Page 187 of The Queens and the Kings
Einar rolled his eyes, but didn’t fight. He could always jump off the ship, swim far away, and find a way to live with the grief or die for Agnes. Pedr knew that wouldn't happen, because he wouldn’t do that, either.
“If Agnes chose to stay,” Pedr added to swerve topics, “then you have a year from the day of her choice to locate her soul. No one knows when souls decide to stay for their year transition. No one knows when the Arcanist gives them the choice to go to the afterlife or remain for a year, but assume it happened the day she died, just to be safe. For all we know, she’s still waiting for the Arcanist to listen and assign.”
“I understand.”
“The Arcanist of Souls is the most powerful Arcanist in the world.”
“I know,” he sniped.
Pedr happily sniped back, “You don’tknowanything, Einar, and I will continue to say it. The Arcanist of Souls would eat you with a breath of his power and you wouldn’t even realize it until your soul left your body.” He softened. “But if you’re willing, so am I. I’ll take you to the Arcanist of Souls, but it’ll take time and patience. This requires the Siren Queens to be defeated first. In the course of that, you have to do everysinglething that I say. You have to trust me. I have a plan.”
Einar hesitated for a long time, the silence of the rocking sea interrupted only by the approaching splash of oars from not far away. His unwillingness for immediate trust, conversely, made Pedr like him a little more.
“I trust you,” Einar declared. “I’ll do what you say, when you say it, as long as it gets me to Agnes.”
Pedr gripped the wheel.
So it begins.
