Page 77 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

She shrugged.Another uppity, noble prick.

“I’m expecting a total lubber,” Samuel sighed. “He’ll just be some appointed know-it-all that’ll cower at the first sign of conflict. We’ll probably need to hold his hand back through the desert.”

“Royal sentinels are normally of the . . . academic sort,” Blake mused.

“So . . . someone untrained in combat,” Kora confirmed. “We’ll have to be extra careful trekking back. I’m surprised no one’s noticed us. We were out there for five days.”

Five days of dry, uneventful tension.

“Especially with Sam’s singing,” Aryn muttered quietly.

“Who’s to say they didn’t? They could be watching us now.” Blake inclined his head to the looming darkness of the desert. She followed his gaze, glancing between the baying palm trees, searching for pairs of rebel eyes glowing in the dark. “If I were them, I’d attack at our weakest.”

“Which’ll be when we have an extra person to protect,” Aryn commented. “We’ll be tired, hungry,andweaker on the journey back.”

“Whose idea was this?” Samuel moaned.

Kora’s mouth curved. “If that’s the case, then I’m going to retire now. I suggest you all try to rest as much as possible. Set up a rotation schedule, stay alert lads.”

“I’m taking first watch,” Aryn announced, and he laid a hand on his longbow as if to say he’d shoot anyone who dared to come near. With his world-renowned precise aim, she wouldn’t be surprised if he could shoot in the pitch black and not miss.

“Wake me when it’s time to change,” Blake replied sternly.

“We’ll take turns,” she added. “Samuel after Blake, and I’ll take early morning.”

They all nodded in agreement and retired to their individual tents—except Aryn, who nestled against Rayne. Fajra slept by his tent, with two blankets piled on top of her. Erebus slept beside her, their snouts pressed together, their black and white manes blending into each other.

Gods,even the horses were getting more romance than her.

Kora placed a thin threaded blanket over Cadence, gently stroking her silken mane before dipping into her tent. Blake had ducked into his own without so much as a goodnight—a painful reminder of their impending separation—and Samuel audibly belched from inside his own.

She curled up on the pitiful, thin sleeper mattress, grateful not to be able to feel the pebbles of Whitestone Bay digging into her skin. Her scar throbbed once again, and she regretted not packing a salve. Sleep crept on her swiftly, and she fell into a slumber as deep as the ocean before her, where no light could pierce her mind.

As if her dreams had been stolen from her.

32

Are you okay?”

“What? Who is that?”

“Can you hear me?”

“Who are you? Where am I?”

Kora’s voice echoed around her—wherever she was. She was neither here nor there. Up nor down. There was no light, nor darkness. She just simply was. A being. An entity. An existence floating on the—on the what?

“What’s going on?” Her voice was so loud it bounced around, vibrating into the absence of existence. Did she even have any lips? A mouth? How was she speaking?

“You need to keep moving.”

“I don’t think I even can,” she scoffed. She had no body. She was part of the cosmos. The very breath, life, spark of the universe. Past, present, and future converged, flowing through this folded vacuum. This void. Her inner beast yawned, recognising the growing mystical power unfurling around her.

“Keep running . . . they’ll catch you soon.”

She tried her best to imitate a frown. “Who’s chasing me? The rebels?”

“Your enemy is closer than you know . . .”the voice began fading.