Authors: Cat Hellisen

When the Sea is Rising Red (30 page)

BOOK: When the Sea is Rising Red

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There is scriv in abundance, the tented irthe orchards are thick with windle grubs spinning the most expensive silk, the theaters and music halls host the richest of talent. As the seat of the ruling House Mata, she is the fount of all our fashions and art, our science and magic. The Bone University houses keen minds, men and women of power. I could hire the best tutor for myself and there would be no word to stop me.

MallenIve is my chance at a clean slate. All my misdeeds will be washed away by her vast indifference. And the urge to leave behind all that I have done is greater than any obligation I might feel to stay and face my guilt.

Lils and Nala at least understood. Standing on the dock and watching us leave, they had the look of people who would run too if they were given the chance.

I’m lucky.

The night is spent rocking fitfully in this flat-bellied monster. All through the long darkness I lie awake, expecting that any moment we will sink under the weight of the cargo or be attacked by one of the nixes that still make their home in the muddy water, or that the summer’s torrential inland storms will spring unannounced from a cloudless sky and we will all be swept to our deaths.

Across from me, on his own narrow bunk, I can see the shadow of Jannik as he sleeps, the regular rise and fall of his chest. I shake free from my covers and pad softly over to his bed. He shifts as I lie down next to him, stretched out body length to body length, but his dreams do not release him. The bunk is not meant for two, and he is warm, almost feverish. Breath held, I put my cold hands to his cheeks, and he murmurs.

The language is soft and lilting, and while I don’t know what he’s saying, something in its cadence comforts me.

I close my eyes and sleep.

Dawn comes cold and clean and I leave before Jannik wakes. I sit at the head of the barge, next to a Hob wherryman, and we pass the rising of the sun in a quiet salutation. The Casabi stretches around us, wide and pinkish in the early sunlight. The summer rains will soon be here, and the river will be swelling, flooding her banks, and for a while all river trade will slow to nothing. The
Gray Moth
is the last barge to leave Pelimburg this season, and she is heavy laden with more than just House cargo.

She carries the promise of something greater.

Acknowledgments

No book grows in a vacuum, and many people have given me their help, insight, and encouragement. Without them, this book would be a shriveled thing, and they deserve all my thanks.

My fantastic agent, Suzie Townsend, for everything she’s done for me. Her enthusiasm for the project kept me going, and her incredible feedback helped shape the book it became.

The team at FSG, most especially Beth Potter, who performed works of magic, guiding me and helping me knit together a stronger, better book. My thanks also to Jay Colvin, who designed a fantastic cover, and to the copy editors and proofreaders, Alicia R. Hudnett, Chandra Wohleber, and Judy Kiviat, who did their best to make me look literate.

My army of beta readers: Bee Retief, Amy Ross, April Castillo, Sophie Wereley, Brianna Privett, Andrew Carmichael, Elissa Hoole, Gary Couzens, Nerine Dorman, and Glynnis Rambaud. You suffered more for my art than I did, and you should all get medals.

The Musers: a circle of friends better than any I could have ever asked for.

And there’s one last person who I can’t thank enough, but I shall have to try. Brian, this one’s for you.

First hardcover edition, 2012

eBook edition, February 2012

macteenbooks.com

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Hellisen, Cat.

When the sea is rising red / Cat Hellisen. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

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