Page 65 of The Isles of the Gods
And then she landed and disappeared with a splash, and broke the surface, gasping for air.
My gut twists, bile rising in my throat.
Icannothave done all of this to find it’s for nothing. I’ve gone too far, too deep, for it to be for nothing. How can I have done such a thing, gambled everything for the god of risk himself, to come back here to a pat on the head?
If Ruby isn’t willing to let me in yet, then I’ll find a way to show her shemust.
And if I’m going to leave this room right now with nothing but my dignity, I’m sure as hells not giving them that.
I’ll bring back something from the ambassador. Something new. I’ll make them see how much I can do, and then Ruby will wish she’d had me here since this morning.
“You’re right,” I say with a smile on my face. A mask. “I’ll go. I’mveryhungry.”
LEANDER
The Docks
Port Naranda, Mellacea
We spot the towers of Port Naranda as the second evening falls, outlined against the sunset like jagged teeth. We’re salt-crusted, sunburned, aching, and exhausted. But we’ve made it.
“There she is,” Selly breathes from her place at the helm. She’s gazing at the coastline with her lips parted, perfectly still, as if she can’t quite believe it.
I didn’t realize, until this moment, how unlikely she thought it was that we’d make it here at all. Now, as I study her in the dying light, my gut twists with that realization.
“You did it, Selly,” I murmur.
“Not yet I didn’t,” she corrects me straightaway, and I duck my head to hide my smile. Nobody treats me like she does. It’sgreat.
“What’ll we do when we land?” she asks. She’s been businesslike since the disaster with her magic, and I recognize survivalwhen I see it. She doesn’t want to think about it, can’t let herself, and I understand that. For now, at least. I can’t let the mystery of her magic go, but I can pick my time.
“It’s getting late,” Keegan says, frowning up at the settingsun.
“Straight to the embassy?” Selly suggests. “The word ship to ship has been that the mood’s getting uglier in Port Naranda. And if they don’t like your average Alinorish sailor, they’re not going to love you, Leander.”
“Impossible to believe.”
“Is it, though?”
“It seems to me we have two choices.” Keegan interrupts our squabbling in that thoughtful tone that makes me extra sorry he’s not tucked away safely at the Bibliotek, where he really does belong.
“And what are those?”
“We can go about this slowly and meticulously. Make every move in a carefully considered fashion, minimize every risk. It will be safer, but take much longer—and the longer we take, the more we risk opening ourselves up to other, unforeseen dangers. Alternatively, we can move swiftly and decisively, and hope that by the time we attract attention, we will have found safety.”
I bite my lip, trying to work my way through the possibilities. Someone else has always made these decisions for me. Now the consequences that loom if we get this wrong…
“We don’t have time to go slow,” Selly says. “I’d prefer it, but we’re on a clock—someone’s going to see the smoke from the progress fleet, probably already has. And they’ll go to lookfor survivors, and they’ll figure out which ships they are. And no doubt they’ll blame Mellacea. If we want to avoid word getting out that the prince is dead, we have to get to the embassy straightaway.”
“First thing in the morning is probably as early as we can manage,” I reply.
“The embassy closes?” Selly asks, her brows shooting up. “What if there’s some kind of international emergency? Like, you know, awar starting?”
“Then somebody wakes up the ambassador at her residence, I suppose. But her residence will be under surveillance, always. There’s going quickly, and then there’s marching straight into trouble,” I say. “We’re ragged and sunburned. Some lackey might decide not to let us in, might not pass along my code words to her. And then we’ll have been seen trying to get into the embassy.”
Is that right? Am I being smart, or am I scared?
“I agree, first thing in the morning is the best we can do,” Keegan says. “Right now we have one great advantage: we’ve seen the girl who wants to kill you, but she’s only had a brief look at me, and she hasn’t seen you two at all.”
