Chapter Thirty-Four
The village had gone quiet. Minha and Jina had taken the far cots in the room The Priestess had offered us. Rowhan, Palto and Calroy slept in another cabin.
Fraya was asleep before her head touched the pillow. I envied how easily slumber came to her. Restless, I slipped outside.
The cool night air hit my face as I walked along the stone path until the lake appeared ahead. The lanterns along the water burned low, their reflections trembling across the surface. Somewhere a wind chime tinkled.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Calroy leaned against a tree trunk, arms crossed, the moonlight falling along his face.
“No,” I said.
He pushed off and came to stand beside me, close enough that his arm brushed mine. For a long moment neither of us spoke.
“Tell me.” I turned to look at him. “Everything you couldn’t.”
He inhaled a deep breath. “When I saw you at the auction block, I felt a tug,” He kicked a pebble into the water.
“But the truth is, I wasn’t even certain it was you, my Yeri.
I’d bought so many women over the years and set them free.
It was the only thing I could do while I searched for you.
” He took a moment to pause, as if to collect himself.
“I was so unsettled that day I couldn’t think straight, and then the bidding moved too fast and I lost you to Russo. ”
“Go on.” I kicked a stone the way he had, watching it skip across the water.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “I helped Minha first. She needed to get away from Zenito. Then I went looking for you. I found out which ship Russo had taken you on and followed. I tried not to get my hopes up. Even when the boarox bowed to you, something no creature does without reason. I told myself it meant nothing. I couldn’t afford to be wrong.
My heart couldn’t take another round of torment. ”
I put a hand on his arm, understanding his doubt, and his muscles eased.
“Every pirate wants gold.” He looked at me sideways. “I only ever wanted one thing worth stealing.”
“What would that be?”
“You. A heart that already knew mine.” The lines at his eyes crinkled when he grinned. “Don’t look so surprised, Little Star. I’ve always had excellent taste. I just had to wait to steal it back.”
I laughed, soft and a little broken. “When were you certain who I was?” I asked.
“When you took the pure stone from Mount Keal.” He drew it from his pocket, the one that held Rowhan’s soul. “When you asked me about the gods that night you entered my chamber.”
“You mean when you yanked me inside.” I knocked my shoulder to his.
“I wanted to be close to you.” He shook his head, chuckling. “And I also knew you wanted the same.”
Though I wouldn’t admit he was right, I smiled despite myself. “Everything you’ve been through, that must have been—”
“Unbearable.” His thumb traced my cheekbone.
“Being close enough to tell you and having to swallow the words.” Tracing the bridge of my nose, then the line of my jaw, like he was relearning every part of my face.
“Worse still, every time you looked at me like I was just a ruthless pirate who had no business being near you. Every time you trusted me a little more without knowing why.” His thumb stilled at the corner of my mouth, gently parting my lips.
“And every time I almost let it slip and had to catch myself. Because if I told you, the condition of my rebirth would be broken. And I couldn’t risk losing you.
Not after everything it took to find you. ”
“You had a condition?” I blinked.
He lowered his hand. “Palto did me a favor, I suppose. My memories came back when I took to the sea and became a pirate at age fifteen. He had told me that I would at the sea. I didn’t know what he meant at that time.
I also recalled his last words before I died, that I would remember who I was first, then I had to find you. ”
I’d wondered what god of the afterlife had whispered to Calroy before he turned to ash and bone. I finally got my answer.
Anger and gratitude, impossible to separate.
Calroy had lied to me—no, not lied, withheld information while I fell for a man I thought was just a pirate with too much swagger and not enough patience.
And yet. He had done it to keep me safe, to keep some divine rule from tearing us apart.
So I let it go. I would have done the same.
“You said I found you, twice. Once on the ship and once in the woods.”
“I know. I couldn’t help myself. Both times it just came out.”
“I thought you meant it literally.”
“I did. And I meant it the other way too.”
The wind chime moved again in the silence, and my mind drifted back on the ship, regarding a question I didn’t feel right to ask at that time. But now that everything was out in the open, I didn’t hesitate.
“You have a sister. Your mother mentioned her. Do you know what happened to her?”
“How do you… my mother?” His brow furrowed, confusion marring his features.
