Page 147 of Daughter of No Worlds

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Everyone retreatedbelow deck to their makeshift, curtained rooms early. I lay there and listened to the sounds of the ship slowly quiet. I tried to sleep. But I couldn’t stop running my fingers over the threads of my mind, again and again and again, checking for whispers and movement until I was about to drive myself insane.

And finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I pushed back the curtain and padded barefoot up the stairs, exhaling in relief when I reached the deck and was greeted by an infinite blanket of stars. Like the whole world just opened up.

I stopped and took a breath, trailing across the deck—

— and stumbling as I almost stepped on aface.

Specifically, Max’s face. Max, who was lying on the wooden floor, hands folded over his stomach.

He didn’t flinch as I leapt aside and let out a Thereni curse.

He opened one eye. “Careful.”

“Max. What are youdoing?”

“Lamenting.” He opened the other eye, both meeting mine in the darkness. “And, if I’m being honest, trying desperately not to hack my guts up. I’m not made for having anything other than solid ground beneath my feet.”

I rasped out a chuckle.

It was amazing how good that felt. Just to laugh, a little bit, even though it wasn’t really that funny. I clung to that fragment of our former intimacy like it was gold.

I lowered myself next to him, laying down on the floor. “I think it is more— wobbly down here.”

It took me a moment to choose the word. As fluent as I was by now, my mind was muddy lately.

“Wobbly, huh?”

“Yes. Right word?”

I watched the corner of his mouth curl into a smile. “Excellent word.”

At least down here, my whole body swayed with the rise and fall of the boat, instead of just my feet — and the expanse of stars stretched all the way across my vision. Breathtaking.

We lay there in silence for a moment, listening to the water lap against the sides of the boat and the masts creak with each gust of wind. The warmth of Max’s body brushed my skin, though I was careful not to touch him. Uninvited, the memory of Reshaye’s words flitted through my mind:Now I understand. It is a sex thing.

I shuddered. The longer I could ignore that, the better.

I wasn’t sure how long it was before Max spoke. “You ready?” he murmured.

“Yes.”

No. I am not ready.

“You will be,” he whispered, and I felt my cheeks tighten. I did not dignify uncertainty aloud. But in some ways, it was nice to have someone who heard the things I didn’t allow past my lips.

“Are you?” I asked.

“Hell, no.”

“Yes, you are. You just do not know it.”

A breathy scoff. I turned my head to see him already staring at me — a steadiness, an intensity, to his gaze that made me want to look away and fall further all at once.

Something I could not, or perhaps would not, identify ached in my chest. I looked away.

“So are we going to keep doing this?” Max murmured.

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