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and sent a clammy chill up my spine, despite the heat.

“I suppose not even the Fateless can escape everything.”

I didn’t care about whatever this Fateless thing was. But hearing him say that, disappointment and regret heavy in his voice,

made me lift my head an inch to gaze at the back of his head.

“What?” My voice scraped my throat; my tongue felt huge and awkward in the dusty cavern of my mouth, but I forced words out

anyway. “What do you mean by that?”

He was silent for so long that I thought he had passed out or simply wasn’t going to answer. I had stopped paying attention

when he finally muttered, nearly to himself:

“The Fateless wasn’t supposed to die like this.”

A tiny spark of anger and defiance emerged, though it was feeble, and almost immediately snuffed out by the heat. “I am?.?.?.

not dead yet,” I whispered.

This time, he didn’t answer.

Demon Hour intensified. I drifted helplessly, sliding in and out of consciousness as the suns continued to blaze down, relentless and unyielding.

Snatches of dreams tormented my thoughts: Jeran, Vahn, and the Circle, leering at me from the edges of darkness.

They shouted at me, words I didn’t understand but that were filled with anger and rage.

The Deathless King floated toward me, smiling a terrible smile.

He opened his mouth, and thousands of winged insects burst forth, swarming, buzzing.

They swirled around me in a black cloud, the drone of their wings making my ears throb.

I could suddenly feel them in my nose, my mouth, burrowing beneath my skin, and I thrashed myself out of the dream.

I was staring at the inside of my hood, still pulled over my face, but for a moment I didn’t know if I was still dreaming

or not. I could still hear the faint buzz of wings in my ears, a remnant of the dream. Only, it didn’t fade. Instead, it grew

louder and louder, until it sounded like a massive swarm of insects droning right above the skiff.

I must still be dreaming. More curious than anything now, I pushed my hood back with leaden arms and cracked open one swollen eye to squint into the

suns.

A massive black shape hovered in the air before me, silhouetted against the searing blue of the sky. My vision was blurry,

but I could make out multiple jointed legs, a chitinous segmented body, and two long antennae curling into the air. A pair

of transparent wings, moving so quickly they were nothing but a blur, droned in my ears.

“Hey,” the giant insect said, its sultry voice distinctly feminine. “You in the boat. Are you still alive?”

Definitely dreaming , I thought. Closing my eyes again, I let my head drop back, and hoped my next dreams would be pleasant ones.

Sparrow . Jeran staggered forward, throat cut, blood glistening wetly down his neck, staining his clothes crimson. You let me die , he said accusingly, turning hollow eyes on me. I’m dead because of you.

You were a tool . Vahn turned a cold smile in my direction, eyes empty of any warmth or recognition. Never a daughter. I always knew it would come to this.

The Circle surrounded me, bleached skulls floating in the darkness. The Fateless must die , they whispered. As one, they stepped closer, serpentine knives gleaming in their hands, dripping blood to the stones. The Fateless must die for the Deathless King to rule the world!

The circle of knives rose... and stabbed down at me all at once.

I jerked awake with a gasp.

The world had changed. I was lying down, not on the deck of the tiny skiff but on a cot in the corner of a small room. The

walls of the room were strange, not stone or wood, but metallic with a coppery sheen. The air was cooler, breathable now;

I no longer felt the relentless heat of the suns scorching down on me.

I was also naked, though a light sheet had been draped over my body and a wet cloth had been pressed to my forehead. I felt a stab of panic at being so vulnerable, and quickly sat up to look for my clothes.

The room and everything in it spun wildly. I closed my eyes, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass, gritting my teeth against

the sudden bloom of nausea in my stomach.

“Ah, so you’re up now, are you?”

I opened my eyes. A woman had entered the room carrying a stack of towels with a bowl set atop the pile, the door swinging

shut behind her. She was a head shorter than me, which was saying something, and her shoulders were twice as broad.

A d’wevryn ? I hadn’t seen many d’wevryn in my years in Kovass, but I knew they piloted most of the striders that journeyed across the

Dust Sea. They had an affinity for machines and mechanics, and nearly all striders had at least a couple of d’wevryn workers

as crew. Reddish hair was pulled into a no-nonsense bun atop the woman’s head, and a pair of copper-tinted glasses sat on

the end of her large nose. She paused at the side of the cot, setting down the towels and the bowl perched atop it, then shook

her head at me.

