Page 208 of Salt in the Seas
The challenge brought back memories of her years with Captain Moss, along with a remembered response. The smirk that spread across her face was a welcome shift after so many lost years.
She knew exactly how to handle this sort of man.
“I believe your history books would refer to me as the Fearsome Pirate Redwood. I bested your ancestors, and I’ll gladly do it again.”
An amusing mix of fear and disbelief crossed his face, but all that mattered to Orra was his hesitation, which she took full advantage of. As if mere moments had passed since her time aboard the pirate ship, she knocked the dagger from his hand, stole a second from his strap, and cut the remainder from his chest.
Blood spilled from his torn shirt, and she winced. “I apologize. I’ve grown rusty over the years. I never used to be so imprecise.”
He backed away, his face turning a dusky grey.
“Wait!” This time it was she who held the dagger beneath his chin. “Where’s Reyna?”
The people rushing past gave them a wider berth.
His gaze flicked to the tallest tower, then back again. “They took to the skies with the Sun’s descent.”
“There are no Stars out dancing tonight,” Orra said flatly.
He shrugged sheepishly. “Maybe they’re not in the mood to dance.”
The crowd nearly slowed to a stop, her stance with the dagger becoming more noticeable as others around them whispered and frowned. She’d have to trust that his slip-up was genuine.
She feigned a lunge to make him flinch, then took off in the crowd, dropping the dagger in the grass. He’d follow, but her lithe form slipped easily between warriors, whereas his bulk would not.
Before she left the outer courtyard, she stopped another woman. “Are the Stars on the tallest tower yet?”
The woman grinned maliciously. “Hopefully they’re well past that now. Seems like there’s some sort of hold up at the main door. If they can open up more doors, we won’t be so bottlenecked.”
Orra grimaced, wondering how these people had been chosen by the Sun and gifted by the Stars. It went against everything she understood of the Sun’s goodness and the Stars’ honor. Even when she’d had the joy of delivering starlocks, she’d shied away from gifting hers to the Ahmranans.
She glanced at the woman’s starlock, which lay nestled in her collarbone, held in place by a piercing not quite as ornate as Victor’s had been. She placed a finger on the sphere-like charm, far more interested in what lay inside than its shape. The woman stiffened, but before she could push Orra away, Orra let go.
“Telnar,” Orra murmured.
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Is he your Star as well?” she asked in awe.
Orra smiled softly. “I have no Star. Stars are not owned or assigned to people. He is not your Star either. Your starlock simply holds his essence.”
The woman’s gaze shifted to fear. “You’re one of them?” She bowed her head and made to kneel, but Orra stopped her.
“Do not worship those who sin the same as you. And that includes Telnar.” Orra stepped away, not bothering to see if the woman took her words to heart. If the Stars had been accepting these people’s worship, things were far worse than she’d realized. Still, she would wait to get answers from Reyna.
She fought her way against the flow of traffic to reach a side door hidden just outside the gate. It blended well enough into the stone wallthat she wasn’t sure the current royal family was even aware of its existence. And when it took far too much of her energy to shift it out of place, that theory was confirmed.
Thankfully, the Ahmranans were all too focused on getting through the main gate to notice her slip in and shut the door behind her. Dust filled the air as she made her way from the derelict passage to the main floor, where she was forced to use another ridiculous amount of her reserves to push through to the main hall.
Each path she took was eerily quiet, the soldiers having been called to defend the king and queen. And yet they hadn’t been out in the courtyard fending off the gathering Ahmranans, who’d easily entered through the gates. The deeper she went into the palace without any signs of fighting, the more she had to assume the Ahmranans had been welcomed, or at the very least expected. Were they secretly allies of the royal family? Or had the Recreants aided them in some way?
She sensed the presence of several half-lights in a room above her, one of them likely Emeris, if her internal map of the palace was still accurate. She hesitated, wondering if she should aid them in any way, but the warmth in her gut urged her forward like the rays of the Sun pulling on a string at her navel.
Her friends knew how to take care of themselves, but she was the only one who could speak to the Stars, maybe make sense of their actions or challenge them to reconsider.
When she finally approached the highest turret, she nearly doubled over as she sensed their presence growing nearer. It had been so long since she’d communed with her brothers and sisters. The brief taste of Reyna’s presence on Summer Solstice had been a painful tease.
Tears spilled onto her cheeks. She wasn’t sure she could survive if she lost access to them again.
When she left the stairwell for the open night air, it was Andreas who saw her first, and this time an audible sob left Orra’s lips. She gripped the wall for support and reached out her other hand, longing to reassure herself he was real but also terrified he would reject her.
