Tide by Lacy Sheridan

Author:Lacy Sheridan [Sheridan, Lacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-06T06:00:00+00:00

I’d never seen Moray anxious before. Even in the vodianoi village, even when Aven had been poisoned, the sprite had maintained an enviable level of calm and confidence. Always knowing what needed to be done. Now it moved back and forth around me, as if it had too much nervous energy. At times, I could only keep track of it by the bit of glistening mist in its wake.

“You’re not helping my nerves, Moray,” I said.

It stopped and spun to face me. “Aven is preparing to face the Queen after being caught by humans, losing his skin, and then bringing a human into the Eyes with him, and you’re worried about your nerves?”

“I am the aforementioned human. I have a much higher chance of being executed before the end of the day than Aven does.”

Not that I wasn’t terrified of what could be happening to Aven right now. He’d left me in one room, of a maze of reception and meeting rooms, with Moray to ‘guard’ me until I was to join him. It was the first time I’d been away from him since arriving in the Eyes, and my heart pounded faster with every minute that passed without a sign of him. If things went wrong here he’d be punished, and, after what he’d said about Marassa, I knew it’d be harsh. But at least she wouldn’t kill him.

I drummed my fingers on the mirror-smooth wooden tabletop before me, ragged nails tapping out a jittery rhythm. I didn’t know when somebody would show up, or whether it’d be Aven or a guard or someone else, and I didn’t know what would happen when they did. I didn’t know anything, and I hated it.

“What’s taking so long?” I asked after another unbearable minute of silence.

Moray sighed. “It’s the talk of nobles. They can take two minutes or a year to get through a conversation.”

“So you have no idea when they’ll be done?”

“No.”

More silence. I raked my brain for something to break it, anything to keep my mind off everything. “Moray?” It made a distracted hum of acknowledgement, darting around the room in what must have been the sprite equivalent of pacing. “Aven gave you a ribbon before. Last night. Why?”

“Why does it matter?”

“I’m curious.”

It paused to look me over. Maybe it understood why I was really asking, because after a moment it answered with a forced lightness. “I like to collect things. Pretty things. No different than those who collect jewels or art, though we don’t care as much for their value.”

“Why do you collect them?”

“During the summer, sprites who wander find their way to the shore and build themselves homes out of the most beautiful little trinkets they can find. It’s the one time we stay together. We call it the sunrise season—when all sprites are born, and we watch them climb from the waves for the first time. I suppose I like to pretend I haven’t missed it.”

I traced the wood with one finger as I listened, and the note of longing that crept into Moray’s voice struck through me.

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