Page 204 of Daughter of No Worlds

It was late, when I heard it. A voice.Thevoice. I opened my eyes into darkness, into the old, familiar image of the white expanse of Threllian ceilings.

Beside me, I heard Serel’s low, slow breaths.

My own pounding heartbeat.

For a moment, it was all silent — I wondered if I had imagined it.

And then, there it was. A voice, different than it had been before in ways I couldn’t quite describe, closer and farther away all at once.

{You saw me.}

I felt it more than I heard it. It matched my own breath, my own heartbeat.

Yes,I whispered.

I felt it roil within me, a shudder that lay between a sigh or a laugh or a moan. It all felt so much closer than it once did, a power that moved in my blood.

{Our story is not complete, Daughter of All Worlds.}

A caress writhed against my mind. And my lips twisted into a smile. Not long ago, I would have been afraid.

Not anymore.

Good,I whispered.I haven’t decided how I want it to end.

And I could have sworn it chuckled, as it slithered off into darkness.

Chapter Eighty

Max

Five damned days on land, and I had already forgotten how much I wasn’t made for this. We were barely forty feet from shore, and I was ready to retch.

Or maybe that was just the physical reaction of returning to Ara, which I desperately did not want to do. Mostly because I had no idea what would be waiting for us there.

I pushed myself up from the rail and turned around, running my eyes across the crowded deck of the ship and up those spine-like sails. We’d had to charter a larger boat just to carry all of the people who were coming back to Ara. Most of the former slaves had chosen to remain in Threll, but many still would return with us.

I watched them hustle and bustle across the deck, leaning excitedly over the edge of the boat, pointing, laughing. Tisaanah had mentioned that most of them would not have ever seen the ocean before, and I had to admit that it was charming to watch their excitement. Even if another part of me wanted to say,Give it another three hours and see how you like it when you’re vomiting your guts out.

“You are famous.” Nura appeared beside me, so silently that she seemed to fold from the air. She smirked and raised her eyebrows, nodding to a group of people across the deck.

I followed her gaze and sighed.

The sea was not the only subject of the former slaves’ wide-eyed amazement. Faces turned constantly to shoot curious, awed glances to me and Tisaanah. This particular group looked away hurriedly as soon as they noticed my stare.

“You two put on a show. I’m sure none of them have ever seen anything like it.” Her gaze flicked to me. “Neither have I.”

“You didn’t see it.”

“I heard enough.” She lifted her hands, fingers spread to mimic dazzlement. “A great serpent of fire.Interesting.”

“They exaggerate.”

“Probably. But youdidmanage to use magic while dosed with Chryxalis. And you went up against Reshaye. So I know that no matter how stories grow, something remarkable happened in that ballroom.”

“The only remarkable thing that happened is that everyone managed to make it out alive.”

A small, humorless laugh. “That is remarkable. We’re in agreement there.”

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