Page 25 of Stars Above the Never Sea (The Last Faeyte #1)

Chapter eighteen

Callan

I stay close to Selene as the others gather next to us at the bulwark. Leo shrinks back into Merrick as loaded silence fills the air.

She’s here.

Safe. Alive.

My mind reels from one thought to another, when I should be focusing on what’s in front of me. But I find myself looking down, trying to see what lies ahead through Selene’s eyes.

Eyes I have seen once before, on a day filled with blood and loss. So much loss.

But one survived.

Her knuckles are white where she grips the wood, leaning forward. “What in Ellas… what is that?”

Ahead of us, a dark, ominous cloud stretches across the sky, covering the horizon completely. The sun still shines above our heads, the waves still crash below, but ahead of us, there is nothing .

Closing my eyes, I breathe in. Let the maegis rise up, let it take control.

Below us, the ship shifts. Tilting slightly to the side, before it slows.

And stops. Iron gathers on my tongue, and I swallow it down.

Selene’s hands tighten as she steadies herself, looking around her. “I don’t understand.”

I clear my throat. “Fifty thousand Caelumnai fled Boreas that day. Fifty thousand, scattered across a hundred ships.”

On my other side, Sol’s voice takes over. The heaviness remains, as it always does. “And by the time the day was gone, fewer than eight thousand were left.”

She steps back, away from the dark cloud as if by instinct. Her wings brush against my face as she twists. Brows knitted, she blinks in bewilderment. “What?”

“Sixteen ships made landfall in Asteria.” Tremors shake Esme’s voice. “Fifteen of them were military. One was civilian.”

Rio shifts, tucking her against him. “Eighty-four ships were still at sea when the world turned upside down.”

Memories assault me. The screaming. The wailing. The scent of blood, thick in the air. The pleading to an unrelenting, vengeful goddess who saw what we had done to her priestesses and ensured that we would pay the price for it.

And eyes made of starlight, falling. Swallowed up by crashing waves of water.

I shift a little closer. The scent of my soap rises up from her neck, her hair tied up with a piece of cord. I study that piece of skin intently.

She survived. When so many did not. It only confirms what we have believed for ten years.

Selene wraps her arms around herself. “So that cloud is…,”

“The sea,” I say heavily. I point a finger to show her.

Not out, but up . “The water in the harbor began to churn first. Almost like whirlpools. First one, then dozens. Hundreds. And then the waves flipped, and flew upward, even as the sky itself fell, the two switching places in a maelstrom none could escape. Anyone still on the water was lost. Ships broke apart and tumbled down into nothing, taking our people with them.”

Eighty-four ships. Thousands of souls lost, to show us what we had done.

For what we had taken, Hala took from us in return. The whole world screamed as soldiers with blood still fresh on their swords were forced to watch their families fall, powerless from the dock of Asteria.

Left behind to learn a lesson none of us would soon forget.

The ones they told themselves they were saving paid the price for the bloodshed created in their name.

And those souls fell into an endless night sky, that now sits below .

“In a few hours, we will reach the edge of the sea border that separates Terrosa from Asteria. From there to Asteria, what was the sea is now only starlight, Selene. It is endless. As far as we know, there is no limit to the depths.”

“The Sea of Stars,” Esme says in awe. She shakes her head. “And of course, we’re the only fools who attempt to cross it.”

Selene looks at me, the question clear.

“We were all trapped,” I murmur. My eyes shift to the darkness ahead. “Trapped in Asteria, Selene. Those who were left behind are still trapped. The whole island is cut off by the Never Sea and the Sea of Stars.”

“But this is a ship. For water .” Her already pale skin turns ashy. “How in Ellas do we get across that ?”

I glance down at the hand that slips into mine. Leo squeezes it as he beams at Selene. “Callan will carry us. Callan makes the ship fly. He’s the only one who can do it.”

Eyes the same shade as the Sea of Stars look up at me. “What maegis do you have?”

One side of my mouth pulls up. “Gerent, apparently. Although nobody ever seems to quite agree.”

But the maegis does not lie. Selene’s gaze widens, the stars flickering. They move, I realize suddenly. The small bursts of color within her pupils flicker and shift. “You’re a porter? But you don’t have green eyes.”

I nod, still distracted. “I apologize for the lack. Do you have a particular attachment to green eyes?”

Her own narrow slightly, thrown off. And those stars shift and dance. “I… don’t know what to say to that.”

