Page 54 of Beyond the Shadowed Earth

“Nothing personal,” said the steward.

And then he was gone.

She slipped into a place between dreams and waking, aware always of the sea’s jarring, stomach-wrenching motion but seeing things she shouldn’t if she were truly awake:

A door in a mountain.

A god in the dark.

Shadowy spirits, devouring the sun.

Beneath her, the rush of wide wings.

Inside her, nothing but sorrow.

She moaned and wept in her sleep, and eventually, someone was beside her. Soft hands touched her brow. The rim of a porcelain bowl met her lips. She tasted salty broth and swallowed, once, twice, before she pushed the bowl away.

She slept a little easier, after that.

Later, much later, she opened her eyes to find lanterns glowing softly from the walls all around the wide room. People talked in groups around their pallets or played at dice on the floor. The door to the lower deck was open, letting in a breath of salty air.

She felt woozy and weak, and had no wish to move from the pallet. She trembled where she lay, tears oozing from her eyes and soaking into her pillow.

A shadow passed before the open door—she recognized the silhouette of her god. For an instant he paused and turned toward her. His eyes pierced her through.

And then she blinked, and he was gone. This, too, was Tuer’s doing. He showed how much he despised her even in the middle of the sea.

I’m coming to find you,she thought,I’m going to make you answer for everything you’ve done to me. Everything you’ve taken from me.

Niren. Ileem. Her parents. Her Empire.

I’m going to drive a knife into your heart, and see what color a god bleeds.

Once more she let the blackness claim her.

Chapter Twenty-Three

WHENEDA WOKE AGAIN,SHE FELT Alittle steadier, and made the mistake of trying to sit up. Instantly, her stomach wrenched sideways and she collapsed back onto the pallet, desperately fighting the nausea.

“Slowly,” came a woman’s wispy voice beside her. “You have to take it slowly, at first.”

Eda gingerly turned her head, and the woman came into focus: she was dressed in the Enduenan style, her hair cloud-white, her brown skin wrinkled and spotted with age. But the way she carried herself, even while seated, displayed her nobility, and her strength. Her eyes were watery, unfocused—as if she were mostly blind. “Don’t worry, little one. The motion won’t bother you after a while. In a week or two, you won’t even feel it.”

Eda groaned and ground the heels of her hands into her eyes.

The old woman laughed, which turned into a wheeze. She coughed into a handkerchief.

“Are you all right?” Eda croaked out, bewildered that the person it seemed had been caring for her was in perhaps worse shape than she was.

“Just old, my dear. An ailment that comes to all, in time. I came to sit with you because I can’t bear to see a creature in such torment. And because you remind me of home. I’m Lady Rinar. From the province of Duena.”

Southwestern Enduena—Eda had never been there. She felt a keen sense of loss as she wondered if she’d ever have the chance to.

Carefully, Eda eased herself to a sitting position and glanced around the packed room. “Whoareall these people?”

“Immigrants, many of them. Seeking their fortune apart from the Empire, or going to work in Halda’s stone quarries and send money home to their families.”

“Why would they want to leave the Empire?”