It was then I realized he hadn’t told me Nira was his mother.
“I—” I stopped, heat crawling up my neck. “I overheard the both of you when I was supposedly unconscious. And she told me about a daughter while she was washing me before the fight with the boarox.”
He was quiet for a moment, studying me. “You’ve known this whole time.”
“I assumed. There’s a difference.”
The lines on his features eased, as if in relief.
“Nira is my mother. I suppose when we’re reborn, we have to come through a womb.
” He shrugged. “Palto did say I’d be a crown prince.
And yes, I have a sister.” He clenched his teeth.
“Pierre took her when I was sent to the sea. He claims she ran off with a soldier.” He scrubbed his jaw.
“His story could be true. Unlike my mother, my sister never liked being a servant. She was spoiled.”
“I’m sorry.” I ran my hand along his arm to comfort him.
“Don’t be.” He took my hand and kissed the back of it. Heat flared up my arm. I slowly pulled it back. “For all I know, my sister is happy somewhere, married to a wealthy man. I miss her of course, but one day I’ll know the truth.”
For her sake, I hoped he was right. “Does she have wings like you?”
“Yes. And my parents too.”
“I’d like to see your wings.” The very ones I’d seen the first time I was on Theron’s ship. I hadn’t known it was him then. I assumed it was some type of winged beast.
That sly arrogance surfaced. “Mine are the biggest.”
“I have no doubt, Former Pirate.” I snorted.
He stepped back and pulled off his tunic, rolling his shoulders. His wings unfurled, taking their time, his muscles rippling with the motion—like waking up after a very long nap and stretching. Unhurried. Enormous. Dark as the sky above us.
The feathers caught the lantern light from the lake, iridescent at the edges, deep black at the center. They spread wider than I expected, wider than anything I’d seen. He flapped once and the air rushed against me, lifting my hair off my shoulders.
Calroy, god of the sky, who had spent months hunched over maps, ship rails, and tavern tables, pretending to be someone smaller than he was, could finally reveal himself.
“They’re beautiful.” I ran my fingers through the feathers. Soft at the surface, but underneath, dense and strong, built for more than flight. “You’re beautiful.”
Either he blushed at my compliment or the lantern light reflected off his cheeks, turning them red.
His lips quirked, wings shivering at my touch. “They’re yours to command.” His voice dropped lower. “Everything I am is yours.”
Before I could get a word out, he swept me up—one arm under my knees, one at my back—and launched us skyward. I gasped sharply, gripping his neck, then loosened when the world spread out beneath us in every direction.
The village of Pandrano shrank to a scatter of warm lights, the river a silver thread through the dark. The forest we’d ridden through, beyond it the road, then open land, then the sea—vast, dark and endless. The lanterns on the ships scattered across the water like fallen stars.
I’d lived my whole life beneath the surface of the world and now I was above, the wind in my face and nothing between me and the sky.
“Incredible,” I breathed. It was the only word I had.
He laughed, low and deep, and I felt it through his chest where I held him. His wings beat slow and powerful, taking us even higher, the air thinning and cooling against my skin.
The towns below became patterns of light. The ships became toys. The sea stretched to the horizon and beyond, and I understood for the first time what it meant to be the goddess of something that enormous.
Warm tingling sensations course through my veins. My power stirred. Just a flutter. Like turning over in sleep, waiting for me to wake up.
He banked left, wings tilting, and we curved toward the mountains that rose beyond the forest, their peaks white. He picked the highest one and landed on a flat ledge near the summit without a sound.
A shallow cave opened into the rock face. Calroy ducked inside, toward blankets and a lantern stored at the back. He lit the small firepit and laid out the blankets. We sat side by side, the flames crackling between us and the stars framed just outside the mouth of the cave.
“I used to come here alone when I needed to think.” He tossed sticks into the flame. “This was my solitude. A place where I could hide away from the world.” He looked at me and those eyes glistened. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’m so sorry.” I reached for his hand. “I can only imagine how difficult that was.”
“Don’t be. You’re here now.” His thumb moved across my knuckles. “That’s all that matters. I would wait a thousand lifetimes for one with you in it.”
His words settled over me like the warmth from the fire. To have someone love me the way he did made every hardship worth the wait.