The storm was fierce but brief, and the seasickness I'd avoided claimed me as we were tossed about in the cabin. When it ended, Yoko did not spare me from strength training, and after a few minutes, sweat soaked through my tunic. The discomfort was a welcome distraction from what had happened in the corridor.

"You're stronger than I expected," Yoko admitted, watching me fight through the final five pushups. "Still, room for improvement."

"What's with the backhanded compliments lately?" I huffed, dropping to my stomach and smacking my face against the floor when my noodle-like arms failed to move fast enough. I didn't move, keeping my nose smashed into the musty hardwood floor and sending up a prayer that the fall might knock some sense into me.

"Who else has been giving you backhanded compliments?" Astreia asked.

I struggled into a sitting position and looked at her. She sat on the bed and rubbed sweet smelling lotion over her legs and arms. Yoko paced around me, but she locked her attention on Astreia as her long, elegant fingers slid inside her top to massage the sun salve on the top of her breasts.

Instead of answering her question, I deflected, "The storm appears to be over."

Yoko put her hand on the outer wall and closed her eyes. After a heartbeat passed, she pulled away and nodded. "It's drizzling, but the skies will be clear tonight."

Astreia tossed me the sun salve. "Put that on your face. Your nose is pink."

"I think we should incorporate some magic into your training. Once we're off the ship," Yoko announced.

I squeezed the bottle too hard, and the lotion splattered on my palm in a white glob. "I don't think death magic is something you practice. It's kind of one and done."

"Yes, well," Yoko agreed, "This is true, but you can practice your ice and fire magic. Don't be mad at Astreia. I wouldn't quit pestering her about how you saved Tievel, and then she told me about the fire magic."

"You're one of those," I said, glowering at my friend. Her cheeks darkened and shimmered with her blush. "Some of the maids said some elves just can't stop talking in bed."

"Honey, everyone is that person with the right partner," Astreia replied with a gentle laugh.

"Look, Morana," Yoko said, smoothing her hands over her sleek hair and sighing. "I know you and I didn't have the friendliest beginning, but I want you to know you can trust me. I believe Astreia when she said you didn't take those powers on purpose. I won't tell the prince, and if we all make it out of this, I will do what it takes to ensure you are safe."

Her declaration was enough to bring tears to my eyes, and I turned my face to hide as I wiped my cheeks. Yoko knew what I was, and yet she chose me.

"Thank you," I said at last. "I trust you."

Astreia beamed as if seeing us bonding was a dream fulfilled. Perhaps it was. I understood how difficult it could be having the two most important people in your life constantly at odds.

She slid off the bed and took my hands. "It's time I told you what I know about the war."

"Do you think now is the time to talk about this?" Yoko demanded. She cracked the door and peered into the hall. "The walls are thick, but the ears beyond them hear exceptionally well."

"Would you prefer me to wait until the walls are thin? The ears will hear well regardless, and once we're off the boat, we may not have another chance."

"I would prefer not to talk about it at all," Yoko grumbled, pushing me over so she could sit beside me. At Astreia's haughty arched brow, she threw up her hands. "But it's important."

Satisfied, Astreia settled back and pressed a hand over her stomach to steady her nerves. The light in her skin and eyes dimmed. It would be so easy to offer her comfort because I recognized the pain in her eyes. It was the same pain I felt when I woke from nightmares of burning and blood. Whatever she had to say drew her into memories best left alone, but she was no coward. Not like me.

At last, she drew in a breath and said, "The official reason for my kingdom's destruction is that we attempted to dethrone the king, and while we did attack, it wasn't to take a throne. It was to stop him from breaking into the Other Realm."

It wasn't the first time Yoko had heard this story, but her reaction to Astreia's words was physical. Her shoulders rolled forward, and her teeth ground together. Shame and anger warred behind her sea glass eyes.

"But why?"

I knew little about the Other Realm besides that it was the place bridging life and death. Souls passed through to judgment and rebirth. At least, that's what books told me, and I'd already established they weren't reliable.

"Centuries ago, before the Light Blight, Edresh was a small kingdom." Astreia rubbed a beaded braid between her fingers, eyes becoming unfocused as she talked. "All the kingdoms were small, really, but they were peaceful. The Vesper was not the way it is now, so thick and difficult to cross. Elves traveled freely between lands, and many came to Estrellum and Araphel to worship in their sacred temples."

