Toran stepped closer, tightening the circle the three of them hadcreated. “Before we get into that, Genna, how many languages does your father know?”
Genna’s eyes widened a bit at the question before she scoffed. Her hand moved to her hip. “Not as many as I do. I know eleven.”
“And how many written?”
“Are you ears as bad as Captain Ludwig’s?”
He didn’t know who Ludwig was.
“Eleven,” she repeated.
He pulled out the paper with the symbol on it. He’d scoured the castle library for information, but the symbol wasn’t a letter in the Orlon alphabet. Or any of the continent languages. Not Orlon, not Aeok, not Luses, not Kehrnan, not Martish. Nor any of the known nomad languages.
He held the paper out to her. “Ever seen anything like this?”
Genna leaned closer, eyes glued to the paper even when a gust of wind off the ocean tried to yank it from his hand. “Once.” She reached a finger out, tracing the lines on the page. “Where did you find this?”
Nes, hands still wrapped tight around her hair, stepped closer, too, her elbow brushing his arm. “Do you know what it means?”
Genna tapped the page. “I think this is ‘give.’ Or maybe ‘take.’ ”
“You’re not sure?”
“No,” she said. “Do you want to see more?”
Toran folded the page back up. “More?”
Genna nodded. Her gaze slipped around his shoulders, searching the faces of the people on the docks. “Yes. Similar symbols.”
“Where?”
“I’ll show you,” Genna said. “But we need to go now, before the tide rises.”
Nes let go of her hair, folding her arms over her chest in a guarded way. “Why does seeing these symbols rely on the tide?”
“You’ll see,” Genna said. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
A second later, Genna vanished among the guards, fishermen, and traders.
Nes stood silent beside Toran, but to him, she felt like the loudest one on the docks. He couldn’t seem to stop his eyes from drifting to her. To the way the wind ripped through her twisting hair. To the curve of her hips, the flow of her skirt clinging to them like frosting on a cake.
Where Loriana had been all thin lines, an elegant array of connecting points, Nes was rounded. The only sharp points to be found were those whipping off her tongue. The two were almost nothing alike. And yet, part of him felt drawn to Nes in a way he hadn’t felt since Loriana.
His fiancée had captivated him from the moment he’d laid eyes on her—and that eagerness hadn’t faded in the slightest the more he learned about her. He hadn’t thought it possible to find such desire again. But with every second he spent with Nes, his heart ticked a bit stronger.
“What?” Nes asked.
He raised a brow. “What?”
She scowled, her nose crinkling. “You’re staring.”
Her words sent his eyes skittering away. He glanced back at her and said the first thing that came to mind. “Your hair’s a disaster.”
“I thought we’d be in the city proper today,” she grumbled, pushing it from her face. “Not standing here on the edge of the world.”
He lifted his head to stare out at the expanse of sea, stretching as far as he could see. “There’s still plenty of world out there.”
“No, there isn’t.” Nes turned her back to the water.
