“You’ve played a dangerous game very well,” she told him.
“If I’d played it better, others might not have paid such a heavy price,” he replied.
“Maybe the next round won’t be so bloody.”
“I will do everything in my power to make sure that’s the case.”
“And you know there’s at least one body that’s not on your conscience—Alette.”
He nodded. “Liramelli finally told me the truth about her disappearance. You saved her from Lorian, perhaps, but I don’t know that she survived even so.”
“We aren’t sure yet. But she’ll let us know when she’s safe. I have to believe that.”
He held his hand out in a gesture of respect and farewell. “She was lucky to have you playing the game at her side,” he said. “I would hope for such a good partner the next time my own stakes are so high.”
And that was as high a compliment as anyone had ever paid her.
Alette’s name also came up during Corene’s farewell to Filomara. “I suppose I should apologize for spiriting Alette away like that, and then accusing you of letting her be killed,” Corene said. “So—I’m sorry.”
Filomara accepted that with a nod. Corene thought the empress looked old and exhausted, haggard with grief and disasters. “Thank you for that, at least,” she said.
“I hope her disappearance doesn’t cause trouble between you and Dhonsho,” Corene said, “once her father discovers she is missing.”
Filomara permitted herself a wintry smile. “I shall tell him that she took the opportunity to sail away with Melissande,” she said. “Let him take on the Coziquela armies if he is bent on vengeance.”
Corene couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. She should have known Filomara would find a way to wrest at least a small, bitter victory out of this near total defeat. “That sounds like an excellent plan,” she approved.
“So you are leaving in the morning.”
“Yes—unlike Alette, I really am sailing with Melissande to Cozique.”
It was hard to tell if Filomara meant it when she said, “We hope you will visit us again someday.”
But Corene was sincere when she replied, “I will. I have many friends here. And I think I will spend many of my future days traveling.”
Filomara gave her a heavy look. “That’s a hard, unsettled life. Never making a permanent home.”
Corene laughed. “I think it will suit me. But I guess I’ll find out.”
• • •
She said much the same thing to Foley the next morning as they stood at the railing on the Coziquela ship and waved goodbye to Palminera. Half the city had turned out to see them off, or so it seemed. Maybe they were just taking the chance to wish good riddance to the Coziquela ships, which had clogged their harbor for the past few days; maybe they were just on the docks welcoming normalcy back into their lives.
“I suppose it depends on how long we stay in Cozique,” Corene said. “But I’m thinking we might want to visit Berringey next.”
He glanced down at her. “But you’ll want to return to Welce from time to time, won’t you?”
“Oh, of course! I imagine I will learn things I will want to tell my father in person—not entrusting them to a letter—and I’m sure there are instructions he will want to give me before I set sail for the next country.” She laughed and added, “And, of course, we’ll want to go back now and then to remind everyone that they miss us.”
He grinned, but his voice was serious. “Your whole family will be proud of you. I’m sure they already are.”
She tugged on her necklace and pulled the charms out into the light. “I want to live up to my blessings,” she said.
“You’ve certainly proved you have courage.”
“And ever since we decided to go to Cozique, I’ve felt a great sense of clarity. This is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
“Now all that’s left is change,” he said. “And that’s what travel will bring you.”
She smiled up at him. “Not too much change. Some things will need to stay the same.”
He put a hand to his heart. “Forever loyal,” he said. “I always live up to my blessings.”
She took his hand in hers then gazed back out over the railing. Palminera was receding slowly but unmistakably; soon it would be nothing more than a collection of shapes and colors bleaching out under the high bright sun. She couldn’t even make out the twin landmarks—the tower of red, the tower of white—that illuminated the city with their own very different definitions of light.
I’m a sweela girl who is learning to control her own fire, Corene thought. She’d been running away from her life the last time she’d boarded a ship, looking for a place to belong. Now she was running toward it.
Who knew what the next port might bring? She lifted her free hand and waved at Palminera, half in farewell and half in thanks. They would be in Cozique in less than a nineday. She could hardly wait.
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