“Yeah,” I said. “We gotta go find the sons of whores who stole ’em, but Marjani doesn’t want to leave Jokja.”
Papa squinted. “Well. That is a conundrum.”
“You ought to just take her boat,” Mama said.
“I ain’t no mutineer.”
They both laughed at that.
“It ain’t funny!” I said.
“Well, she promised you starstones and then didn’t deliver,” Mama said. “I think that’s reason enough to take her boat.”
I could feel myself getting hot with anger, and I balled my hand up into a fist and thought about hitting somebody. The truth was my distaste with mutiny had nothing to do with it. I owed Marjani my loyalty for the rest of my life. After all, she came back to the Isles of the Sky for me.
Papa drained the last of the sugar-wine.
“Or we could stop screwing around with you,” he said.
“What?” The anger flared up. Maybe it was mine, maybe it was Naji’s. The blood-connection made my emotions confusing.
Papa chuckled and stood up. “Come down to the holding bay, I’ll show you.”
Mama smiled at me through the cloud of smoke.
And I got this thought in my head, like maybe they’d aligned themselves with the Hariris after all, and this was all a trap.
“Naji, come with me.”
“Of course.” When I stood up, he stood up. Mama shook her head.
“Never seen a pirate with a bodyguard,” she said. “Thought I taught you to do your own fighting.”
“He ain’t my bodyguard!”
“Enough.” Papa’s voice boomed out in full-on captain’s mode. “Sela, I know you’re still sore about the marriage, but it’s over with now. Ananna.” He turned to me. “I ain’t gonna hurt you. Blood ties are stronger than any Confederation law.”
Mama huffed in the corner.
“I’m just a daughter,” I said.
“You’re my daughter, sure. Ain’t no just about it.”
I looked at him, unsure of what to say.
He clapped me on the back. “I’ll let you follow, if it’ll make you and your assassin feel better. Sela! Up here.”
“Don’t boss me,” she said, but she joined him, and together we wound through the belly of the Tanarau to the holding bay. Some idiot part of me wanted to press close to Naji, but instead I clutched the hilt of my sword and kept my eyes out for an attack.
When we got to the holding bay, Papa undid the lock and kicked the door open. “Have a look,” he said.
I could smell Empire spices and the faint briny seaweed scent of the charm Mama used to stop bugs from eating holes in the silks. It reminded me of sleeping down here, pretending I was a child of the desert and not the water.
I stepped inside.
“What am I looking for?” I asked, folding my hands over my chest. “It’s just treas–”
Naji’s sword clattered to the floorboards.
“Ah,” Papa said. “He knows.”
“The starstones,” Naji said.
I felt like all the air’d been let out of me. Naji rushed forward, pushing me aside. He knelt down in front of a pile of Jokja cotton – and a trio of smooth white pebbles. I hadn’t paid them any mind. I figured they were there to keep the cotton from sliding around. I was more concerned with the box sitting beside them, carved and jeweled in the Jokja style.
Naji reached out one hand. Stopped. He was trembling.
“I wouldn’t touch ’em,” Mama said.
“I know that.” It came out in a hiss. I knelt beside him. The stones didn’t look like nothing special. Just river rocks that’d been worn smooth by the water.
“You sure this is them?” I asked.
Mama snorted. “You shoulda seen ’em when Kel took ’em out of their box. Lit up all of down below, they did.” There was something in her voice that sounded sad, and I knew Kel, whoever he was, was gone. I wondered if Mama and Papa had known what the starstones were when they brought them aboard.
“Can’t you feel it?” Naji’s eyes glowed. “The magic in them?”
“No.”
Naji grabbed my hand and squeezed it between both of his palms. I jolted at his touch, and at first I thought it was just me being moony – but then I realized it was something else, some power coursing through him, seeping out of his skin. Not his blood magic, which was like death curling her cold soft hands around your heart. This was ancient. This was the towering trees growing out of the cold damp ground of the ice-islands. This was the darkness of caves and the richness of desert sand. This was the emptiness of the night sky.
“They aren’t actually weapons, you know.” Naji said, his voice soft. “People want them to be, because of their strength…” His hands trembled against mine.
“They’re the source of all magic,” Naji went on, so soft I was pretty sure only I could hear him.
“What?” I stared at him. Behind us, Mama took a few steps closer, leaning in like she wanted to hear.
“You felt it,” Naji said, looking over his shoulder at her. “The power. When your crewman died–”
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
Naji actually shut up. I guess Mama’s sharp voice can even scare a Jadorr’a. Or maybe it wasn’t Mama he was scared of.
“What’s going to happen to you?” I said. “When you hold them?”
He looked at me. “You already know.”
I shook my head. “It ain’t right. I mean, think about what happened when I… you thought the other thing was impossible, and it wasn’t at all.”
Naji’s eyes loomed dark and empty. Then he turned back to the starstones. I didn’t let that stop me.
“There’s gotta be something about you,” I said. “Cause you’re Jadorr’a, cause you can’t die, it’s in all the stories.” I knew I was babbling; I knew Mama and Papa were giving each other looks over in the corner. “None of the tasks are impossible, that’s the thing. You only think they are. It’s like how I thought it was impossible for me to do magic and then I did, and I saved your life on the river, and–”
He lifted his head. The glow in his eyes illuminated the tears streaked across his cheekbones.
“Naji?” I whispered, cause all other words had left me.
“I hope you’re right,” he said, and then he reached out with his bare hands and scooped up the stones.
Magic flared around us, bright white and stinging like the edge of a flame. Naji screamed. The stones filled with light. For a dazed second, I thought that Jeric yi Niru was right, that they really did look like the stars plucked out of the sky.
And then I heard Papa shout, and I was aware of him and Mama both drawing their pistols, and Mama saying something like not again. And Naji stared at me with hollowed eyes and a gaping mouth, the stones growing brighter and brighter. I realized I could see the outline of his bones beneath his skin.
“Drop them!” I screamed. “You’ve done it! Skin against stone! Drop them!”
The faint presence of Naji’s thoughts evaporated out of my head, leaving me empty and alone.
The stones clattered against the floor.
And then so did Naji.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I bounded on board the Nadir, screaming Marjani’s name. Tears streamed down my face. I couldn’t stop shaking.
“What is it?” She appeared at my side, one hand holding her gun, the other wrapped around my shoulder. “Where’s Naji? Dammit! I knew we shouldn’t have surrendered–”
“No!” I shouted, before she could call up the crew to arms again. “It wasn’t… Where’s Jeric yi Niru?”
Marjani blinked at me.
“Where’s Naji?” she asked again.
“He held the stones,” I said. More tears welled up behind my eyes. “He held the stones and now he’s… now he’s–”
“The stones?” Marjani shook her head. “Ananna, what are you talking about?”
“The starstones!” I shouted. “My parents had the starstones!”
“What?” Marjani stared at me. “And he… Oh, Ananna…is he…” She swallowed. “Is he dead?”