From their mother's breast, elves in Edresh were told that the lands beyond the forest were dark and dangerous and dedicated to death. She said this story was about the war, but it went beyond that. This was an alternate version of history.

"My great-grandmother often came to our temple to tend to Vyta's fire, and when she was there, she would speak to the pilgrims and pray blessings over them. One day, she encountered an Edreshian soldier. A low elf and an orphan. He told her he wished to make a name for himself."

Yoko snarled, "The fool."

"Perhaps..." Astreia propped her elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her knuckles. "When my mother told me the story, she said it was important not to judge the soldier for his desires. Desires are usually not bad. It's what we do to achieve them that changes us."

"And what did he do?" I asked.

"Do you remember the name of the second portal? The one of judgment?"

"Dycidium." The name tasted bitter on my tongue.

"The fire of Vyta is in my skin." She ran a hand down her arm, chasing the light until it sparked out of her fingertip. "And the fire of Dycidium is in another, but for her, it is not a gift. It is a curse. My mother called her Seraphina, but to everyone else, she was the Fyrbyrd. Cursed to die and be reborn in flames for eternity."

Breaths becoming shallow, I gripped my arm and urged my racing heart to calm. Her curse was my nightmare. "How is she connected to the soldier?"

"She was with my great-grandmother that day, and he fell instantly in love with her. When he professed his feelings, she laughed at him and told him none could touch her without being consumed by her flame, especially not a low elf."

"The women thought that was the end of it, but a few years later, he returned, only this time he was a king. The king of Edresh. She spurned him again, telling him his crown offered him no protection against her. So, he left, and when he returned, he was greatly changed. He was a High Elf. Seraphina recognized what he'd done. Somehow, he'd moved his soul into another's body."

"How?" I exclaimed, shivers racing down my spine.

She shrugged. "Mother would not tell me that. She said some things were meant to be left until I was older, but I know Seraphina sent for a Deathsinger to pull the king's soul from his body. While they waited, she told him he still did not possess the power to touch her. All he had done was damage his soul beyond repair. His chance of rebirth was gone. This would be his last life. Enraged by her words and her rejection, he unleashed a torrent of fire and burned the temple down."

Yoko patted my back as I pressed my palm against my forehead. "But this doesn't make sense. The war started a hundred years ago. Based on your timeline, all that happened centuries before that. Why did he wait so long?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. There's too much I don't know because I was only fourteen when I was taken from my family."

A tear slid down her cheek. She wrung her hands together and picked at invisible dust on her trousers. The boat rode an enormous wave, causing the room to tilt. The three of us braced ourselves against whatever we could reach to avoid being tossed about the room. When calm returned, she wiped her cheeks clean and spoke with renewed strength.

"The Other Realm isn't just the portal to life and death. It's the place between all worlds, and there is something in one of them that he wants. That's why Vyta and Dycidium no longer burn. Not because he extinguished their light, but because my mother and Seraphina did. To stop him from entering, but they must not have known the consequences."

"But he's dead now. Truly so, right? We can relight them and fix everything."

"I thought that too, but I think the Reaper was right. If Tievel was truly interested in making things right by lighting the portals, he could have done so at any time. Why so suddenly after his grandfather died, and who is to say the king didn't move his soul again? He's done it once. Could he do it again?"

Yoko jumped to her feet. "I think someone is coming."

"Shit," Astreia cursed. Grabbing me by the collar, she pulled me so that my ear was pressed against her lips. "If Tievel is helping his grandfather, there is a reason for it. There is a reason the king didn't come here himself."

"Astreia, enough," Yoko commanded.

I could barely hear the footsteps slowing outside our door over the pounding in my ears. She was wrong. Tievel just wanted to right the wrongs of his family's past.

"Help us stop him," Astreia said in a panicked rush. "If you Sing it will be over. Sing, tonight."

I glanced up at Yoko. She put a finger to her lips, then nodded. "They're gone. I think we're safe now."

My words exploded from my mouth in an angry hiss. "Sing for him, now? Do you know what you're asking me to do? You know why I won't—and you!"

Yoko blanched when I spun on her. Astreia recoiled as my hands waved in the air, and wisely she did not try to calm me. Knees went beneath my chin, and I clenched my eyes together, like some childish attempt to banish monsters in the dark by not looking. How could they ask this of me? Tievel's behavior earlier had been confusing, but I didn't love him any less. It wasn't as if this was the first time I had qualms with his less than savory behavior.

