The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska

Author:Alicia Jasinska
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

18

Lina

Lina slept for a long time after the ship returned to the Water Palace, waking only when a witch came in to change her bandage and urge her to eat and drink. A whole day drifted past, and then half of another. They’d given her the same room as before, the one with the marble floor and amber-and-gold-leaf screens and pillow-packed daybeds.

She was so tired. She’d been going, going, going nonstop since the night of the revel—maybe even before then, worrying about her brother, about her ankle—and now her mind and body were giving out, giving up…

Or maybe it was just the witches’ magic luring her into this daze, ensnaring her in sleep like a princess placed under a curse. Her chest gently rising and falling, rising and falling, trapped in the rhythm of a deep and dreamless slumber.

Every time Lina’s eyes fluttered shut, a little more magic snuck into the room.

A tingly body balm to ease her bruises and aches appeared on a nearby shelf. A little striped reef snake with iridescent scales slithered across the daybed and curled around her wrist and up her arm like a bracelet. Handfuls of those licorice-black pearls that made your voice siren-sweet spilled from a bowl on a side table.

Burrowed so deeply beneath a heavy blanket that only the tip of her nose peeked out, Lina watched as a tiny silver spoon stirred three sugars into a steaming cup on a silver tray without her having to ask.

But she didn’t want any more of the witches’ milky tea or any of their other treats. Too much rich, greasy, milky food was turning her stomach. What she was really craving was a piping hot bowl of rice porridge with ginger and chicken broth, the kind her grandmother made for her when she was sick, the kind she got at home.

She started to curl farther under the blanket, a crab burying itself in the sand. But she stilled at a faint patter of footsteps.

A shiver of anticipation chased up her spine. The same breathless feeling she got while waiting in the wings before a performance. Lina let a count of eight pass, as if listening for her cue. Another count. She pretended to sleep, gave a little snore, and then…

Something touched the blanket. She flung it back, heart thundering, searching for a flash of black braids, the hem of a dusky dress, a whisper of cold smoke.

She found no one—so far she’d only managed to catch Eva once.

But heaped on top of the daybed, on top of the heavy blanket, on top of her, was a pile of dresses. Silk, chiffon, taffeta. Slinky, scandalous slips in sea greens and stormy blues. A sugar-pink feather boa. Lacy fingerless gloves. And at the very bottom of the bed, a charmed pair of silver dancing shoes, glittering all over with diamonds.

The most perfect dancing shoes Lina had ever seen.

Her eyes widened.

She slipped off the bed, wincing as her joints cracked liked an old woman’s. She was so stiff—she hadn’t stretched or done any of her strength-building exercises.

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