Page 51 of Stars Above the Never Sea (The Last Faeyte #1)

Chapter thirty-three

Selene

I stare out at the darkness, and the darkness stares back.

Sentient, a creature that has no end. Expectation weighs heavily on my shoulders. “I don’t know where to even begin.”

We sit at the edge of the world, my legs crossed beneath me. Ten years ago, I stood on bloodied feet only a few paces away from this exact spot. I stood on the edge of this dock as I screamed my rage at the Caelumnai.

And now, I sit here searching for a way to save them. I’m even dressed like them. Esme pulled trousers, a linen shirt, and a dark blue frock coat triumphantly from the armoire this morning—thankfully without any use of maegis, so there was no pretium to be paid.

Beside me, Callan stretches his legs out in front of him. The strange light casts his face into shadow. “Take your time.”

I tilt up my head, studying the sharp line that divides night and day above our heads.

It truly looks as though the world ends on the border of Asteria’s land.

Where the soothing sound of water should be, there is only a heavy silence that settles in my ears, dulling any other noise.

There is no salty tang that works its way up my nose, but an unpleasant, moss-like scent that I cannot place.

Barely three feet away, the Sea of Stars stretches out further than our eyes can see.

There is nothing else beyond but this endless velvet blanket of thousands upon thousand of stars, terrifying in its vastness.

The far-off sound of thunder rumbles, and I look up to that silent storm of dark, churning waves. Lightning flashes, and I swallow.

Breathing in, I try to empty my mind.

Try again.

Once more.

Whirling, I glare at Callan. “Could you at least try to control your breathing?”

He looks back at me, open-mouthed and brows all furrowed. He sounds affronted. “My breathing is entirely normal.”

I shake my head. “It’s not, I assure you.”

I’m so aware of him beside me that I cannot concentrate. “You need to move. Over there.”

When he says nothing, I turn to glare at him again. “Why are you smiling— stop that .”

“Stop what?” He’s very clearly amused by me. “I’m sitting here. Merely existing.”

“That,” I grit out, “is the problem. Exist somewhere else.”

He is infuriating.

His amusement surges into laughter. “I don’t know whether to be delighted that you’re so obviously aware of me, Selene, or offended that I seem to disturb you so greatly that you can’t bear to be around me.”

Frowning, I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them, hugging the boots Esme cast for me.

He does not move. I knew he would not.

But he gently pushes my fingers away from my wrist as I reach for it. “Don’t do that. Please. I will move, if that’s what you need.”

I shake my head. “I no longer know what I need, or want, or know. I am so tired of knowing nothing, Callan. Stumbling along as if I’m still falling through the Sea of Stars without any idea of how to fly back up.”

He shifts closer. Until our arms are pressed together, and I find myself breathing a little easier as the heat of his skin soaks into me, even through our clothes. “Then we need to find you some weapons for this particular battle. Is it possible there’s information in the faeyte records?”

Shock washes over me. “They’re still here?”

“I believe so. There were many in the smaller temple at the top. Most of the soldiers refused to step foot over the doorway, so I think it’s more or less intact.”

“You’re talking about the Sanctum.”

Callan searches my face. “I would very much like to know what this expression means.”

I swallow. “We don’t enter the Sanctum until our Ascension Day.

There are steps. Traditions. A ceremony in the great hall, with my sisters around me.

I would have climbed the steps to the Sanctum, alone.

And once there, Hala would have given me my name.

My Calling. And my sisters would have joined me once more for my first flight, from the very top of the temple to the ground.

It would have been the most significant day of my life.

” I huff out a bitter laugh. “Actually, it was the most significant day of my life.”

Callan’s face softens in understanding. “It was to be the day of the Shift. You had flowers in your hair.”

And a dress, pressed by Celeste, stained and ripped and bloodied. “Yes. I’ve never set foot in the Sanctum. I’m not sure I should.”

Callan inhales. “You are the last faeyte, Selene. That’s not your fault, and you cannot change it.

There is nobody to tell you what you should be doing.

Would your sisters have wished for you to be barred from there forever, for a situation not of your own making?

You did not forsake your goddess that day.

And now you’re here, after all this time.

