Page 34 of Stars Above the Never Sea (The Last Faeyte #1)

It’s easier to find it again, now that I know where to look. I reach for the maegis with decisive hands, and it allows me to gather some of it up, wisps of bright light settling in my palms.

I need you.

It floats away at that, slipping between my fingers, but lingering. As though it waits.

I need you to show me what to do.

It feels sentient. In a way I did not expect. The words feel natural as I offer them. And I can feel my maegis hesitate. Hovering just out of reach.

Please.

That tendril creeps closer, toward my outstretched hand.

Show me , I whisper. Show me how you work.

It sinks into my outstretched hands, vanishing.

Merrick inhales sharply. My eyes open to the night sky and a salty breeze that strokes against my sweating skin.

My palms are glowing . Not the bright, overwhelming light that illuminated Callan’s cabin, but something softer. Something very much like the light within that cavern inside my mind.

When the shadows come, they contain themselves to the space between us. Not an eruption, but a trickle.

Warmth fills my chest. A single tendril snakes across my cheek, almost like a caress.

Merrick is still touching my hands. And the knowledge of what I need to do slips inside, as if it had been there all along. Waiting for me. A key in the lock of a door I had no idea was even there.

The shadows twist and change, and we both watch as the scene forms. A different scene to that of yesterday. My eyes flicker to Merrick, and back.

I know what this is.

Elation shifts to something else. Something darker, as the figures move and shift. And it turns to ice in my chest, at the sole, still figure left at the end.

“ No! ” I rip my hands away from his. The maegis vanishes, leaving panic behind as I try to catch my breath. “Gods, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

The reading of a fate is sacrosanct. To be done in private, and never without permission. The scene plays in my head, the horror in my chest growing at what I have accidentally revealed.

“I have seen it before,” Merrick says gently.

My head jerks up. Merrick is smiling, still staring at the space between us. “Do not concern yourself, Selene. It was done without intent, and I am not angry. I have known my fate for a long time.”

“But—”

“The others do not.” He meets my eyes, showing me the truth we both saw. “I ask that you keep the confidence. It is one of the many burdens you bear, and I am sorry for it.”

It’s no burden , I want to say. Even as the back of my eyes begin to burn. I grew up being told as much, witnessing the quiet pleasure my sisters took in helping those who came to us for a reading. Dignified, and graceful.

It is a privilege, they had taught me . To be entrusted with the future of those around us and keep those secrets close.

But this does not feel like a privilege.

I glance over my shoulder. To Callan, lounging and grinning as Rio throws the cards down in a huff.

Esme and Sol, both of their heads together as Esme gestures and Sol listens, a small smile on his lips.

And Leo, a loud, howling laugh spilling from him as Rio drags him closer and buries his fingers in his side, tickling.

I took this knowledge without asking. And if this is the price, then I will pay it. I force a smile to my lips before turning back to Merrick. “How did you all come to be here? As the crew on Volatus ?”

Something binds them to one another, all of them closer than I would have expected from the crew of a ship—even if that crew is in constant danger of falling into the endless sky beneath them.

His face settles into relief, at my change of subject and the unspoken promise shared between us. “I was Callan’s tutor, when he was a boy. I took on the position when I returned from my travels.”

I try to picture Callan as a child. A little boy, like Emryn or Leo, with bright, bronze eyes too big for his face and a shock of dark hair shot through with gold. It warms my stomach. And I find that I want to know more. “Was his family well-off, then?”

“Yes.” Merrick glances past me, his eyes far-away.

“He was a quiet child. Very different from others in his family. And I found myself staying with him far past the time I thought I would leave again. When it was time for his military service, his mother asked if I would consider reenlisting, since I had trained him. The decision was surprisingly simple. We were placed in the same unit.”

“And the others?”

Merrick’s smile is rueful. “Part of the household staff, or rather, their parents were. Callan’s playmates.

The five of them together caused me no end of trouble, I can tell you.

It became easier to teach them all, rather than attempt to separate Callan from the group.

Such friendship does not grow easily, not always. I had no wish to isolate him from it.”

I frown. “Five?”

Merrick shifts. “You have not met Matthias, but you will.”

“Is he easier than Sol?”

Merrick laughs. “He is. But Solomon is not so difficult, even though he likes to pretend that he is.”

A burst of laughter echoes behind us. I twist, watching.

