Page 470 of Kingdoms of Night

Any tact I had approached this duty with had no place in this situation. What use did it have when it had gone from risky to impossible?

How was I supposed to return home after stabbing his master? Was I ever meant to, or was that just an elaborate lie the king had fed me to remain calm? If only I had known this was my fate! I could have spared my sister and, in actuality, fled and restarted my life somewhere else!

That was assuming I survived the moonless night in the forest, where every danger lurked between the cedars.

His other hand touched my chin, tilting my face to him. “You have nothing to fear here.”

I couldn’t hold myself back. I had to keep expelling my terror-based rage, like a cornered animal hissing and clawing at its attacker. “BULLSHIT!”

Somehow, that didn’t make him backhand me through the trees. Contrary to every man that overpowered me, he softly asked, “Is there anything I can do to calm you?”

“You tell me! Haven’t you done this six times before?”

He shook his head. “You are the first bride I have retrieved. The rest were escorted by others.”

My teeth were chattering, loud as cartwheels on cobblestone. “And what happened to the others?”

“You will see.”

Vague answers tended to skew ominous in my experience, but the alternatives could have been worse. So far, this didn’t imply they were dead.

Despite the dread, the curiosity I felt towards him had overtaken the concern. “Do you have a name?”

“You may call me Tamuz.”

I hadn’t truly expected a response. Singular monsters were given names in tales, always to distinguish them as more important than the rest. “Does it mean anything in…Lunar?”

“Not in this form.” He withdrew, gesturing for me to follow. “Come, we must reach the palace of Daraqamar before sunrise.”

Unsure of what else to do, I followed. “There are sunrises here?”

“Yes, and it takes far longer for night to return.” He floated down from the sandy clearing to the beach, where metallic boats with fan-like sails crossed the green waves.

“Then why the rush?”

He paused, looking over his shoulder. “I can’t be in daylight.”

Interesting. Could that be a weakness I could use in my favor?

The shore skewed the outline of the settlements before us, making them loom larger. Their materials gleamed like polished steel, and their shapes were more complex and varied than the piled, angular structures of Beinahrein, or the cubes and columns of fringe civilizations.

The wet sand turned blue, and I could spot creatures in the water, some that breached the surface with a green tendril or cut through with a fin as it dove back in. These small details further emphasized just how far I had gone from all I knew.

A boat sped towards us, the breeze carrying it, making the shorter layers of my skirt dance and their beads tinkle like a small rattle.

It docked a few feet away, and past its gate dropped a thin, reflective slope for us to climb aboard. Without thinking, I took Tamuz’s offered hand and let him lead me to the deck.

The browsing fascination lasted all of five seconds as I flattened my back to the post, unable to take my eyes off the ship’s crew.

They looked like people, but not quite. Instead of ranging from olive-toned to brown, their skin was pale green or blue, their arms and faces bearing dark veins.

At a second glance, the coloring proved to be the least of it. What I first took for cloaks, tied at their wrists and reaching their mid-backs, were wings. Membranous wings, like those of a bat.

The sails fanned open to receive the wind, and within a gust, the ship shot across the waves, growing lighter as it moved faster.

On the second gust, it tipped upwards and left the waters.

Covering my back had been traded for my tight embrace of the mast, my front pressed against its side. Cheek smooshed against the metal, I watched andfeltthe vessel take to the skies.

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