But that’s what unsettled me the most. Silence. Because silence, I realized, is where truth lives. Not in what he said, not in the careful way he chose his words, but in everything he refused to let me see.
Hell. No. I wasn’t going to sit back and allow him to hide behind his silence like it was some kind of brooding shield. If there was truth to tell—ugly or not—I was going to drag it out in the open.
“What realm did you abandon?” I asked snappily.
“Is there a god of drama? Because you’re his favorite,” Calvin interrupted before Noctis could answer, “That was heavy. Okay, who's next?”
“Wait, wait. I want an answ—” I tried to fight, but Zahara grabbed the next card and showed it to the crew. A heart.
“The heart means to share a personal fear or secret,” she explained to Noctis and I. She slowly looked everyone in the eyes, tension stilling the air around them, and then she shared. “I am afraid of goats. Their eyes look like ancient evil.”
Noctis huffed. “Seriously?”
She nodded, then shoved her elbow into Jun to go next. He unveiled the Fate Card, but I didn’t give them time to come up with a question together before I asked.
“What’s your favorite color?”
Noctis shot me a menacing glare. I forced my eyes forward and stifled my laugh. If he was going to give me answers soaked in self-pity, I’d make them theonlyones that held weight. He looked one question away from ending the world, as everyone else got fluff compared to his moral dilemma.
“Lavender,” Jun answered quietly before returning his card to the bottom of the pile.
I was next, so I flipped the top card over from the deck. Noctis leaned forward, waiting to witness the task I’d have to perform.
It was another heart.
“I can whistle just about any song… just not in tune. Oh, and I hate seagulls. I’m not sure if I’ve always hated them, but now Ireallydo,” I admitted with a smirk to Noctis, who was theonly person thus far to have been forced to admit something deeply personal.
Calvin took the next card. It flipped over blank.
“The blank cards mean you get to make up your own rule as we continue the game,” Zahara shared.
So, Calvin made up a rule. “From here on out, Noctis only gets the Fate cards.”
Everyone except the god erupted in laughter. Noctis just shook his head, but a slow, tight grin spread across his face. He caught my attention through the enjoyment and paused, looking across my features in admiration.
“Aetherkin,” he said, eyes glinting with regret, the smile faltering slightly. “I abandoned my people on Aetherkin Bound.”
Zahara and Calvin worked with me on learning the ropes of sailing for the following two days and nights, and by midday on the first, I completed tasks called out to me independently. I particularly enjoyed climbing the ladder to the top of the crow’s nest, where I looked onward at incoming ships or land beyond. It took many lessons before I stopped calling every ship that sailed nearby a threat.
Zahara planted herself on the helm, steering the ship as she hummed to the ocean. Calvin swung along the rigging like it was a game, leaping between masts and throwing in flips just to see if he could stick the landing. He never did. Jun rested at the table, stitching saturated thread through cloth. I’d never seen such art before, but when he showed me his own rendition of the Bounds, layered on top of each other in stark contrasting colors and details, awe and panic seeped deep into my soul as I remembered we’d need to traverse each one to find the trident pieces.
“It’s… eerily beautiful,” I whispered as he struck the next thread through the fabric.
Jun did not look up, his eyes focused intently on the artwork. “That’s a good way to describe the Bounds. Not all are scary, though.”
“Have you been to each one?” I couldn’t help but ask, interested in learning more of the hooded assassin that normally shielded himself from the world.
He shook his head slightly. “I’ve been to two, except where truly does the Oceanwrought Bound begin? At the center of the main kingdom under the waves? Or right under the surface?”
I wished I could answer the question for him, reminding myself that I would be content never returning at all to the Oceanwrought Bound once I ensured my people knew safety.
I looked closer at the tapestry art in Jun’s hands, noticing the miniscule details in each Bound—the winged creatures of Aetherkin, forked tails of Oceanwrought, bones of Shadeborne, and Zahara’s ship for Terraguard.
And every detail only sewed more dread and fear deeper into my bones.
It was time. After days of rehearsing the necessary conversation, I approached Noctis that morning, only one night from reaching the Shadeborne Bound entrance. He moved on from brooding in gloom to practicing tying rope into various knots.
My hands grew clammy with every step toward the occupied god, his leg hiked on the wooden banisters, wisps of fiery hair blowing into his face as he concentrated on the knots. I dodged the conversation with the god over the earlier days, knowing that what came from it would pull us away from the serenity we’ve experienced lately.
