Page 15 of Stars Above the Never Sea (The Last Faeyte #1)

Chapter nine

Selene

T angy, salty air brushes over my face as I follow Callan Edgeborn through the doorway and up onto the open deck of the ship. He weaves around the piles of boxes, not looking back as I keep pace with him even as I assess my surroundings. “How long have we been at sea?”

“Fourteen hours, give or take.” He ducks around a teetering stack of boxes that look on the verge of collapsing completely. “We left around an hour after dawn.”

The darkened sky is disorientating after hours in the lightless cargo bay, but the air is a welcome refreshment against my stale skin. My hand scratches absently at my arm beneath the cloak. “How long is the journey?”

He glances back at me, eyebrows raising. “You’ve done it before, haven’t you?”

“I—” My words cut off. “I can’t remember.”

He hums lightly. There’s a curious energy to his movements, a vibrancy like the crackle of lightning. As if he’s casting, but I see no maegis. I eye him warily. “What maegis do you have?”

“It’s considered rude to ask about a Caelumnai’s maegis, you know,” he says with what sounds like amusement beneath the words. “What makes you think I’m Caelumnai at all?”

I almost pause. He’s right. His unusual eyes don’t match the three classes I’m aware of, but it bleeds from him nonetheless. “Your… energy .”

“Well, I can’t help that. Try not to sound so prim about it.” But he doesn’t answer me. We pass through yet another tower before we’re blocked by a rail with wooden spokes that reach to my waist. “This way.”

There are people on the next level. I feel their eyes on me as I follow Callan down the wide wooden steps and onto the open space.

There’s no cargo here, but an open space clearly used for gathering.

Several stools are laid out, an abandoned pack of cards tossed haphazardly on an upturned barrel.

The crew gets to their feet when Callan comes into view.

The boy who found me earlier peeks out from behind an older man, all floppy hair and wide eyes that seem to take up most of his face. He pokes the man in the side. “I told you.”

At his hiss, the older man shushes him before frowning, his eyes scanning me.

Three others stand close by, equally inspecting.

The shortest is a petite female with springy, reddish-brown spiral curls that brush against her shoulders, a strong, almost hawkish face and a crease between her brows.

She’s flanked by two much larger males. One stands at her right, angled toward her with his hand hovering above the short sword strapped to his left side.

The other is solely focused on me. I take in his size, the sheer bulk of him overpowering even the tall male beside him. He crosses his arms. Meeting his gaze, I openly examine his eyes. Both of them are a vibrant shade of ruby.

Peristi —no. Vis . It takes me a moment to separate the classes, to pull the memories out of the box I keep locked away.

Scarlet, for the elementals. Those with the ability to manipulate the four elements of Caelum’s world.

The other male bears that same tell-tale red gaze, but the female watches me with eyes that glow brilliant amethyst, like the jewels I was once gifted by a customer before Boralas took them away.

Caelumnai, all of them. They wear their maegis as openly as Callan’s is subtle, each of their eyes bearing the vivid pupils of their class.

But my eyes are drawn to the marks on their faces.

The female wears a small eight in the cushion of her left cheek, red ink against warm, orange-brown skin.

The male beside her is the same shade as the white sand that lines the shores of Terrosa, the six in his skin a stark contrast to his pale cheeks.

He runs a hand through messy brown curls, his smile tentative.

I don’t remember the Caelumnai having those marks at all. My eyes slide to Callan, taking in the clear expanse of gold across his own face, disrupted by a hint of darker stubble. He doesn’t wear one.

“Not a wraith, then.” The bigger, shaven-headed male eyes me again before turning to Callan. The eight on his cool umber cheek is lit by the lantern beside him. “How did she get here?”

“So it would seem.” Callan has been monitoring our silent assessment of each other closely. His eyes seem more unusual, the bronze seeming to shift in the light of the lanterns strung up along the deck before he turns. “And that is an excellent question.”

Something in his tone causes an expression – hurt, maybe – to flash across the smiling male’s face, his friendly demeanour dimming. He shifts closer to the female, crossing his arms. “You think we —”

“Riordan.” The older one steps forward, cutting off the words. He bears no signs of the maegis, his eyes an ordinary, if deep, blue, set against weathered, reddened skin that shows the burn of the Terrosan sun. The others pause, shifting slightly in their position as if making space.

I look between them again. Those marks on their faces—it must correlate to their maegis.

