Page 43 of Daughter of No Worlds

He looked…differentthan I would have expected, considering that his main hobbies appeared to be drinking and enthusiastically doing nothing.

I noticed this and then promptly tried to un-notice it.

“Max.” The woman’s voice was a gasp of amazement. She moved from my bed to the doorway, where she ran her hands through Max’s hair. Her simple white dress floated around her ankles. She was barefoot. “You lookbeautiful.”

A lover, perhaps? Somehow that didn’t seem quite right.

“Thanks, Miraselle.” His voice was flat. He winced, pulling away from her hands. “Haven’t seen you around here in awhile.”

Miraselle didn’t even appear to hear him. Instead she looked back at me with the amazement of a child, pressing her palms together. “Look at her. Isn’t shelovely?Look at that eye! It’s the same color as the sun through the leaves! Did you notice that she’s two different colors?”

Max and I glanced at each other. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wondered if I should be alarmed that he was so un-alarmed.

“I did, in fact, notice that.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Where have you been?”

“I traveled the coast all the way to the Capital.”

“I told you that wasn’t a good idea.”

Miraselle spread her arms out. “The wind justtookme, Max!”

Every word she spoke was a sing-song note, breathy and amazed. It seemed… off. And the more I watched her, the more something seemed strange about her stare, as if it looked past me, past Max, past everything that touched her delighted gaze.

Max sighed. Then he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, nudging her out the doorway. “It’s not even sunrise yet. Let's go.”

They padded down the hall. I slid out of bed and followed, too curious to remain in my room.

When I reached the living room, the door was already open and Miraselle swooned against it, face tilted to the garden. “Oh, how I missed the flowers here.”

“Rightfully,” Max said. “They’re worlds better than the fussy terraces you saw in the Capital.”

A lovely smile spread across her face. “I missed you, Max. You are sonice.I always loved that you’re such aniceperson.”

If I hadn’t been so perplexed, I would have laughed at that characterization.

“Thanks, Miraselle,” he replied, unaffected.

And then, she spun to face me. “And you…You’re just solovely, Tisaanah. Trulybeautiful.”

“Thank you,” I replied, because I wasn’t sure what else to say.

It took me a moment to realize that I had never told her my name.

“Don’t get into trouble,” Max said to her, but by then, Miraselle had floated out the door, transfixed by the flowers.

He closed it behind her and let out an exasperated sigh. “Ascended. What a way to wake up.”

“What is… wrong of her?”

“What makes you think anything is wrong with her?”

I gave him a look that silently reprimanded him for having the audacity to think I’m stupid.

“She’s harmless,” he said. “She just wanders around. She’s a little strange, but I suppose that makes sense, since she wasn’t always human.”

Wasn’t alwayshuman?“What was she?” I asked, immediately fascinated.

“A hummingbird.”

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