The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman

Author:Amie Kaufman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2023-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

LEANDER

The Docks

Port Naranda, Mellacea

We spot the towers of Port Naranda as the second evening falls, outlined against the sunset like jagged teeth. We’re salt-crusted, sunburned, aching, and exhausted. But we’ve made it.

“There she is,” Selly breathes from her place at the helm. She’s gazing at the coastline with her lips parted, perfectly still, as if she can’t quite believe it.

I didn’t realize, until this moment, how unlikely she thought it was that we’d make it here at all. Now, as I study her in the dying light, my gut twists with that realization.

“You did it, Selly,” I murmur.

“Not yet I didn’t,” she corrects me straightaway, and I duck my head to hide my smile. Nobody treats me like she does. It’s great.

“What’ll we do when we land?” she asks. She’s been businesslike since the disaster with her magic, and I recognize survival when I see it. She doesn’t want to think about it, can’t let herself, and I understand that. For now, at least. I can’t let the mystery of her magic go, but I can pick my time.

“It’s getting late,” Keegan says, frowning up at the setting sun.

“Straight to the embassy?” Selly suggests. “The word ship to ship has been that the mood’s getting uglier in Port Naranda. And if they don’t like your average Alinorish sailor, they’re not going to love you, Leander.”

“Impossible to believe.”

“Is it, though?”

“It seems to me we have two choices.” Keegan interrupts our squabbling in that thoughtful tone that makes me extra sorry he’s not tucked away safely at the Bibliotek, where he really does belong.

“And what are those?”

“We can go about this slowly and meticulously. Make every move in a carefully considered fashion, minimize every risk. It will be safer, but take much longer—and the longer we take, the more we risk opening ourselves up to other, unforeseen dangers. Alternatively, we can move swiftly and decisively, and hope that by the time we attract attention, we will have found safety.”

I bite my lip, trying to work my way through the possibilities. Someone else has always made these decisions for me. Now the consequences that loom if we get this wrong…

“We don’t have time to go slow,” Selly says. “I’d prefer it, but we’re on a clock—someone’s going to see the smoke from the progress fleet, probably already has. And they’ll go to look for survivors, and they’ll figure out which ships they are. And no doubt they’ll blame Mellacea. If we want to avoid word getting out that the prince is dead, we have to get to the embassy straightaway.”

“First thing in the morning is probably as early as we can manage,” I reply.

“The embassy closes?” Selly asks, her brows shooting up. “What if there’s some kind of international emergency? Like, you know, a war starting?”

“Then somebody wakes up the ambassador at her residence, I suppose. But her residence will be under surveillance, always. There’s going quickly, and then there’s marching straight into trouble,” I say. “We’re ragged and sunburned. Some lackey might decide not to let us in, might not pass along my code words to her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.