Page 85 of Salt in the Seas
“And what if you can’t sway her?” the bitter man sitting before him asked. “Will you join us in fighting against her?”
The entire room held their breath as Gaeren weighed the question that had plagued him for moons. He couldn’t fight against his family. He didn’t even think it was fair for the other man to ask him that when that same man wanted his son returned.
“Just like you would never take up arms against the son she sent to the schools, I won’t help you harm her.”
Grumbles started throughout the room, and Larkos’ hand went straight to his sword.
Gaeren raised his hands in defense, his voice as well. “I won’t help you harm her, but I will help you remove her from the throne.”
A few guffaws replaced the disgruntled murmurs. “She’ll find her way back,” one man called out. “The royal family always will.”
Gaeren patted his pocket, reassured by the presence of the golden arrow but uncertain if it was his secret to reveal. In some ways it felt like it belonged to Aeliana. In others it was clearly Orra’s. But for now, it was his pocket the arrow rested in. He wouldn’t be telling the Recreants Aeliana still sought the other starbridges. He would just be making sure they knew he could follow through on his promise.
Decision made, he pulled out the arrow, unwrapping it from its protective cloth and holding it up for everyone to see.
“If my parents and Enla won’t see reason, I promise to take them all across the barrier and leave them in Lorvandas.”
CHAPTER 33
Aeliana tossed and turned,watching the moon through the porthole of the ship. After a week of dead ends, she tried contacting Durriken, wondering if he might have leads on the starbridge. As much as she wanted to reach out to the dragon, she was distracted by the new moon and what it meant, making it impossible to follow the threads tethering them.
When the sliver of light moved beyond her sight, she finally gave up, throwing off her covers. She changed into her blouse and trousers, which she’d finally grown used to. She pinned back her hair with a small braid the way Kendalyhn had taught her, but then tugged on the ends, wishing it would grow back faster.
By the time she made her way to the deck, she’d worked up a sweat from the muggy air and relished the slight breeze coming off the waves to cool her skin. The Sun’s morn would come soon, but she could still see that sliver of moon in the distance.
“You’re up early.” Gaeren’s voice startled Aeliana into turning around. She took in his disheveled hair and sleepy eyes and held back a grin.
“That makes two of us.”
His smile held less bite than usual, softened by the early morning. “Larkos snores like a bear. Every morning is early when I bunk with him.”
She smiled, but his words only made her think of Felk’s nocturnal habits and the way he’d made her rise far earlier than she wanted on more than one occasion. She turned back to the water. “It’s a new moon this morning.”
Her back grew warm as he stepped closer. “You’re thinking of Felk.”
Tears pricked her eyes at his understanding. “It will be the first time he has a cycle where he hasn’t met me. He won’t even know me.”
They stood in silence, and Aeliana let herself run through all the times she’d taken care of the winex, all the ways he’d taken care of her.
“He may have had hundreds of cycles before he knew you.”
Gaeren’s words struck her as insensitive with her lack of sleep, and she turned to frown at him.
“And hopefully he’ll have hundreds more,” he added. “You’ve changed the nature of the winex whether you meant to or not. I’m guessing they’ll no longer be content forgetting their past lives.”
Her heated words froze on her lips, and she stared at his collar, unsure what to say.
“In sixty years, when you lay on your deathbed, maybe Felk will take care of you.”
She shifted her weight so she could bump her shoulder against his. He wrapped an arm around her to regain his balance but kept it there far longer than necessary.
“You have me dying far younger than I plan to live.”
He snorted. “At the rate you seek out trouble, I thought I was being generous.”
“I wish we’d had a little more excitement this last week.” Aeliana couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice. The night before, they’d reached the end of Ludo’s and Barny’s leads with no luck.
“I’m not sure we’re looking in the right places,” Gaeren said.
