now?”
“Because that is your destiny.”
My skin coats in tiny bumps. Did Behati tell her about the vision, or did the Mahananda inform her?
“Although I would’ve preferred for the Mahananda to let you steer your heart, I’m not surprised it has found you a mate, for you are a shifter, and that is the way of shifters.”
I’ve stopped shaking, but not because my shock has lessened. The tremors have stopped because the cold has spread and hardened me like ice.
“I know how alone you’ve felt, Daya. Perhaps that is why the Mahananda chose your mate.”
“I no alone. I have Fallon and you, Taytah.”I also have Cathal.Well…I had him. I very much doubt he’ll want to remain my friend after the way we parted.
Maybe if the Mahananda found him a new mate also… The thought is a fiery burst against the ice, one that keeps burning long after it’s thawed me. What is this emotion? Why does it make my jaw clench and my heart ache?
“Fallon has Lore, and I have Shabbe,” Priya is saying. “You need someone who’s wholly yours.”
I squint at the sky with its blistering midday sun. This must be why I feel like I’m gloved in flames. Because I’m not used to being out during the day. A violent splash carries my attention back to the Amkhuti and to the scales whitening the glassy surface with foam. I spy yellow ones, but also blue and purple and orange.
Although no water droplets sprinkle my skin, the fire ravaging me snuffs out, leaving behind trenches of cold ash.Though the serpents’ show is mesmerizing, it is also—and especially—painful, for it thrusts my loneliness deep.
As deep as the dream sword plunged through my chest.
My skin prickles with the need to slip into scales, but I force my Serpent away, sensing that if I jumped in, I’d spook the others. Until I learn their tongue and their ways, I will stay an outcast. But what if I can’t learn their tongue and ways?
Cathal said shifters cannot communicate with the species they were molded from. Until I have a babe, I will be alone. This must be why the Mahananda picked a mate for me: to aid me in creating a small version of myself.
Fallon’s face swims before my eyes. To think that she was mine before becoming Lorcan’s. If only she could’ve been mineafterthe Mahananda turned me into a shifter. Perhaps then, she could’ve taken my shape instead of her father’s.
As though Cathal sensed my thoughts, he appears, not in skin but in feathers. Admittedly, it could be someone else, someone tasked to escort us to Lorcan’s realm. Though why would a vessel filled with seafaring, bloodcasters require an escort?
Shabbin females, according to what I’ve cobbled together, are the most feared people in the realm, because they hold the most power. Crows come second. Faeries next. Then humans. Where does a lone female with a magical tongue end up on this pyramid of power? With her fellow shifters, or somewhere between human and Faerie?
The Crow glides over the ship, casting it in full shadow since his wingspan is as broad as the vessel is long.
“We are ready to embark, Sumaca.” Abrax’s voice tears my gaze off the sky.
I wondered where he was when I didn’t see him amongst my guards this morning. He must’ve been getting ready for the voyage. Though the male’s eyes aren’t colored by blood magic, he has a sword which, according to Asha, he’s terribly goodat wielding. I imagine she’s watched him train, or maybe even trained with him. I hear some female guards study swordfight since sigils take concentration and time to draw. Unless she knows how Abrax fights because she’s watched him fight off an enemy? Do the Shabbins have enemies within their walls? Besides my mother, that is.
