Titus’s hand came to rest on Iolanthe’s. He was afraid—his fear pulsed inside her blood. But as she looked upon his profile, she was reminded of the day they met, that fateful conversation by the Thames River. She had thought him impossibly brave then, as if he had been born under the wings of the Angels—now she knew it to be so.
“I’m with you,” she said softly. “Always.”
His hand tightened on hers and he said to the Bane and all his minions, “So be it.”
But he was not done yet. With his voice still audible for miles, he added, “Fortune favors the brave.”
Another moment of utter silence. And then, Iolanthe found herself shouting at the top of her lungs, her voice nearly drowned by the bellow of all the rebels present, “And the brave make their own fortune!”
The rallying cry of the January Uprising, taken up again after all these years.
Tears fell unchecked down Iolanthe’s cheeks. She pulled Titus to her and kissed him hard.
“Forgive me,” he said, between kisses, “for being so wrong about everything this Half.”
“There is nothing to forgive. And you weren’t wrong about my not being the Chosen One, since there is no Chosen One.”
“Still, when I think how close I came to losing you—”
“But you didn’t. I’m here—and I love you. I have always loved you.”
He kissed her again. “And I will love you until the end of the world.”
With a roar a wyvern spewed a stream of fire. A hundred more wyverns followed suit. Instantly the air turned hot and acrid. The wyverns swooped down upon the rebels, raining fire.
Iolanthe raised the wand that had once belonged to Titus the Great and summoned lightning, a white hot flash that lit up the sky.
The war against Atlantis had begun at last.
Notes
[TK; allow 16 pages]
Acknowledgments
[TK; please allow 2 pages]
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About the Author
SHERRY THOMAS is the author of The Burning Sky, the first book in the Elemental Trilogy. Sherry immigrated to the United States from China when she was thirteen and taught herself English in part by devouring science fiction and romance novels. She is the author of several acclaimed novels in that genre and is the recipient of two RITA Awards. Sherry lives with her family in Austin, Texas. You can visit her online at www.sherrythomas.com.
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Also by Sherry Thomas
The Burning Sky
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Copyright
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE PERILOUS SEA. Copyright © 2014 by Sherry Thomas. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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