Page 51 of The Eye of the Fifth
Kyra peered up at where Naal’s wings ought to have been. ‘Is that why your wings have miraculously disappeared?’
Naal gave a small smile. ‘Yes, but not for my safety. For yours. I have been around for a long time. I am, for obvious reasons, known to most in this world. If I can conceal even just a little of my identity, I might better protect yours.’
Kyra gritted her teeth at that. She’d never neededprotectingbefore.
The thought reminded her of Rosary.I don’t need protecting.Hadn’t she said just that, furiously berating Kyra for giving into Oslan in the pits, to save her life?
‘Rosary told everyone who I was at the Citadel,’ Kyra said quietly. ‘She screamed it, hoping that would be enough to sway them to spare me. Do you think they believed her?’
Naal was thoughtful for a moment. ‘Considering they believe you were saved by the divines, it’s a possibility. But they are also earthlings. Even when something stares them blatantly in the face, they somehow still convince themselves it’s not real.’
Kyra snorted.
‘From now on, at least, it is wise for us both to remain discreet.’ Naal stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. ‘Being on the water makes me drowsy. I think I’ll lay down. I advise that you do the same. You’ve had a long day.’
‘Long couple of weeks more like.’
Naal didn’t smile at that. ‘Kyra, I must ask you something. The men you killed… was it self-defence?’
Their masked faces swam before Kyra’s eyes. She could hear their bones snapping as they fell into the abyss she’d made. Could still see the terror on Cristian’s face as she’d decapitated him. ‘I’d just found out they were the ones who killed my parents.’
‘I see.’ Pity shone from Naal’s silver eyes. ‘I knew your mother. She was a truly beautiful soul.’
Kyra looked away. ‘Then you know the men deserved it.’
Naal placed a light hand on her arm. ‘Vengeance is not the way of the Warden. We kill only when there is no other choice.’
The hand ought to have been comforting. She was sure that was Naal’s intention, and yet it made her irrationally angry. She bit out, ‘I didn’t know I was a Warden then. And Idon’tregret it now. I won’t repent for serving justice.’
What she’d done to Cristian… for her parents, that had been justified.
Naal lifted the hand away. ‘You have much to learn,’ she answered in a quiet voice more to herself than Kyra, and with that she turned away in search of the promised cabin.
Kyra looked out over the water once more. It wasn’t a long journey over the Valcier Gap to Nythanor, perhaps a few days at least. The journey up the mountain was sure to be much, much longer.
It wasn’t the journey ahead or what would come after that clouded Kyra’s mind in that moment. It was withholding the truth from Naal about her imminent search for the Eye of the Fifth that bothered her.
Should she have confided in the Air Warden? Shared the burden of the task ahead? Having known her for a mere few hours, and especially after hearing her warning about lying low, she was sure Naal would not have approved in the slightest of the blood-bargain she’d made with Lilion.
No, this was her task. And hers alone.
???
Naal.
Kyraena had not been at sea before, that much was clear. Her stomach was volatile from the rolling waves, and she spent most of her time leaning over the side of the ship, breathing deep in an attempt to combat the nausea. Naal had not bothered asking Captain Damar for an anti-sickness potion for she knew she would be laughed at for even suggesting it. The raiders spent the majority of their lives on these waters, their stomachs completely adjusted to the constantswirling of the waves beneath. If Kyra noticed any of them sniggering at her weak stomach, she did not show it.
Or, and this was most probably the explanation, she was simply too nauseated to bite back at them.
Naal found Kyra with her back against the port side railing on the afternoon of their third day at sea, frowning at a seabird that flew high above them. Her colouring was a little sallow from two days of not being able to keep any food in her stomach, but even so, her golden-brown skin glowed in the afternoon sun. A shade lighter than her grandmother’s, Naal noted.
‘Are you feeling any better?’ she asked as she approached. Kyra grunted in response, her eyes still glued to the seabird. ‘I remember my first time at sea. I was a little older than you and arrogant beyond belief. I thought it would feel like flying. It was anything but. I spent the entire voyage with my head in a bucket. A humbling experience to say the least.’
‘Why would you need to sail if you could just fly?’
‘Flying is like sprinting. Long journeys are awfully tiresome, not only physically but magically too. Our wings are built for short bursts and heavy loads.’ Naal frowned up at the gliding bird above. ‘Quite unlike the seabird, who can fly for days straight without tiring.’
Kyra glanced up at her. ‘There are others like you?’
