“Are you sure you don’t want to let him go on his own? He can easily swim,” Alma said, looking at me as if I’d missed the most obvious reasoning.
“I’m sure. I need to do this…I have to.”
Alma nodded, and I glimpsed some sort of understanding in her eyes.
“Goodbye for now, my dearest Alma. Blake,” Marshen said, bowing his head before shifting into a great white.
“Whoa,” Blake murmured, his wide chestnut eyes mirroring his mother’s.
Alma’s hug squeezed the air right out of my lungs. My necklace pressed so firmly against my breastbone, I was sure it would leave an imprint on my skin. When she let go of me, her watery eyes searched mine. Her lips wobbled.
“Hey, it’s all right. I promise you we’ll do whatever it takes.”
“I know that,” she replied, pressing her palm against my cheek. “Take care of each other. May Thalassa protect you both.”
And as Mercy drifted out and away into the mist, I watched Alma drop to her knees, arms slack at her sides. Blake rested his hand on her shoulder, comforting her.
And as the image before me disappeared beyond the fog, I understood who I was to her, to them.Hope. Marshen and I were their only hope.
I could not fail her. I could not fail them.
CHAPTER 50
Imoved up to the boat’s bow and rested my belly against its wooden curve. I watched Marshen in his glorious form as he dragged us out of the foggy mist and into the clear. I looked up.
Once the sea was at its calmest, he steered us left towards Ramel’s cliffs—towards the reddish-brown fortification built all those years ago. Towards home.
The first few hours felt like days. We moved, yet the faraway land ahead of us didn’t seem to be getting any closer. It all felt distant, unreachable almost. But as more hours passed—Mercysmoothly gliding along the shimmering bed of dark blue—the jagged mirage of sandstone surfaced on the horizon. The towering cliffs began to morph, the ancient stones finally taking shape. They glimmered in the golden light.
Behind us, the sun was soon setting. My breathtaking surroundings left me in awe, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t often peer at the sky, feeling threatened by every passing bird.
Marshen anchored the boat close to the cliffs.
“So…how did I do? Got us so close to shore in one day,” Marshen asked, pulling back his dripping hair.
“I wouldn’t call this a shore,” I told him. “I wonder how many Sand Wielders it took to build all of this. How many days…years, perhaps. Though as magnificent as all of this is, I can never understand how they could give up the ability to touch the infinite sea…or to fish even. I wonder if my ancestors were fishermen.”
Marshen took off his shirt and wrung it out. “You wonder too much. My best guess is that they must’ve been fearing something, or rathersomeone.” His thumbs went to his waistband. I tossed him a towel, which he caught, only to set it aside and continue undressing. I snapped my face away, letting my gaze linger on the setting sun—fiery orange.
“Oh, come on, it’s not like you’ve never seen a naked man before,” Marshen teased. He took my silence as an answer. “Then there’s no need to flatter yourself too much.”
“I’m not.” Then I muttered beneath my breath, “He was much bigger.”
“Sizeis not all that matters,” Marshen sneered. “It’s all about knowing how to make use of it.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Sure.” My eyes rolled at his snort. “I saw that eye roll through the back of your head.”
“Are you all dressed now?” I huffed.
“Yes.”
“Do you think—You prick!” I whipped my head away. “Put on something or I’ll throw you overboard.”
Once Marshen was done amusing himself, he helped me set up the tent and spread out the blankets. We dined on the variety of food Alma had prepared for us, and even treated ourselves to a pint of ale.
We later lay down in the quiet night, the lantern’s flame the only light. It imitated the starry sky above us, glittering with millions of jewels, so far away.
