Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people.
Cyras currentgift gives her pain and power something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies.
Akos is from the peace-loving nation of Thuve, and his loyalty to his family is limitless.
Credit: Reinaldo Coddou
When Akos is thrust into Cyras world, the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable.
They must decide to help each other to survive or to destroy one another.
Read an excerpt below.
I was several seasons older, fast approaching adulthood.
Maybe even Shotet dominance.
And Vas dragged them across the Divide kicking and screaming, to hear the others tell of it.
I knew the men Vas traveled with.
It was good to know such things about people.
The candy lover, then.
I raised my eyebrows.
Kalmev Radix, one of my brothers trusted elite, had been killed by a Thuvhesit boy?
That was not an honorable death.
Why were the brothers taken?
Otega waggled her eyebrows.
Or so the story goes.
And since their fates are, evidently, unknown by all but Ryzek, it is quite the story.
Ryzek had cut the news feed within moments of the Assembly Leader coming on screen.
I had to make an exception.
Dangling from the distant ceiling was an elaborate chandelier made of glass globes and twisted metal.
Tiny fenzu insects fluttered inside it, casting an eerie, shifting light over the room.
My parents had hosted parties in here, but Ryzek used it only for people he meant to intimidate.
I saw Vas, my brothers steward, before anyone else.
The long side of his hair was greasy and limp, the shaved side red with razor burn.
Beside him shuffled a boy, much smaller than I was, his skin a patchwork of bruises.
He was narrow through the shoulders, spare and short.
He was taller and broader than the first Kereseth, but cowering, so he almost appeared smaller.
These were the Kereseth brothers, the fate-favored children of their generation.
Not an impressive sight.
In the bluish light, his skin was so pale he looked almost like a corpse.
He smiled when he saw his Thuvhesit captives, his teeth showing.
He leaned back, balancing on his elbows, and cocked his head.
My, my, he said.
Thisis the one Ive heard so many stories about?
Ryzek nodded to the bruised Kereseth boy.
He spoke Thuvhesit crisply.
The Thuvhesit boy who earned a mark before we even got him on a ship?
I squinted at the bruised ones arm.
A kill mark, unfinished.
A very new one, belonging, if the rumors were true, to Kalmev Radix.
This was Akos, then, and the snuffling one was Eijeh.
Akos Kereseth, the third child of the family Kereseth.
Ryzek stood, spinning his knife on his palm, and walked down the steps.
He dwarfed even Vas.
I was tall, too, but that was where my physical similarities with my brother ended.
The boyAkoslifted his eyes to Ryzeks.
I had first seen the name Akos in a Shotet history book.
So this Thuvhesit boy had a Shotet name.
Had his parents simply forgotten its origins?
Or did they want to honor some long-forgotten Shotet blood?
Why are we here?
Akos said hoarsely, in Shotet.
Ryzek only smiled further.
I see the rumors are trueyoucanspeak the revelatory tongue.
I wonder how you came by your Shotet blood?
He prodded the corner of Akoss eye, at the bruise there, making him wince.
You received quite a punishment for your murder of one of my soldiers, I see.
I take it your rib cage is suffering damage.
Ryzek flinched a little as he spoke.
Only someone who had known him as long as I had could have seen it, I was certain.
Almost had to carry him here, Vas said.
Definitely had to carry him onto the ship.
Akos had been tense since I laid eyes on him.
His fingers were curled, but not into fists.
Passively, like he was sleeping.
I guess he hadnt known his fate.
That isnt true, Akos said, like he was waiting for Ryzek to soothe away the fear.
I pressed a sharp pain from my stomach with a palm.
Oh, I assure you that it is.
Would you like me to read from the transcript of the announcement?
The third child of the family Kereseth, Ryzek read, in Othyrian.
I wondered if Akos, shuddering at each syllable, felt the same.
Will die in service to the family Noavek.
Ryzek let the paper drop to the floor.
Akos grabbed it so roughly it almost tore.
He stayed crouched as he read the wordsagain and againas if rereading them would change them.
As if his death, and his service to our family, were not preordained.
It wont happen, Akos said, harder this time, as he stood.
He bent close to Akoss face.
Akoss fingers tore holes in the paper, though he was otherwise still.
I know what people look like when they want to die.
Ive brought many of them to that point myself.
And you are still very much desperate to survive.
Akos took a breath, and his eyes found my brothers with new steadiness.
My brother has nothing to do with you.
You have no claim to him.
Let him go, and I .
I wont give you any trouble.
We did not, as you have assumed, cross the Divide just to speed along your fate.
Your brother is not collateral damage;youare.
We went in search of him.
Youdidnt cross the Divide, Akos snapped.
You just sat here and let your lackeys do it all for you.
Ryzek turned and climbed to the top of the platform.
He selected a large, thick knife with a sturdy handle, like a meat cleaver.
Your brother has a particular destiny, Ryzek said, looking the knife over.
I assume, since you did not know your own fate, that you dont know his, either?
Ryzek grinned the way he always did when he knew something other people didnt.
To see the future of the galaxy, Ryzek quoted, in Shotet this time.
In other words, to be this planets next oracle.
Likely because it was nearly impossible to catch someone who knew you were coming.
I sat forward again to hear Eijeh speak, his curly head tipped forward.
Akos, what is he saying?
Eijeh asked in slippery Thuvhesit, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.
Hes saying they didnt come to Thuvhe for me, Akos said, without looking back.
It was strange to hear someone speak two languages so perfectly, without an accent.
I envied him the ability.
They came for you.
Eijehs eyes were pale green.
An unusual color, like iridescent insect wings, or the currentstream after the Deadening time.
Against his light brown skin, so like the milky earth of the planet Zold, they almost glowed.
You will see the future, in all its many, many varieties.
And there is one variety in particular that I wish to know about.
I stifled a groan.
He needed an oracle if he wanted to avoid that failure.
And now he had one.
So why was the pain of my currentgiftever-presentmounting by the second?
Eijeh was watching the knife in Ryzeks hand.
Im not an oracle, Ive never had a vision, I cant .
I pressed against my stomach again.
Ryzek balanced the knife on his palm and flicked it to turn it.
Ryzek watched his knife turn as he moved toward Eijeh.
Then you must learn to see the future quickly, Ryzek said.
He nodded to Vas, who forced Eijeh to his knees.
I cant Eijeh said.
He wasnt big enough to topple Ryzek, but he had caught him off guard, and Ryzek stumbled.
Akos pulled his elbow back to punchstupid, I thought to myselfbut Ryzek was too fast.
He kicked up from the ground, hitting Akos in the stomach, then stood.
It was one of Ryzeks preferred places for cutting people.
When he decided to give a person a scar, he wanted it to be visible.
just, Eijeh said.
I do not know this Thuvhesit word, yo, Ryzek said.
Later that night I heard a scream echoing in the quiet hallways of Noavek manor.
I dreamt of it for a long time thereafter.
