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"No," I say quietly, bringing iano s Instead, he leans forward and closes the gap between us, pressing his lips toaway the dark shadows and replacing theasp as he touches htly to him His movement makeshiiano tu the hollow of s on my bodice and they loosen He pulls it up over my head and tosses it to the foot of the bed My skin is bare against his, and I realize that I’iano pauses for a n of my emotions I study his face in the darkness "Stay with ht Please" The words said aloud suddenly frightenwhether I should have openedalone, surrounded by my illusions, is too much to bear

He touches my hair with one hand, brushes the strands away, stares at the left side of ently His lips touch my forehead, then my mouth And then, as if he understands me better than anyone in the world, he whispers, "It will ht, he drea up to the sky And that ates

--Excerpt from The Requiem of Gods, Vol XVII, translated by Chevalle

Adelina Ay is very quiet I have no nightht of dawn creeps into ht to be nothing iano is still here, his soft brown skin pressed against entle and rhythenuine smile on my lips The air is chilly, and I wish I could stay nestled forever under these thick blankets Meainst my neck, his whispers ofin Merroutas, he seeure, a wild boy with a mess of hair and a quicksilver sers stay entwined withlashes For a moment, I wonder what he had seen in thehis test

Every day, we head farther north Every day, the air turns colder Soon, I have to put on a heavier cloak and sturdier boots each tiiano seems uncomfortable here, in this colder clie shows in his deep scowl

This , as we see the first hints of land on the horizon, he joins htly around his neck His arin of the Elites be in a tropical paradise?" he co out at this bleak, dark ocean, I have to sht since our first together, and as a result, the whispers have become quieter over the past feeeks But now that we draw closer to the Skylands, the voices have returned with a vengeance "We shall reach Beldain today, at least I’ll be happy to be on solid land again"

Magiano grunts I wonder which poor soldier he stole the second cloak frorees

Nearby stands Teren, atches the approaching land without a word He has caused us no trouble for the weeks he’s gone without his chains and, true to his appointment, has stayed near me, a hand always on the hilt of his sword The nehite bandages around his wrists look red again, though His wounds are stubborn

A rurabs my attention Violetta talks in lohispers to Raffaele as they sit together on stacks of cargo, pointing at the strip of land growing before our eyes I watch them over my shoulder Raffaele joined us shortly after my accident overboard and has been with us since then Violetta has gradually eased around ht, but she still keeps her distance and confides in Raffaele ainst him and trembles, her lips dry and cracked Her voice is weaker than it has ever been, and her cheeks are hollo, the result of her poor appetite The sight sends er but in sorrow

I wish it were me she turns to for comfort

"You said the Beldish would meet us here with troops of their own," I call to Raffaele "I see no Beldish flags on any of the ships on the horizon" I pause to nod toward the nearing port again "Any word from Queen Maeve?"

"She will be here," Raffaele replies Like Magiano, he has an air of unhappiness about hihter Heweeks in Beldain the last time he fled here "But we have to move quickly out of this city"

"Which city is this?"

"Laida, one of Aathers his black hair into a thick rope across one shoulder "Ru for you"

I smile bitterly at him, then weave an illusion of his face across my own Raffaele’s expression flickers in surprise for aback into its pool of cal ht smile in return "Do not underestimate your enemies, Your Majesty," he says