Fable

He looked at me with a hundred stories lit behind his eyes.

Like a weary bird flying out over the most desolate sea, I finally had a place to land.

Isolde was the wind and sea and sky of Saint's world. She was the pattern of stars that he navigated by, the sum of all directions on his compass. And he was lost without her.

I have thought about you every single day since that day. Maybe every hour. I've counted days to go back to the island, and I pushed us into storms I shouldn't have because I didn't want to not be there when you woke up. I didn't want you to wait for me. Ever. Or to think I wasn't coming back." He paused. "I struck the deal with Saint because I wanted the ship, but I kept it because of you. When you got off the Marigold in Ceros and I didn't know if I would ever see you again, I thought . . . I felt like I couldn't breathe.

My mother had loved Saint with a love that could set fire to the sea

The only safety that existed was in being completely alone.

Home was a ship that was at the bottom of the sea, where my mother's bones lay sleeping.

I loved her with a love that broke me.

Like light cast over the morning water, it became new. Every moment that lay ahead, like an uncharted sea. this was a new beginning.

What he was saying-the things he told me-was his way of showing me he trusted me. It was also his way of giving me the match. If I wanted to, I could burn him down. But if we were going to do this, I would have to be his safe harbor and he would have to be mine.

you weren't made for this world, Fable.

I'd crossed the Narrows for a man who's probably never even loved me. For a dream that would never come true.

Because that kiss broke open some dark night sky within me filled with stars and moons and flaming comets. That darkness was replaced by the blazing fire of the sun racing under my skin.

What I want is not to die alone," she said, her voice suddenly small. "I didn't really choose this life. It's just the only one I have...

I underestimated my ability to be on this ship with you and not touch you.

You want something in this life?" She came to stand over me. "You take it, Fable.

She was the sun and the sea and the moon in one. She was the north star that pulled us to the shore.

The Lark. the place my mother's story ended. Any in many ways, the place where mine began.

She was the pattern of stars that he navigated by, the sum of all directions on his compass. And he was lost without her.

We both know that surviving means sometimes doing things that haunt you.

Nothing was what it seemed. Every truth was twisted. Every lie carefully constructed.

That was one of Saint's rules. Nothing is free. He wasn't just talking about food or passage or the clothes on your back. He was talking about respect. Safety. Protection. They were things no one owed. And one way or another, you always paid.

Over the stern, I could see the clouds rolling over the sea towards us. Hungry. I closed my eyes and drew the humid air into my chest. I'd spent my childhood in the face of storms just like her, many of them angrier than this one. It was the reason only the most daring traders sailed the Narrows. And even though I could feel her power in every bone, every muscle, there was something deep inside of me that opened its eyes from sleep when I felt it. It was terrifying, but familiar. As beautiful as it was deadly.

I didn't belong on the land or on the docks or the cities that lay across the Narrows, The place I belonged was gone

A look like thunder after a lightning strike lit on his face. Fear wound around every inch of his body and squeezed, and the feel of his hands on me sent a chill up my spine. There was something knowing in the way he looked at me. Something pulled at the knots in the net of lies we'd both told.

My father had always told me that seabirds were the souls of lost traders. To turn them away or not give them a place to land or nest was bad luck.

Don't draw attention to yourself. It's better to be no one than to be someone in this city.

I can’t decide if I like you or if I think you’re stupid.” She laughed.

Night fell over the sea, painting the Marigold black except for the white sails stretched against the dark, clouded sky. The stars and moon hid, giving no sign of where the sea ended and the sky began, and I liked the feeling. Like we were floating in the air. The west wind was warm, finding its way onto the ship before it ran back to the wake on the water behind us.