For Darkness Shows the Stars

his hatred and disdain of her reflected in their depths?
    “I’m sorry I implied that Elliot doesn’t care about the Posts on her property.”
    As apologies went, his was pretty pale, yet her name on his tongue warmed her more than the morning sun. Where everything had changed, this at least was the same. Three syllables, and three thousand memories.
    But Kai wasn’t done. “It was wrong of me to say that, and it’s untrue. I think she cares about them very much.”
    For a moment, she thought he’d say more and braced herself for the inevitable put-down. But it never came, as he turned toward the sound of sun-carts approaching. A moment later, Andromeda and Donovan crested the hill with Olivia and Horatio in the passenger seats.
    “We’re going to the dunes,” Olivia announced when they arrived. “I’d like to take advantage of the weather before it gets cold again.”
    “You mean you’d like to take advantage of the Fleet’s sun-carts on the dunes,” Horatio corrected.
    Olivia blushed, very prettily, but recovered herself quickly. “Malakai, you must come along. And Elliot, too.”
    “I have work,” Elliot said automatically. She could happily live out the rest of her days without serving as witness to Olivia and Kai’s courtship.
    “We all have work,” said Horatio. “Except for my sister, lady of leisure that she is. She’s a bad influence.”
    Olivia laughed, and Elliot reminded herself again that the girl was not to blame for the pain in her heart.
    “Come have a picnic with us,” Horatio said. “You left our party so quickly yesterday that I didn’t even get the chance to dance with you.”
    “You expect to dance on the dunes?”
    Horatio chuckled. “I’m going instead of tending to my farm. If you don’t come, you’ll make me look bad.”
    His farm was not in such desperate shape. He had no broken tractors, and he had plenty of Posts to fill in when he wanted a day off. But Elliot would never say that aloud. She was still a North, and had too much pride for that.
    “Go,” said Dee. “The dairy is running smoothly, and I can’t think of anything else that needs your hand this afternoon.”
    Elliot narrowed her eyes. “You’re trying to get rid of me so I can’t protest your move.” She had half a mind to appeal to Kai on the issue—she knew he hated the birthing house as much as she did. But when she turned to him, he’d already draped his hands on the overhead rails of the sun-cart that carried Olivia and leaned down to listen to her. His attention was not on Elliot or Dee, or the concerns of the North estate. She couldn’t expect him as her ally.
    “Should we invite Tatiana?” Olivia asked.
    “Tatiana’s busy this morning,” Elliot said. “She’s entertaining my cousin, who came to the estate with my father last night.”
    Kai stiffened. “Benedict North has returned to the estate?”
    “Do you know him?” asked Horatio. “We’ve never met, but I hear he’s been living in a Post enclave.”
    Kai’s forehead furrowed, and his glance in Elliot’s direction was so quick she almost missed it. “I haven’t seen him in years.”
    “We don’t have enough room in the carts,” Andromeda said firmly. “Come on, let’s go.”
    Perhaps Andromeda wasn’t so bad, Elliot thought. She was saving her from having to spend the day with her sister.
    In a few minutes it was all decided, and they set off for the dunes. Donovan was letting Horatio drive his cart, and Elliot joined their party, while Andromeda climbed in the back of her cart to let Kai take the driver’s seat next to Olivia. It was only once they were on the road that Elliot realized there were two extra seats. No doubt Andromeda didn’t want to be outnumbered by Luddites.
    The dunes lay to the north even of the Boatwright estate, where the island grew thin and pointed like an arrow into the vast expanse of the sea. There was nothing but beach out here—no houses, no fields, no sign of civilization at all. In ancient times, this beach had been preserved as a religious artifact. The original settlers of the island had deemed it a home for the spirits, but no one believed that anymore. Indeed, wild places were the only ones truly free of spirits. All the real ghosts lived farther south, in the shells of the burned-out cities that had once belonged to the Lost. The Boatwright house and the shipyard was the closest anyone had gotten to building out here. The Boatwright family kept the cliffs mostly