The Midnight Star Read Online Free PDF

hands fly to her mouth. For a moment, all Raffaele can do is stay where he is. Many sailors told stories about where baliras went when they died—some said they would go far out into the open ocean, where they would swim lower and lower until they sank to the depths of the Underworld. Others said they would leap out of the water and fly higher and higher, until they were swallowed up by the clouds. The occasional rib bone washed ashore, bleached white. But never had he seen a dead balira in the flesh before. Certainly not like this.
    â€œDon’t come closer,” Raffaele whispers to Violetta. The smell in the air grows more pungent as he draws near, now unmistakably the smell of rotting flesh. As he reaches the first balira, he extends a hand out toward it. He hesitates, then places his fingers gently against its body.
    The beast twitches once. This one is just an infant, and it is not dead yet.
    Raffaele’s throat tightens, and tears fill his eyes. Something terrible killed these creatures. He can still feel the poisonousenergy coursing through its veins, can sense its weakness as it takes another low, rasping gasp of air.
    â€œRaffaele,” Violetta calls out. When he looks over his shoulder, he sees her wading into the waves as they break against the beach. The hem of her dress is soaked, and she is quaking like a leaf.
Get out of there,
Raffaele wants to warn her.
    â€œThis feels like Adelina’s energy,” Violetta finally says.
    Raffaele takes a hesitant step toward the ocean, then another. He walks forward until his slippers sink into wet sand. He sucks his breath in sharply.
    The water is cold in a way that he has never felt before, cold like
death
. A thousand threads of energy tug at his feet as the water recedes, as if each one were barbed with tiny hooks, seeking a living being. It sends his skin crawling in the same way a rotting fruit filled with maggots would. The ocean is full of poison, deep and dark and vile. Beneath it churns a layer of energy that is furious and frightening, something he had only once felt in Adelina. He thinks of Enzo’s strange distraction tonight, the faraway look in his half-alive eyes. The way he seemed drawn to the ocean. Raffaele remembers the storm that raged on the night when they’d brought Enzo back from the depths of the sea, where the edge of the living world ended and the world of the dead began.
    Beside him, Violetta remains frozen in place as the water sways against her legs.
    Raffaele takes a few more steps into the ocean, until the waves come up to his waist. The cold water numbs him. Helooks up again to where the silent lightning storm rages, and tears begin to spill down his cheeks.
    Indeed, this feels like Adelina’s energy. Like fear and fury.
It is energy from another realm, threads from beneath the surface, an immortal place never meant to be disturbed. Raffaele trembles.
    Something is poisoning the world.

Even now, decades later, I fear nothing so much as the open ocean at night, with darkness stretching around me in every direction.
    â€”The Journals of Reda Harrakan,
translated by Bianca Bercetto
Adelina Amouteru
    A full week later, the wound in my arm still throbs when I move too quickly. A thick layer of bandages covers it. I wince as I make my way down the ramp to the Estenzian harbor, hoping I haven’t broken open the skin again.
    The harbor today is filled with the stench of rotting fish. I wrinkle my nose as soldiers lead us to a series of carriages awaiting our arrival. Beside me, Sergio walks with one hand resting permanently on the hilt of his sword. He leans toward me. “Your Majesty,” he says. The title flows as naturally from him as if I were born to the throne. “My men have captured several citizens accused of trying to breach the palace gates. They’re in the Inquisition Tower now, but I’d rather not take any chances.”
    I glance at him. “And what are they so unhappy