Breakwater Read Free Page A

her.”
    “Yet, she tried to kill you, me, and did kill a number of our family. She killed my mother and Bram. So while you might not hate her, I do.” I strode past him to where my clothes were piled. There were flecks of sand over them and I shook out the leather vest and snug fitting cotton pants quickly before putting them back on.
    “She . . . is still in my head, Lark.” He spoke softly and I spun, startled.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Years, years of damage and manipulation. I cannot always tell what is a real memory and what is fabricated.” He wiped a hand over his face. “Be patient with me. I am trying to change things.” The mother goddess had said much the same. But it was hard. He was my father, the king, and I wanted him to be strong enough to just be . . . okay.
    The mother goddess’s words reverberated through me. The power of Spirit, like the ring Cassava had worn and used, destroyed not only those the power touched, but those who controlled it as well. Losing their ability to trust.
    Though I had the ability to use Spirit, the more I learned about it, the more I didn’t want anything to do with it.
    I didn’t want to become Cassava.
    “I will try to be patient, but then you have to trust me to see things you don’t,” I said.
    My father grunted. “Something in particular?”
    “You know Cassava won’t stop until she has your throne and those who stand in her way are dead. You said she is friendly with Fiametta. How do you know this isn’t Cassava pushing her friend to call me in to trial only to kill me?”
    “Fiametta wants your head, regardless. You broke into her home, Lark. You showed up all her Enders, and stole away using one of their Traveling armbands. You made her look like a fool and the other leaders know it.”
    With my fingers on the buckles of my vest, I tightened each one slowly. “So she wants to make herself look better?”
    He nodded. “In essence, yes.”
    “And Cassava? You do remember she tried to kill you, only a few weeks ago.” I wasn’t sure I could handle the thought of him not remembering. My whole life had been a mishmash of broken and stolen memories. I didn’t want that for my father, and now that Cassava was gone, he could maybe finally have his mind back.
    At the sound of footsteps, I knew our conversation would shift. Around others, my father treated me like the bastard child I was; like I was less than everyone else. Alone together, as rare as it was, was the only time I saw the father I remembered from my childhood. The one who loved me despite my bastard status.
    He arched an eyebrow and stood a little straighter. “You make it sound like you are important enough to be bothered with. You forget that while you may have saved our family from the old queen, that was a fluke. Don’t ever forget your place, Larkspur. You are an Ender now. You are replaceable.” He turned and strode up the shoreline, a flick of his hand indicating that I should follow him.
    Replaceable.
    The funny thing was I wasn’t more than a few steps up from useless. A smile flickered over my lips until I saw who was waiting for father at the far side of the hot springs. Long dark brown hair so like her mother’s cascaded over her shoulders all the way to the backs of her knees. Her gray eyes glanced over at me and she arched an eyebrow. No words were needed. We didn’t like each other. She was too much like her mother.
    And I was too much like mine.
    She slipped her hand into Father’s and he gave her a gentle smile. The oldest of my siblings was also the best at making it look like she was an obedient child despite the truth of her wild ways.
    I whispered her name as if in doing so I could make her disappear.
    “Belladonna.”
     
     

CHAPTER 2

 
     
    managed to get to the kitchens in the Spiral without being seen. I don’t know how long I’d been in the mother goddess’s embrace, but I’d been without food and water and my reserves were stretched thin enough that I