City in Ruins by R.K. Ryals Page B

finished,
her eyes wider than before.
    My shoulders sagged. “You’re judging me,” I
accused.
    She sighed. “I’m not in a position to judge
anyone, and truth is, you’re right.” She stared at me, at my bright
eyes and flushed cheeks, and her brows furrowed. “Do you think I’d
say anything? That I’d turn you in?” She stood, her blue eyes
catching mine. “You’re not doing anything a person in power
wouldn’t do. I just hope you realize what it would mean. If you
succeed, you’ll need to be more cautious than ever. Your life will
be at risk. Mixing with the prince has never been safe.”
    I took a hesitant step forward. “I’m not safe
now. I’m already marked to die.” In my confession, I’d told her
what I’d discovered about the marks on my wrists.
    She reached for her trunk, pulling a royal blue
cloak free of the contents. “Use this,” she insisted. “Your best
chance is in the dark a few hours before dawn. The rain today will
help. Even if they spot land, we’ll be unable to dock at port until
the visibility is better. You won’t have much time.”
    Grabbing the cloak, I hurried to the door.
Reenah stopped me. “If you succeed, you’ll need help later. I-I’d
stay with you if you like.”
    I gaped at her. “You’d do that?”
    She smiled. “You take a great risk. If you’re
willing to make this choice for your people, then I know I’m not
wrong to serve you. I’ve overstayed my welcome in the Sadeemian
court. It’s impossible being a consort to someone who doesn’t need
one. When you’re forced to flee, I’ll flee with you.”
    My gaze softened.
“ If I
succeed.”
    Reenah smiled. “You will. The gods go with
you.”
    Tremendous gratitude swept me, and I turned to
tug Reenah into an embrace. “Thank you,” I whispered.
    Reenah squeezed me. “I am losing myself at
court,” she murmured. “You’d be saving me.”
    With those words, she released me. I
stumbled from her chamber, the blue cloak balled up in my hands,
Reenah’s words ringing through my ears. “The gods go with you.”
    Did they? Would the gods agree with my
choice?
    Tapping two fingers against my heart, I lifted
them to my head, and then dropped them to my lips, the gesture a
show of respect.
    “Silveet …” I thought, replaying my idea in my head for the courtesy of
the goddess. She didn’t speak to me, her silence a gaping hole in
my plan.
    It wasn’t until later that afternoon, the rain
still coming down in sheets when the goddess appeared. Only it
wasn’t Silveet who materialized.
    I was on the main deck despite the downpour
when I saw the vision of a woman wavering over the ocean. She stood
in the air, hovering. Her figure was bent, her piercing eyes
watching me. Unlike Escreet and Silveet, this woman wasn’t young
and beautiful. She was old. A veil of straggly white hair hung in
knotted strings around her shoulders. Her eyes were green and
ringed in fire.
    She crooked her finger at me. “For Medeisia,” she
called, her echoing voice as eerie as the rest of her. “Call on me when the time comes. You know my name.
If you refuse to say it, then I cannot help you.”
    Her words still echoing, she disappeared,
leaving behind a gray ocean and an unfurling uneasiness in the pit
of my stomach.
    “Be a dragon,” I reminded myself.
    For Medeisia, and if I was being honest, partly
for myself.
     
     
     

Chapter 16
     
    With night came the fear, my pulse jumping in
my neck. My stomach churned, my breathing rushed.
    Cloaked in Reenah’s blue robe, I made my way to
the quarterdeck, the rain from earlier still falling from the sky,
an ever-changing flood of water. From a trickle to a downpour and
back again. The wind pushed it sideways, making it hard to escape
the barrage no matter where you were on the ship. It soaked me to
the skin.
    Because of the deluge, there were no lanterns
lit along the walkways, and I stumbled as I moved, my fingers
dragging against the ship, my untethered hair plastered to