Of course, that was before what lie between you had solidified into something real. Something you thought was going somewhere.

I shook my head. No, I would not fool myself into believing a man would change for me. I didn't love him for the man I thought he could be. I loved him for who he was.

"Yoko, you are sworn to protect the Royal family and you would have me Sing for Tievel?"

She nodded solemnly. "Astreia told me what is happening to our world, and I don't believe Tievel means to stop it. Whatever he is up to will only make it worse."

"Then why are you helping him? Why have you traveled all this way and gone along with his plans?"

Astreia frowned at me. It was a frown that suggested I was a simpleton. "I don't possess the power to kill Tievel. He would kill Yoko, then drag me off somewhere to breed me. The only way to end this is to make him mortal, and let the Reaper kill him."

"Isn't it rather convenient that he's on the ship, too?" Yoko said dryly.

It didn't shock me they knew who Remiel was. It was more surprising Tievel didn't recognize him from the prisons, but it had been dark and his face covered. How unaware was Tievel really?

I skittered away from the thought as if it were poison. I could fully believe the king was behind this massive, messy plot, and if it were Brinley dragging us to the portals, I would trust nothing he said. The man loved only two things: himself and power, but Tievel had always hated how they made him out to be nothing more than the product of careful breeding.

Once, when we were barely into our thirteenth summer, we sneaked out of the palace and took a rowboat to one of the smaller eyots in the river. There were several in the river around the palace, many big enough to build on, though nothing on the scale of the palace. This one was far too small to do more than picnic on. It was forbidden to most children as it required crossing several rapids to reach, but Tievel was certain we could manage the trip.

And he was right. Using his magic and strength, we made it without incident to the shore, and we spent an afternoon stuffing ourselves on Cook's cakes and cookies, drinking Ciderberry juice until our lips turned purple, and splashing about in the water whenever we grew too hot. At the golden hour, we climbed upon a fallen log and stared across the river, watching the shimmering lights of the capital city blink on in the approaching dusk, the palace's shadow looming large over the people and buildings.

"I wish we could stay here forever," Tievel had whispered, his eyes wide and earnest as I stretched out beside him. "Then every day could be like this."

"But you're a prince and you'd be missed."

"I am a thing, Morana. Their creature.I want to be wild and imperfect and... free."

I had said nothing in response because I didn't understand. It would be many years before I understood, and by then, Tievel had become something entirely different from the carefree boy in the sun. Everything he did—every substance abused or body taken for pleasure—˘it was all so he could recapture what he felt that day on the island.

"Morana," Astreia said when I remained silent. "You already said you would Sing."

"I said I would Sing if you could bring me proof. This story is not proof. And you're the one who said you wanted me to Sing to restore the balance of nature, not to kill him."

"If you wait, the only proof we have will be the destruction of everything," she shouted, her irises turning to silver fire as her anger consumed her.

"And if I don't wait, I will be the one destroyed. I couldn't live with the guilt." Two murders were already more than my conscience could bear.

Yoko rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck before slamming her fist on the wall, making both Astreia and me jump."That's a childish answer if I ever heard one. You are quite possibly the most selfish creature I have ever met. Poor lovesick Morana. You think you are the only one who has ever faced a choice like this?"

Astreia put a hand on Yoko as if to calm her, but then the muscle in her jaw clenched.

"Yoko is right. Babies come into this world and never take a breath. Spirits linger and rot here, risking their chance at rebirth. What's more is there is a tear between our world and the others. People died in Friedesh. More will die as monsters sneak in and instability takes over our world. But you would put yourself above everyone else."

My heart broke. Cracked right down the middle as they said the truth I'd shoved to the darkest recesses of my mind. Even if Tievel didn't intend to do what Astreia said, I was being selfish by waiting until we reached the Harbor.

"I know you're both right, but..." I shoved a fist in my mouth to stop the sob that tore from my throat.

She squatted in front of me. "Can we not compromise? We don't even have to tell the Reaper. I'm just asking you to level the playing field. If Tievel is mortal, we at least have a chance of stopping him if he does go rogue."

"You promise? I could Sing, but we wouldn't have to tell anyone?"

Hope burned bright. What would be wrong with that? It would take nothing away from him...not really. After all, nothing was supposed to live forever.

"I promise, Morana."