Epilogue
One week later, we stepped off a merchant vessel and onto the soil of Raine.
The smuggler, true to her word, had taken us to where we could arrange passage across the Strait. That captain had refused to sail, however, until the storm abated. We spent three miserable days waiting, jumping at shadows and expecting the priests to arrive at any moment.
They did not, and Sir Durum speculated that the leader had been gravely injured during his attempt to capture us, throwing the priesthood into disarray. Face tight, Mama said nothing.
None of us spoke of what had happened in the cave.
Sometimes, I thought I’d dreamed it—the certainty that, for a moment, I could force that ball of flame to do my bidding as I thrust it deep beneath the waves.
Only Kian seemed willing to talk, and on