“Say nothing,” Esme supplies. I step back, heat brushing my cheeks. Esme eyes me with a little too much knowledge in her own violet gaze. “He’s teasing you.”

“Oh.” Selene tilts her head, studying me with newfound curiosity. “I’ve never seen gerent maegis.”

My smile is bitter. “You will, I hope. Otherwise, our trip will be cut quite violently short.”

Selene’s gaze drops to Leo. “Is that why you asked if they’d weighed me? In the cargo hold?”

Leo nods, his face turning serious. Worry crosses his eyes as he glances at me. “The load is heavy this time. It’s a lot.”

“And you sound far too much like an old, worried man called Merrick for such a small boy.” Seizing the distraction, I reach for Leo, snagging him around the waist and lifting him against me with one arm. “Have I ever let you fall, Leo?”

Giggles peal out from the child in my arms. “ N-n-n-ooo .”

I feint downward, pretending to drop him. His laughter grows louder. “ Callan !”

“I need to hear it,” I say promptly. The much-needed smile that starts at the corner of my lips grows as I look to Selene. She stares at me as if I’ve lost my senses. “And I think Selene does too. You’d better reassure her, Leo. Quickly. Tell her I won’t let her fall.”

“I—”

I pretend to drop him again, and he howls with glee. Merrick lifts his eyes to the sky, but he’s smiling. “For the love of Hala—put the lad down, Callan, before he throws up on you.”

“Leo’s made of stronger stuff than that.” But I steady him, putting him back on his feet and holding his shoulders as he gasps, laughter still shaking him. “This is your third trip, isn’t it? You could run things easily, Leo.”

His skinny shoulders puff up with pride under my grip. “You think?”

“Definitely.” I wink at Selene. “Except we’d get back to Asteria with two hundred tons of cocoa and not much else.”

Her lips twitch, and I narrow my eyes. “Is that – are you smiling?”

It vanishes. “Not at you , Edgeborn.”

“You smiled at me.” My grin grows wider. “This feels like a good thing.”

“It’s not a good thing.” She steps back, folding her arms. “I was smiling at Leo.”

I glance down. His face has turned a furious shade of scarlet. “Well, then. It seems to be your lucky day, Leo. I definitely won’t drop you now.”

“This is ridiculous.” Sol rolls his eyes. “I’m going to check for anything we can lose before we go over.”

Leo’s face falls as he stalks away, before he peeks up at me. “If you did drop me, Selene could catch me. She has wings.”

He sounds awed, his eyes flicking to them. Selene’s face tightens the barest amount. I glance up in time to see a flicker of darkness shadow her eyes before she crouches. “I would try, Leo. But my wings don’t work very well.”

I press my fingers into Leo’s back and nudge him forward with silent encouragement.

Nobody can hold out against Leo. Not Merrick. Not me. Not even Sol, which is why he stays as far away as possible. The boy has a knack for getting information that matches anyone in Petyr’s excuse of a court.

He shuffles forward. When he lifts his hand, Selene hesitates. But then she twists, allowing one wing to curve forward for him to brush with his fingers.

“It’s really soft,” Leo says wonderingly. “Like a bird.”

She takes his fingers, tracing them over the edges to show him. “Do you feel these harder areas? That’s bone. And then these are the membranes, and they connect to my spine along with the bones. They form the main shape, and the softness you can feel is something w— I call moonsilk.”

I know exactly how soft they are. The barest brush as I cut the ropes free that held them against her back. My fingers rub together at my side, as if in memory.

Leo has moved around, his hands traveling over her wings.

I clear my throat. “Careful, Leo. Be gentle.”

“He is.” She glances up at me. But Leo’s exclamation draws both of our attention. “There’s copper in your wings, Selene. Doesn’t that hurt?”

I stiffen. “Copper?”

She ignores me. But I’m starting to learn a little more of Selene Amaris. Enough to tell me what it might mean when her eyes turn pitch black, stars winking out one by one.

Enough to tell me that I don’t like it.

“Sometimes it does. Not as much as it used to. But it means I can’t fly very far. A few feet, maybe. So you shouldn’t rely on me, Leo. Just in case. Do you understand?”

He pats her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Merrick does a lot of worrying. And Callan. Enough for all of us, Rio says.”

I bite the inside of my cheek at the expression on her face. “Leo, why don’t you go and help check the weights to see if there’s anything else we can toss? You’re good at that. You might find something they’ve missed.”

He smiles at her, suddenly shy again. “Thank you for letting me touch your wings.”

Selene gets to her feet. But the stars are back. “You’re welcome.”