the rain was spitting; the thin tongue of fire should probably have sputtered out entirely. Instead, as Tric held it between them, Mia saw the flame flicker and grow, burning hotter. And though she had the wind howling at her back, the fire stretched out toward her, reached into the gale. Like it …
… like it wanted to burn her.
“THE LADY OF EARTH SLUMBERS AS SHE HAS DONE FOR AN AGE,” Tric said. “BUT SO LONG AS YOU SEEK THE CROWN OF THE MOON, STORM AND OCEAN AND FIRE WILL BE YOUR ENEMIES. THEY ARE THEIR FATHER’S DAUGHTERS, MIA. RAISED TO HATE THEIR MOTHER AND THEIR BROTHER BOTH. AND THUS, YOU.”
Watching the finger of flame reaching for her, flickering and flailing, Mia felt a sliver of cold fear sink into her belly.
“ALL THE PIECES ARE BEGINNING TO MOVE. AND THE CLOSER YOU COME TO THE CROWN, THE HARDER THEY WILL STRIVE TO STOP YOU.” Tric shook his head, pursed his lips. “I’D HOPED WE MIGHT MAKE IT FARTHER UNDETECTED. BUT ALL THREE OF AA’S EYES ARE STILL IN THE SKY. THEY DON’T NAME HIM EVERSEEING FOR NOTHING.”
“You’re saying if we head out onto the ocean again…”
“THE LADIES WILL TRY TO STOP US AGAIN.”
“But Ashkah and the Quiet Mountain are through the Sea of Sorrows from here,” she frowned. “We can’t walk there from Liis. We need to travel by ship.”
Tric looked to the harbor before them, the sea at their back.
“WE COULD TRAVEL BY LAND FOR A TIME,” he offered. “HEAD EAST, ALONG THE COAST. HAVE CORLEONE AND THE MAID SAIL AROUND THE NORTHCAPE WITHOUT US OR THE LADIES’ WRATH, MEET US IN AMAI. THAT WILL LEAVE ONLY A SHORT JOURNEY BY WAVE, ACROSS THE SEA OF SORROWS TO ASHKAH. WE’LL STILL RISK THE TWINS’ IRE, BUT A JOURNEY OF A WEEK IS BETTER THAN THREE.”
Mia shook her head. She hadn’t even made up her mind if she truly believed all this gods and goddesses nonsense. Hadn’t decided if she’d even seek the Crown yet. But it seemed the divinities had decided without her, and she was becoming suddenly and painfully aware of what having a trio of goddesses stacked against her could mean.
“THE CLOSER WE COME TO TRUEDARK,” Tric said, as if reading her thoughts, “THE DEEPER YOUR STRENGTH WILL GROW. YOU KNOW THIS.”
Mia nodded, remembering the power she’d wielded during the truedark massacre. Stepping across shadows in the city of Godsgrave like a little girl skipping puddles. Liquid darkness tearing down the statue of Aa outside the Basilica Grande at her whim. Mother only knew what she might accomplish now that she was older, now that the splinter that had been inside Furian resided in her.
And she could feel it. Those suns sinking toward the horizon. Slow but inevitable. The dark inside her deepening. Quickening.
Shadows at her back, waiting to unfurl in the dying light.
“BUT YOU ARE VULNERABLE NOW,” Tric continued. “AND NOW IS WHEN THEY’LL SEEK TO STRIKE. WE MUST MOVE WITH CAUTION. OVERLAND IS OUR SAFEST ROAD.”
Mia sighed but nodded. “All right, then. I’ll speak to Corleone about meeting us in Amai. If you’re sure they’ll be safe without us aboard?”
“WHEN DEALING WITH THE DIVINITIES, NOTHING IS CERTAIN,” Tric said. “BUT YOU ARE THEIR FOCUS, MIA. YOU ARE THE THREAT IN AA’S EYES.”
“We’ll need to buy ourselves some horses, I suppose.” Mia scowled, spit on the deck. “I fucking hate horses.”
Tric smiled, his dimple creasing his pale cheek. “I REMEMBER.”
She looked at him then. Her voice just a whisper on the wind.
“What else do you remember?”
He tilted his head, and the look in his eyes made her chest ache.
“EVERYTHING,” he replied.
“What news, Crow?”
Mia turned, saw Sidonius and Bladesinger standing behind her. Wavewaker and Bryn were at the starboard, the big man pointing to the city and giving the Vaanian girl a quick tour of the landmarks. Behind them, Mia could see Butcher bent over the railing, dry-retching into the sea. Bladesinger eyed Tric with open suspicion, and Mia wondered what the former priestess-in-training would be thinking of a Hearthless walking among them. But Sidonius’s eyes were fixed on Mia.
“We have to travel overland,” she told them. “In news I needed like a second arsehole, along with Aa’s ministry, the Luminatii and Itreyan Legion, and the Red Church, apparently the Ladies of Storms and Oceans are also displeased with me.”
“You … think?” Butcher managed to gasp. “I’ve puked up both … lungs and one of my fucking jewels since we g-got on this damned shit b-bucket.”