When my muscles lock, the older inritus stops. Assesses me carefully. He’s shorter than the rest of the men here, stocky and broad-shouldered with hair far greyer than the few remaining threads of dark I can see.

“Well, now.” His voice is quiet. “Let’s not scare the girl. What’s your name, lass?”

“This is Selene.” Callan’s drawl answers for me. I turn my body to keep him in sight as he moves to my side. “Selene, this is Merrick. I believe you’ve already met Leo.”

The boy hesitantly raises his hand. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t.” My voice comes out cool and monotone.

“Solomon.” Callan points to the taller male, still eyeing me with a suspicion that has my muscles tensing. “And that’s Esmeray, and Riordan.”

“Esme,” the female snaps. Behind her, the male—Riordan—almost smiles again. “Damn it, Callan.”

“ Es-may. ” An eyeroll—from both of them—follows the exaggerated words. “My apologies.”

Riordan whistles lightly, eyeing me with clear curiosity. “A faeyte. I really didn’t think there were any left.”

Because you killed them all?

The words hover on my tongue, waiting to erupt into the air. But I bite them back. I’m on their ship with my own maegis bound in copper. Making enemies will do me no good.

Not that it matters. I’m heading in the right direction, regardless of their views.

My eyes flicker to Leo, and then away. I meet Solomon’s eyes instead, taking in the glare there. I can’t help but offer him one of my own. “Do I offend you in some way?”

My hand scratches at my wrist again. The air is cooler up here, helped along by a strong breeze that whips at my bedraggled hair. The salt tastes even stronger now, forcing its way into my mouth and up my nose as I fight to keep my breathing steady. My words come out harsher than I intended.

At my icy words, the group falls silent. His lip curls. “I said nothing.”

But he didn’t need to, and both of us know it.

While the others wear curiosity, wariness, even concern, this male wears his immediate dislike of me like a shield.

He ignores me completely, looking to Callan with his jaw clenched.

His shadow nudges my feet, cast by the deep orange light of the setting sun behind him.

“You can’t intend to let her roam free.”

It has been a long time since I watched the sunset. Behind him, the sun sinks further into the sea on the horizon. I slide my eyes to it, focusing on the beauty in the sunset rather than his words. But they reach me anyway.

“She didn’t chain herself to the wall.” Callan straightens, any humor exiting his voice and leaving a layer of steel behind. “And she can’t leave the ship, unless we want to toss her over the side. So she’ll be joining us, under supervision.”

A flash of excitement crosses Leo’s face as he inhales. “Can I—”

“ No .” Five matching voices ring out, and his head drops.

“She’ll stay with me for the time being.” I twist to look at Callan. But he’s not looking at me, his eyes narrowed slightly. “But I think we can handle one small faeyte between us, no?”

“She’ll kill us in our sleep.” Solomon’s mutter doesn’t go unheard.

Callan points at him. “Do not kill the faeyte, Sol. Matthias would be furious.”

“Matthias is the one at risk,” the male snaps back. “Petyr will not like this, Callan. At least keep her hands tied.”

I shift in place. Esme’s eyes lower. “She’s wearing copper, Sol.”

“Doesn’t stop her using a weapon. I assume this is the female they were looking for in the market? Wanted for murder ?”

Esmeray, Riordan and Merrick all tense at that.

“That’s what I thought.” Solomon crosses his arms. “Bound or not, it’s not right to let her walk around. And if she does get loose, we’ll all pay the price.”

They talk over my head as though I’m property. A possession, to be inspected and stored correctly. “I will not hurt anyone while on this ship.”

They all pause at my words, but nobody looks at me. Instead, they look at Callan. Who shrugs. “Truth. Do you think I'm a fool, to not have checked?”

Something in his words has suspicion rising in my throat, even as they all relax. Especially then.

I’ve never heard of a Caelumnai with that gift.

It has always been a distinction between them and us—Caelumnai, with their physicality and dominion over physical world, and the faeytes with our own gifts.

focused on growth, on healing, whether earth or soul.

But a split, as clear as Caelum and Hala in the sky.

But this…? I frown, running my eyes over him again. Truth-telling is not a gift I have ever heard of, from either side.

No. He is unusual.

He catches my assessment, and his lips press together. “Are you hungry?”

Silent, I shake my head. I have no appetite for food. The movement of the ship beneath my feet is enough to have my stomach turning over as it is.

“Fair enough.” He glances around. “Space is a commodity on this ship, as you may have noticed. You’ll stay in my cabin while you’re here. Sol, you’ll join Smee and Rio for the time being.”