Page 214 of Salt in the Seas
But right now, they were also victims.
He toyed with the dagger at his belt, wondering if Mayvus was still weak from her time with Durriken. Could he hurl it in her direction and end all this? Or would she stop it the same way she’d stopped Sylmar’s molten blades? If it worked, it might also kill Emeris, and that would kill something in Aeliana.
“It’s been too long,” Mayvus crooned, sidling up to Gaeren as if they were old friends. “I’d hoped we’d meet on better terms than we parted, but it seems you’re already working hard against me.”
She gestured toward his parents, and for the first time, Gaeren noted the bloody mess left in the wake of cutting out their brands. Even his hands had splashes of it, though he’d wiped most of it on his trousers.
“We talked about this last time,” he said evenly. “You should really be enticing people to work alongside you instead of forcing them. It has a better retention rate.”
She smiled, and without warning, she reached for his starlock, snapping the cord from his neck. He made a grab for it, even though he knew it was pointless. If he weren’t so unevenly matched, he might have even fought her for it. But he’d be dead before he could do any real damage.
Even though his parents held no threat in their current state, two of her soldiers took their starlocks as well.
“I’m thinking about starting a collection,” Mayvus said. “There are a few loyal soldiers in my crew who weren’t blessed by the Sun. It’s a bit unfair for a Creator to pick and choose, don’t you think?” She tapped a finger against her lips. “Perhaps that’s why the Sun is stepping back from choosing any of us at all.”
Gaeren narrowed his eyes, trying to parse out her meaning in this poorly timed riddle while also evaluating his dwindling options to escape. “That’s strange coming from you. I would think you’d be grateful to be chosen. Isn’t that how you got your power to begin with?”
Her smile held the wicked glint of someone with a secret. “We’re on the brink of a new age. Instead of individuals, the Sun has chosen a group of people.”
Gaeren glanced around the room at the Ahmranans. “So the Sun is choosing a group you’re not a part of.”
She peered down her nose at him in the haughty way he remembered from her visits during council meetings. “I’ve been chosen to lead the people.”
He rolled his eyes, knowing he was flirting with disaster but unable to stop himself. “I think I’d have to hear that from the Sun myself before I believed it.”
Her hand gripped his upper arms, her nails digging in until hewinced, wondering if she was drawing blood. But a coldness seeped through them that drove deep to his bones, and he feared she was doing something far worse than breaking his skin with her nails.
“I’d heard of your rebellious nature and thought maybe there was something there, something I could work with. But you’ve grown as soft as the other rumors say. I have little use for you as is. And do you know what I do with people I have little use for?”
He hadn’t intended to search for her memories. He didn’t expect he’d be able to without his starlock. But she pushed them on him with such clarity that he wondered where his magic ended and hers began.
Uncle Danton’s broken body lay before him with too much blood to distinguish actual injuries and glassy eyes staring up at him. From Mayvus’ perspective, he watched her booted foot toe the body and tsk over its lifeless state. The image was replaced by Croft, or what was left of him. His body had grown brittle and blue, like he’d been turned to ice and then cracked apart.
Gaeren gasped and tried wrenching free from Mayvus’ grasp, but she held tight, letting the coolness of her touch turn to a freezing burn that made him panic. The vision faded, and she leaned in until her face was all he could see, her long nose and brown eyes so similar to Emeris’, but full of a contempt her sister had never exuded.
“If controlling someone doesn’t give me more power, I don’t have time to waste on them.” The hatred pouring off her was so visceral he felt certain these were his last moments. But then she released her grip and turned away.
As he rubbed the feeling back into his numb arms, she shifted her attention to his parents.
“Twice branded and twice thwarted,” Mayvus said. “I don’t usually give second chances, but their position of power made me show mercy.”
She let the word hang in the air as she glided toward them.
“They’re worth more alive,” Gaeren said quickly.
Her laugh was high and screeching, like an iceberg scraping against the hull of his ship. “I didn’t expect you to defend them.”
As his parents huddled tighter, he rushed after Mayvus, not surewhat he could do to stop her but desperate to try. But before he could reach her, his mother’s scream met his ears. The skin of his parents’ faces turned pale, almost white, before taking on the same blue tinge as Croft’s. His mother’s scream cut off, but both of their eyes went wide, the fear as frozen on their faces as the sweat on their skin.
Gaeren choked on a sob and stepped back, his hands balling into fists in his hair, the need to attack Mayvus warring with the need to be rational, to find a solution that wouldn’t involve him throwing his life away for nothing.
Gasps rose around him as the soldiers of Elanesse all took in the death of their sovereign rulers along with the realization that they’d allowed it to happen. Cries filled the air as a few rushed to avenge their king and queen the same way Gaeren had wanted to, but with a flick of Mayvus’ hand, their weapons clattered to the floor and their own bodies turned blue. The show of force riled up the winex and several more soldiers, but the sheer number of Ahmranans made it impossible for them to rally against Mayvus.
“Last time we met, I was too patient and generous.” Mayvus turned her back on the frozen bodies and faced Gaeren once more. “It made me vulnerable.”
“Patient? Or prideful? You’d think surviving Durriken’s death wish might have humbled you. Made you want to change your ways.” He tried to ignore the way his parents’ bodies became brittle in his periphery, the way small chunks broke apart and tumbled down the dais stairs. At least it had been quick, perhaps less painful than what some of Mayvus’ other methods might have been.
She snorted and grabbed his hand. “Regardless, I will not make the same mistake again.” She yanked back his tunic’s sleeve, exposing the braid on his wrist, then hesitated, raising her eyebrows. “You might be an even better catch than I thought.”
