After a long moment, Blaze laughed. “I guess that’s fair. I’ve had a few eyes on it, but only quick opinions. Apart from the committee I presented my thesis to, no one’s really examined my plans. They called it a fine ‘theoretical’ work, but didn’t recommend the university fund my project.”
“They were dreadfully short-sighted,” Durae replied.
“They were concerned that I’d blow myself up if the energies are misaligned.”
“You’re more likely to fall out of the sky.”
Blaze tilted his head. “Am I?”
Mouth full of sausage, Durae had to swallow before he could speak. “Mm, that’s one of the greater challenges with our gondolas. You can’t deny gravity forever, and consistently fighting it drains any stored magics. That’s why we had to construct posts. Our gondolas pass them in order to gain a charge and carry on to the next destination. Power has beenthe problem, which has held us back from inventing an airship ourselves.”
“You’ve been trying?” Blaze asked.
“Not seriously in recent years,” Durae replied. “Research hasn’t been a priority.”
“Your family has the resources to push the field of cosmomancy to the literal stars, and they just stopped because they’d made their fortune?”
Durae frowned at his plate. “I suppose I hadn’t thought of it that way, but that’s not inaccurate.”
“In a way, I’m grateful. Means I can make a name for myself when I get there first.” Blaze winked at Durae.
Suddenly, Kidd burst from the back of the house and rushed to the dock. “Are you dressed? Please be dressed. There’s a pissed-off noble on her way.”
“Who?” Blaze asked.
“Guessing my mother or sister!” Durae shoved aside his plate and started hunting for his boots, but the whole reason he hadn’t put them on was that they were ostentatious and made his insides curl in on themselves just looking at them in the daylight. They were studded with gems. Why he’d ever let anyone talk him into that fashion choice plucked at his conscience. The thieves of the market must have been too busy last night to catch sight of the fortune on his feet, or he probably would’ve been robbed.
Blaze was in a similar scramble, shoving the blankets into the cabin and then looking over their appearances. He gulped and motioned to Durae’s stained tunic. Panicking, Durae took it off and threw it off the far side of the ship.
“Durae!” Mama said as she stormed up to the dock. She flicked her hand, and Durae’s tunic floated out of the river and was left in a sopping wet pile on the dock.
“Lady Navisora,” Kidd said warmly, “what a pleasure?—”
Mama held up a hand, and whether through magic or intimidation, Kidd’s mouth closed. She pushed off from the dock and flew up and over the ship’s rail. Without hesitation, she cast her gaze around the deck, eventually landing on Blaze and scrutinizing him. “This is where you’ve been running off to?”
“Technically, the night before last I spent trying to find my way back here,” Durae said.
“You left the dance without telling us where you were going and then sent anotethis morning.” Mama strode toward Durae.
Too stunned to move, he remained perfectly still as she approached.
She threw her arms around him and tightly hugged him. After a moment, she held him by the shoulders, fingers digging in a little painfully, but her eyes were filled with the sort of anger that only came from relief. “I was worried sick all night!”
“I’m sorry,” Durae said.
“You should be! We aren’t asking for much, Durae!”
“Aren’t you?” Durae said. “You were trying to arrange for me to court a prince!”
Mama’s mouth dropped open, and her anger shifted to shock. “You’re the heir to a powerful legacy. I wanted you to explore your options.”
“So long as I marry someone and avert my doom, right?” Durae asked.
“It is a mother’s prerogative to worry over the future of her children,” Mama replied seriously. She released Durae’s shoulders and clasped her hands. Twisting them, she looked upward for the stars, which hid behind the daylight blue sky. After a moment, she sighed and met Durae’s gaze again. “Hawthorn and I had a long talk last night while we waited for you. I cannot help my concerns, Durae, when all signs point to a cataclysm. But disaster is one side of the coin. The other, as your papa reminded me, is change. My heart only wants for youto be happy and safe. But keeping you from forming your own path may bring the doom I worry about in a different way. I am conflicted.”
“You’ve reminded me often of how I was born under the wrong stars,” Durae muttered. “That my every fault was in the making of me.”
“That’s not … I never intended for you to take it that way.” Mama glanced toward Kidd and Blaze, but thankfully, the two had moved to the far end of the ship and were talking like they weren’t paying attention to every word being said between them. The illusion of privacy seemed enough for Mama, and she let go of another pent-up breath. “I found fault in myself for not taking care in the making of you. I thought your life would be better if I had done things right.”
