Page 157 of The Queens and the Kings
It wasn’t possible to endure more. Their power was too great, and what arcane he’d managed to pull to his side abandoned him. Of course it did. Because what was this ship? Nothing. Nothing against the Queens. The original evil. The casters of curses and agony. The destroyer of love and land and kings.
The thought of the Wyvern Kings escaping to fight the Siren Queens invoked as much terror. He was too late. He didn’t fight harder. He’d lost courage. Because of him, Britt might even be dead.
He couldn’t bear it.
Then, a scent.
Wind.
Open sails.
Sky.
Himmel, he thought.
From the fires of agony came the lightest touch. A roving feather, a voice as quiet. The whispering breeze. “Pedr, you vagabond. What trouble have you gotten yourself into now?”
I failed, he wanted to say against his grinding teeth.I failed again, Himmel. It binds my throat, my body, my soul. They will always own me and everyone else.If the curse hadn’t bound his face, he would have cried.
Her silky fingertips expanded to a palm that she pressed into his arm. Warmth curled on top of his skin, swirling.
“You are capable of more, Pedr. You have not yet failed until you give up entirely. Fight,” she hissed. “Fight them, Pedr. What can a curse do? You are the Arcanist of the Sea.”
A pitiful response welled up.
No, he thought.I am not enough for this.
At the mere thought of rebellion, arcane returned. Had he been human, his jaw would have snapped from the pressure. Breath came rapidly, fluttering. Instinct, not necessity. Sweat soaked his fevered skin.
Himmel crouched, smelling like sunshine and spring and fresh flowers and unfurled canvas and sea spray and sky. The clouds rolled in her voice.
“Arcane is single-focused, Pedr. Arcane is easy, painless. It is the servant. But a curse is the opposite. It is layered, and it is bound. It’s drawn from the Siren Queens out of a desire to exert control and despair. But it, too, is not forever. It is not immune to the power of arcane within you. You make the mistake of thinking they are the same, but the curse is different.”
Her words twisted through his mind, warbling with intensifying speed and power. He held onto them. She offered . . . hope.
Himmel continued in her steady, constant murmur, “Whatever power the Siren Queens wove over you, all those years ago, there are layers. Layers can be broken. Most Arcanistsassume that curses cannot be broken because of their power, but it’s false. It’s thelayers. You resist, one layer at a time, and gain your freedom.”
Cool wind drafted across his face, stirring his hair. The tense muscles, painfully tight, protested the caress. The sweet scents of the sky swirled in his nose, lessening the horror of failing Britt and Mila.
I’m not enough, Himmel.I am Pedr. Arcanist of the Sea. Who I am inside is not enough for this.
“Your sheer defiance to the curse,” Himmel sang, “isenough, Pedr. You cannot believe what the others have said about the Arcanist of the Sea. It is not true. You are stronger than the individual layers of a curse, and you can shatter their hold on you. Youfightthis. You will win. It is only a curse. You are bigger than that.”
Rage replaced the fearful sea in which he swam. Himmel was right. He wouldn’t let this happen again. He was the Arcanist of the Sea. He wasn’t a powerless lad with love in his eyes and hope for a fulfilling life any longer. No, he’d learned better than that. The Siren Queens thought theywere angry? They hadn’t metthis battle-hardened Pedr.
They had no idea.
Siren Queensbubbled in his throat, but the cursed locked them down. It strapped his ability to speak again. He groaned as bands restricted his chest.
“Haven’t you wondered why you don’t die from this, Pedr? It’s because you can’t. There is a breaking point. Press the curse to it.Findit.”
Curse, he shouted in his head.They’ve cursed me, the bastids!
Sweat poured off his face as he thrashed. Mila’s scream of despair resurrected in his mind. Her shriek when the Siren Queens took her. The shrieks held sentences and the sentencesheld words and the arithmetic of those words was abandonment. Separation. Failure. At the end of this curse was the night they took Mila.
He struggled against the memories. He shouted,I will tell the truth of the Siren Queens to all who will listen,until the song was tattooed on the inside of his head.
“Siren,” he gasped.