Sol’s fingers move as he tosses cards down with his other hand, two fingers curling together in a clear dare.

He grins tauntingly before Rio launches himself at him.

Rio tackles him to the ground, both of them sprawling on the ground and wrestling, rolling back and forth across the deck.

Rio’s fingers dig into Sol’s sides—tickling him, I realize in bemusement.

Sol shoves back at him, his whole body shaking in silence and his grin stretching wider as Esme and Leo’s laughter rings out, Callan joining them from his hammock as he twists to watch.

The two men break apart and flop to their backs, both fighting for breath before Leo throws himself on top of Rio and the whole fight begins again, gentler this time for the little boy in their midst.

My lips slip upward. “And they have stayed together.”

“As much as they can, yes.” Merrick studies them all, a small smile curving his mouth. “The Shift—that was a bad day. It took them hours to find each other, ignoring their own units in the pandemonium. Callan was the last when they eventually found him. The others were frantic.”

“On the dock.” The words leave my mouth without thinking.

“Yes.” His eyes bore into the side of my face, although Merrick asks me no questions. “By the end of the day, all they had left was each other.”

I turn to study Sol again. He pulls away from the play with a wave of his hand, and I catch Leo’s look of disappointment before Esme joins them, picking him up as he howls with laughter. “Why is Matthias not here with them?”

A sigh. “There was a concern within the remnants of the court that Callan might decide to leave Asteria and not come back. His friendships are well-known. It was decided that one had to stay behind for every trip. Just one. Petyr knew that none of them would stay away, knowing one of their group had been left behind. And so they have all stayed and taken their turn over the years. This time, it is Matthias. Last time, it was Rio.”

Both clever, and cruel. “That seems unnecessary to me.”

“How so?”

I study the ground. “Callan wouldn’t abandon the rest of them, knowing they cannot survive without him.”

Leo races past us, Rio and Esme on his heels as he darts between a stack of crates.

I glance at Callan again. He watches them play with his lips twisted up in a smile.

Sol is watching too. Both of us spot Callan pressing the cloth to his nose, seeing it come away stained and dark with crimson.

His smile falters, only to reappear as Leo races for him, pleading for help.

My stomach drops.

“You’re starting to get the measure of him, then.” Merrick says quietly. A thread entwines his words, something within them I can’t work out. Pride, perhaps.

Am I?

I twist my mouth. “What about Leo?”

“Ah.” Merrick leans back, stretching his knee out with a groan. “His parents were both twos.”

The Caelumnai marks. A knot forms in my stomach. “And?”

“They were both conscripted on the same day, when Petyr made the announcement that they would now conscript by tier. Maybe… three years ago now,” Merrick murmurs.

His eyes follow Leo as he runs past us, Riordan sprinting after him and begging for a reprieve.

The boy’s laughter filters back. “Conscription is not optional. And since both were taken at the same time, Leo was left behind. I found him, and he stayed with us. When the time came to do the crossing, he refused to be left behind again.”

An ache springs up in my throat. “You took care of him.”

Merrick’s eyes slip back to mine. Heavier. “I did not have the opportunity to raise my own children, Selene. I carry that regret with me, for I would have liked the opportunity to be a father. Very much.”

My heart squeezes, and my eyes prick.

Leo barrels into Merrick then, nearly knocking him off his stool as he wiggles beneath his arm, his face flushed and sweaty. “Help—it’s a wraith .”

“Merrick will not save you,” Rio growls as he approaches, his hands up and curved to mimic claws. Leo giggles, burying his face in Merrick’s side as Rio creeps around. He waggles his eyebrows at me, and I bite down on a smile. “Wraiths eat little boys like you for breakfast.”

He snaps his teeth together, his hands diving for Leo at the same time that Callan’s bellowed voice carries across the deck.

“ Wraiths! ”

Then screaming. Piercing, shrill screams that burrow into my head as I slam my hands over my ears, staggering to my feet and knocking the stool from beneath me. Merrick jerks to his feet, face paling. “Leo—get below!”

What in the name of Ellas—

“Everyone inside!” Callan roars. “Now!”

Rio appears in front of me, all amusement wiped and a sword in his hands. “Quickly, Selene. Stay with me.”

I follow his steps, my head twisting as we race for the top of the steps. “What’s happening?”

“Wraiths!” he shouts over his shoulder, glancing back.