“Welcome back to the world of the living,” she said in a wryly amused tone. “I expect you must feel like a strip of sun-dried

jerky right now. Let’s see if we can’t fix that.”

She withdrew a mug from the bowl and pressed it into my hands.

“Slowly,” she warned, with a glower nearly as frightening as Vahn’s when he was annoyed.

I glanced down and saw the mug was half full of water.

“Drink it too fast, and it’ll come right back up,” the strange woman warned as I immediately pressed it to my lips.

It was lukewarm and slightly salty, but it could’ve been vinegar and I wouldn’t have cared.

“That’s right,” the woman nodded, satisfied, as I took deep but careful sips.

“I didn’t spend the last hour putting liquid into you for you to puke it all over the floor. ”

Finishing the water, I handed the mug back to the woman and eyed her warily. I was grateful, of course, and happy that I wasn’t

floating in the middle of the Dust Sea being turned into human jerky, but I still didn’t know who she was, or where I had

been taken.

“Ah, now, save your breath, girl,” the d’wevryn said, seeing me eye her with suspicion. “I know that look, and don’t you worry.

You’re safe. You’re on Captain Gahmil’s strider. We were on our way to Kovass when our scout happened to spot your boat. Good

thing she did, too—a few more minutes and there’d have been nothing but two cooked humans and an iylvahn in the bottom of

that skiff.” She gave a slightly guttural chuckle. “Thankfully, you were only half cooked when she found you.”

“The others,” I whispered, after swallowing several times to get my throat working. “They’re all right?”

The woman snorted. “Last I checked, the human had charmed the nurse halfway out of his pants, and the iylvahn was trying to convince the doctor to let him speak to the captain.” She shook her head with another huff.

“I don’t know why you lot were on a sand skiff in the middle of nowhere—any fool who’s been on the waves can tell you a skiff isn’t meant for the open sea.

I’m surprised you didn’t capsize or get yourself eaten by something bigger than your boat, but it seems Fate was on your side today. ”

I drew in a sharp breath, which scraped my still painfully dry throat and made me cough. “Here, now,” the woman exclaimed,

snatching another mug of water from the bowl. “None of that. Drink, and stop breathing so hard.”

I took two quick swallows, letting the water soothe my throat. “Kovass,” I whispered, gazing at my reflection at the bottom

of the mug. “Are we still headed that way?”

She frowned. “As far as I know. Why?”

My stomach clenched in fear. “Just curious,” I said, handing the mug back to her. She gave me a suspicious look, as if I were

plotting something. I was, and if she knew what I was planning, she would try to stop me. One did not give away their intentions to complete strangers, even if they were

being helpful. As soon as she left, I would find my clothes, sneak out, and search for Halek and Raithe. Once I found them,

we had to come up with a plan for getting off this strider. Even if it was just to steal supplies and a lifeboat, and take

our chances on the Dust Sea again. If not, we’d be walking straight into Kovass. Straight to the Deathless King.

There was a tap on the door, and it creaked open a few inches. “Tahba,” said a male voice from the other side, and I quickly

snatched the sheet from where it had fallen to my lap. “Sorry to barge in, but is the girl awake?”

The d’wevryn, Tahba, stomped to the door, wrenched it back, and stepped through. Scowling, she closed it firmly behind her, presumably with the intention of yelling at whoever was on the other side. I had the feeling they were about to get an earful.

Time to go .

Quickly, I searched the room, finding my clothes, neatly washed and folded, in a basket in the corner. I slipped into them

and pulled up my hood, and the comforting sensation of anonymity descended. Now I just had to find my companions, and we could

get off this death trap. Facing Demon Hour again wouldn’t be as deadly with adequate water and shelter from the heat; we just

had to plan accordingly. Better that than marching merrily into Kovass, or what was left of it, and facing the sheer terror

of the Deathless King. Ironic, that my first experience of actually being on a strider would be the one time I was desperate

to leave.

Unfortunately, before I could slip out of the room, the door opened and Tahba stepped through. I tensed, wondering if she

would scold me for being up and order me to lie down again. I would comply, but I’d be gone the second her back was turned.

Tahba’s brow creased when she saw me up and dressed, but she didn’t scold or point to the cot. Instead, she sighed and gave

me a worried, half-apologetic look. “If you’re well enough to walk, you can follow me to the bridge,” she said. “The captain

wants to see you.”