Perhaps it means something more than this. ”

He gestures to the Sea of Stars. “Perhaps your presence here has nothing to do with us at all.”

Nyx and Celeste had told me that I would return, and they were right. But Callan is right too. They’re not here to tell me what I need to do next. “I will think about it.”

I force a smile. We’ve been here for hours and made no progress. My head is aching. “I think I may be done for the day. Will Petyr be angry?”

He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about Petyr. I’ll call for the cart.”

I catch his hand as he stands. “I’d like to walk back. Through the town, if I may. To be there again.”

Callan pulls me up with ease. His hands land on my shoulders as our eyes meet. “You’re not a prisoner here. No matter what Petyr blusters. You don’t need my permission, not for this or anything else.”

My heart is heavy. “Aren’t we all prisoners here?”

His lips press together, before he responds. “I wish things were different.”

Yes, in other words .

But things are not different, and we are here.

Tobias straightens from where he leans against the wall of a dilapidated storehouse as we approach him on the cobblestones. The male sweeps his gaze between us and the darkness behind. “Anything?”

Silently, I shake my head. Callan tilts his head up, toward the path ahead. “We’re walking back. We won’t need an escort.”

Tobias doesn’t move.

And Callan’s voice cools. “Where exactly do you expect us to go?”

Tobias glances toward the steep wall that stands to our left, casting us in its long shadow. It runs ahead, parallel with the path, cutting off the open stretch of land that used to lead to the endless stretches of forest that make up the northern territory. “There are places, as you well know.”

“I very much hope,” Callan’s voice drops to something dangerous. “That you are not insinuating anything.”

Frowning, I look between them. There’s an undercurrent between the two that I cannot read.

A silent conversation takes place in the turned down corners of Tobias’s mouth, in the faint glow that burns in Callan’s eyes.

There are no trees, not here at the dock, but the small rocks and pebbles beneath my feet begin to tremble.

Tobias does not back away. “There was a discrepancy in the cargo inventory lists. But I’m sure there’s a simple explanation.”

A small smile tilts Callan’s lips, though it holds no humor. “I really couldn’t give a fuck about the inventory lists, as you well know. We take as much as we can.”

“A far bigger load this time.”

Callan’s shoulders lift. “I was testing myself. Thankfully, it worked out.”

Tobias eyes him a moment longer. His blatant dismissal as he turns away irks me, even though his tone is bland and polite when he addresses me. “I’ll escort you through the town, Selene.”

“I do not need an escort.” My voice is soft, but I have my own steel that lingers beneath. “The last time I moved through the town, it was the Caelumnai I avoided. Your assistance is appreciated, but declined, Captain.”

Tobias frowns. “I would prefer if you had one of my men with you—”

“Then send us Riordan.” Words crisp and cold and ice in my throat, I sweep past him, ignoring the surprise on both their faces.

“He is one of your men, is he not? I feel more comfortable with people that I am familiar with. And if you expect me to use my maegis to fix the consequences that your people caused, I shouldn’t have to remind you that surrounding me with the men who slaughtered my sisters is not the way to achieve your goal. ”

Only silence follows.

I take a half-dozen strides up the path before Callan catches up to me. “That was masterful.”

My eyes trace the wall to our left, looking for any exit. I can't find one. “I suppose. Where people here are concerned, I know what is expected of me, and I can work with it.”

Matthias was right, in a way. Let them think of me as a creature of Hala. A possible savior. An ally, if treated correctly. An opportunity to fix what has been broken.

And while they focus on that, I will attempt to learn what my sisters kept from me. What the Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone knew about my fate.

Why I had to leave, only to return when Asteria is almost beyond saving.

The stones beneath our feet give way to packed mud, the wall pulling away to give space to turf that used to be green, overflowing with ripe berries and flowers of a dozen different colors.

Pausing, I move past Callan to crouch in front of a blackened patch of twigs.

It’s barely recognizable as anything that was once living. “This is the lichen, I presume.”

It’s the first sight I’ve had of the plant Esme described to me. The plant choking the life from Asteria, pushing the Caelumnai closer to starvation.

“Correct.” He kneels beside me, snapping off a twig and showing how it crumbles in his hands. “There’s plenty more of it.”