Page 112 of I Summon the Sea

Am I? With my white hair loose and tangled around my face, my gray-white gown filthy where I was dragged over the floor, and a small dragon perched on my arm, I’m certainly not the image of the delicate princess.

Not that I care.

Then Remi belches a small cloud of black smoke. I keep myself still, wondering if darakins breathe fire. I’ve never seen one do it.

Even Jai’s eyes narrow, and he opens his mouth as if to say something.

But nothing comes out. In fact… his lips peel back, and a tremor goes through him. His eyes close.

When they open again, they look flat and cruel, gold flashing in their depths. His head bows and he mutters in a different voice, “Feeling proud, are we, little human? In your pretty gown, with the pretty dragonet on your shoulder, the pretty dragon speaker by your side? Feeling like you’re worthy of your mission, even though you failed before you even began?”

Shit.This time, I do take a step back, just to put enough space between us, so that I can think. What just happened?

Jai wouldn’t say that to me, so… this is Phaethon.

Or is it?

I still wonder how that is possible and how I’m supposed to tell Jai and Phaethon apart. What are the clues, apart from the nastiness?

Between one blink and the next, though, he closes the distance between us, looming over me.

The darakin hisses. The ache from his weight and the painful grip of his claws marking my flesh through the silk are a welcome distraction, grounding me.

Pain. Nothing can ground you in the here and now like pain.

“Tenebra,” he whispers. “Iskios. Pasianax. Mainomenos.”

What is he talking about? What do those strange words mean?

“Ah, the little human is lost. Aren’t you, girl?” He tips his head back, his smirk sharp like broken glass. “Pretending to be someone else, locked inside a spell that only a fated bond can break.”

What?

His smirk fades; his jaw clenches. “And as for him, he thinks he knows enough, but he’s hard as a mirror of cast metal, a weapon, volatile and unstable. Dangerous and wild. He’s breaking apart?—”

“Athdara!” someone shouts. I think it’s Tru. I can’t look away from Jai to check if I’m right.

“And then she comes, full of those same shadows.” Jai’s voice has dropped to a sonorous whisper, deeper than it normally sounds. “Not bright like the Eosphors. They are the only dragon speakers, masters of howling, crawling across the vault of the skies?—”

“Athdara!” Tru calls out again, and I realize he’s fighting his way through the crowd to reach us. “Stop.”

“Oh, yes, she’s scared, isn’t she? Didn’t I say so? Didn’t I warn you? Everyone is scared, everyone—” Jai slams a hand on his thigh and bows over, groaning. “Enough! Fuck.”

He’s done that before, hasn’t he? This abrupt halt and groan, this tortured cursing.

I take another step back as he grimaces and draws a sharp breath. He lets it out slowly.

Then he turns and staggers away, shoving people aside, leaving me standing there with the wind blowing in my hair and the darakin sitting on my shoulder like a gargoyle.

I stare after him, and out of nowhere, it hits me why I felt like crying upon hearing the darakin’s name.

Remi.It reminds me of my brother’s first name, Remian.

Just my luck that this preening darakin has his beloved name, and that life won’t let me forget that sorrow…

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

He’s lost in the crowd before I can take a single step toward him. I do go after him, though, after a moment’s pause. Bad idea? I know. Especially when he might not be himself? Definitely.

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