Read Online City in Ruins by R.K. Ryals - Free Book Online Page A

you idiot,” another seagull exclaimed.
    At my feet, Oran snorted. “Damned
gulls.”
    Smiling, I lifted my face toward the sky,
pulling back the hood of the brown cloak I’d used to protect my
face in the desert so that the wind could tug at my hair, its cool
fingers running over my scalp. There was something about the sea.
Like the forest, it spoke to me. Not in the same language as the
trees, but it spoke. It hummed, its song sinking into my bones, the
smell of salt on the air leaving my tongue wanting more.
    Our group practically ran down the winding
roads to the beach below, throwing off caution and custom by
tearing off desert-tainted clothes to rinse in the sea. I’d been
modest once, but that had changed. I bathed with the rest of them,
my cracked lips stinging when the salty spray hit the desert-dried
skin. I couldn’t swim so I remained close to the shore, the waves
intimidating me. The ocean was full of power and mystery. It
reminded me of Cadeyrn.
    Men and women laughed as they jumped the waves,
their glee carried away by the breeze. My eyes found the horizon,
my gaze landing on a ship anchored just off the coast. It was a
large ship with three masts.
    Beside me in the shallow surf, Oran groaned,
his gaze following mine.
    “It’s a beautiful ship,” I said on a
laugh.
    The water that swirled around my knees was dark
and full of frothy bubbles from the waves. The sky around us was
grey, the sun hiding behind mist and clouds.
    “It’s not beautiful, Stone,” Maeve groused.
“It’s not the least bit beautiful.”
    Daegan threw her an amused grin. “Already green
around the gills and she ain’t even aboard it.”
    Maeve splashed him, and he chased her into the
waves being careful to stay to the shallows. Lochlen had long since
disappeared into the sea, leaving us at the first sight of
water.
    Reenah approached me, offering me a bar of lye
soap before wading deeper into the surf, her confidence in water
awe-inspiring. Most of the Sadeemians were comfortable with the
sea, as if they were born knowing how to swim. Even Catriona of
Henderonia glowed as she stood on the edge of the waves, Gryphon
beside her.
    “She’s called the Beatrice ,” Prince
Cadeyrn’s voice said suddenly from behind me. Glancing over my
shoulder, I found him staring at the ship, his silent approach
having startled me. He stood, his hands clasped behind his back,
his chin toward the sea.
    “After your wife?” I asked.
    The question was simply an invitation to tell
me more. I knew Beatrice was his deceased spouse.
    His gaze fell to mine. “She’s a sturdy ship,”
he answered.
    I could have spoken then. I could have agreed
with him or told him how magnificent the vessel was, but the
silence spoke more than words ever could. I’d come a long way from
the lost ambassador’s daughter who’d watched her nurse burn in the
Medeisian woods. I’d learned about life in a tragic way. Silence
was a companion of the wise.
    “This will be a different kind of war, Aean
Brirg,” Cadeyrn said suddenly. “We aren’t going to New Hope to
fight. We’re going there to stop a war, everything we say and do
will be under scrutiny. Your gods may not pose a serious issue
here, but in New Hope they won’t be allowed. Save your fight for
when you return to the forests, when you’ll be face to face with
Arien. Save your fight for your uprising against my
brother.”
    “We seek only tolerance,” I said, speaking of
Arien.
    “You won’t find that in New Hope.” Caedyrn’s
hand found my shoulder. “Use your head, Aean Brirg.” He leaned
close. “The queen is always the most important piece.”
    As quickly as he’d approached me, he left,
leaving behind a gaping hole in my heart. I cared about the prince
way more than I should.
    Love was a complicated emotion. The fire was
lit in the heart, sending sparks of warmth through the veins and
down into the body. Love didn’t need to be told to care. It just
cared. Love didn’t have to be