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An uncomfortable silence I can tell by everyone’s expressions that we all know Lucent is right, even without Raffaele’s test; Maeve, whose very power connects her to death itself, is undoubtedly a child of Moritas But will she travel with our group, with o?

"And war?" Raffaele answers "What of that?"

Lucent shakes her head "That, I don’t know"

Suddenly, I realize solances in my direction "What is it?" he asks

I know I knoith absolute, searing certainty the Elite who aligns with the final god But he is no ally ofin chains in Kenettra

"Teren Santoro," I reply, turning back to Raffaele "He will align ar"

Magiano

In the first memory, the boy was seven years old When he asked his priest what his name was, the priest told him that he had no need for a na malfettos chosen to live at the Mensah temple in Domacca, and this was the only name he would ever need

He trailed after the priest and looked on as she showed hioat at the altar in front of the temple She was kind and patient with hi the knife correctly He re he could eat it to fill the hollows of his stomach But the malfettos in the Domaccan temples had to be fed very little It kept the it so that their senses were always on the prowl, searching for food When he asked why this had to be, the priest told hiods, so that the priests could coh him

In the secondon his side now curved from the start of his ribs down to the bone of his hip He had beco ether when the priests weren’t there They would sneak out to the date orchards or startle the goats into a frenzy She would toy with his long braids, tying thens

One day, when they were both particularly hungry, they stole peaches froood they tasted! Ripe and fat and bursting with juices They giggled and rolled around when the priests were otherwise occupied After all, there were three altars, and they could rotate between theirl and the boy, and they became skilled at it--until the day they stole not one fruit each, but two That night, the boy saw his priestabout him to three other priests at the teed him out of his bed, and ordered the others to hold him down He screa a blade into the edge of his

In the third irl found hi Domacca’s Red River She told him about a boat there that left once a week for the Eo of spices Will you er to go with her She gripped his hands and s him, No matter what happens, we look forward Joy is out there, beyond these walls

That night, he wrapped some fruit and dates in a blanket and crept out of the teirl’s screa from near the altar He turned back, desperate to save her--but it was too late The Boy and Girl of Mensah had no need for nae of twelve, the holy nu he could He fled the te until he reached the village of Magiano There, he huddled in the dark with the cargo until the boat came As he sailed away into the dawn, he made himself two promises

One: He would always have a naiano

And two: No matter what happened, he would carry joy with hi her

If one’s ship can brave the stormy seas on the path from the E in the cal himself

--Excerpt from the journals of Captain Morrin Vora

Adelina Aray as the last clouds froer We sail for five days before we reach the Falls of Laetes that separate the Sunlands from the Sealands Then we follow the chasm for another day until we reach the spot where the ocean coe Baliras fly occasionally between the chas mouth--as majestic as I reht slower, the glow of their translucent bodies so into the chase as e left, an eerie near-black color, as if the hues of life were being sucked froh Violetta and I are on the saio visits her constantly every dayshe never asks for ive her the pleasure of turning io co Every tiht The silence of the open ocean is too loud, giving too s of herbal drink, and still they chatter away, their voices pulling ive up and leave my quarters