Chapters (51)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Also by Adrienne Young
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
I slipped the mallet back into my belt and pushed off the ledge, kicking toward the light. The reef, and the dredgers on it, grew small beneath me until I broke the surface with a ragged gasp, my vision washed white in the glare of the sun. It hung in the middle of the sky above me, but I couldn’t feel its warmth as I drank in the humid air. My skin was ice cold, the blood moving slowly in my veins.
Clove’s face appeared over the railing of the Luna, and as soon as he laid eyes on me, he vanished again. I squinted, thinking that maybe I had imagined him there. The light was too bright, pulling in glaring beams that splintered and glowed, making my head hurt.
It had been a long night, dredging in the moonlight until it was too dark to see the reef. I’d gotten only an hour or two of sleep before the bell on the deck was ringing again, and I was back in the water by the time the sun appeared on the horizon.
I hooked one arm into the lowest rung of the rope ladder and untied the purse from my belt with a shaking hand. As soon as it landed in the basket hanging against the hull, the Waterside stray above was hoisting it up for Clove’s count.
I stayed there and breathed, willing the feeling to come back into my weak arms. I needed to get my body warm if I was going to keep diving, but the piece of bloodstone I was working on in the reef was almost loose. Three more strikes and I’d have it free.
A splash sounded behind me, and I looked back to see Ryland surface, the sound of his broad chest taking in the air like the howl of wind. He panted, pulling it in and out until it was steady, his face turned up to the sun.
I watched him swim to the ship and set his purse into the next basket. It instantly lifted, dripping as it rose. When the deckhand at the railing fished the haul from inside, he tossed it into the air and caught it again, feeling its weight. “Little light there, Ryland,” he said, laughing.
Ryland gave the boy a tight smile, the red beneath his skin blooming. It was one thing to know other dredgers were better than you. It was another for your crew to know it. I wondered if Ryland’s place on the Luna was becoming just as precarious as mine was.
His burning gaze found me, and I turned away, calling up to the ship. “I need a line!” My voice was hoarse from the burn of salt.