Serpent Sea

Get swept away by the sequel to the instant As a Shield Immani is sworn to protect her land from the monsters across the city but as the Harrowlanders begin preparing supplies, horses and their greatest weapon--spice magic--she knows it is only a matter of time before the invasion begins…and it will be a losing battle.; But Immani also knows that the only true way to fight magic is with monsters. If she can restore Qayn’s stolen powers, together they can summon an army to save Sahir. Forming an alliance with a former King turned monster might seem like the riskiest thing she can do but things are made even more dangerous by the fact that his magic is in the form of three jewels that once were encrusted in his crown but are now hidden beyond the dessert.; A forbidden quest to find the jewels might be the only way to combat the Harrowlanders but as Immani journeys across the sea, she will discover serpentines and other scaled creatures warriors have only heard about in myths…and that can strike at any moment.; One wrong move could cost her life--and everyone she loves. But Immani may find there is more than meets the eye crossing the serpent sea…and betrayal cuts deeper than any dagger.

Auteur
Maiya Ibrahim is the debut author of Spice Road, an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Born and raised in Sydney, she has been writing stories since she learned how to boot up a PC and open her notepad. When not writing, Maiya can be found indulging in Lebanese food with her family, playing Skyrim, watching Game of Thrones, or swimming with friends at one of Australia's many spectacular beaches.

Texte du rabat

Get swept away by the sequel to the instant Sunday Times bestseller Spice Road! In this romantic fantasy set in an Arabian-inspired land, Immani must use her magic to navigate the serpent sea—and her heart—to save her people from an invasion after the enchantment that once protected them has been shattered.

As a Shield Immani is sworn to protect her land from the monsters across the city but as the Harrowlanders begin preparing supplies, horses and their greatest weapon—spice magic—she knows it is only a matter of time before the invasion begins…and it will be a losing battle.

But Immani also knows that the only true way to fight magic is with monsters. If she can restore Qayn’s stolen powers, together they can summon an army to save Sahir. Forming an alliance with a former King turned monster might seem like the riskiest thing she can do but things are made even more dangerous by the fact that his magic is in the form of three jewels that once were encrusted in his crown but are now hidden beyond the dessert.

A forbidden quest to find the jewels might be the only way to combat the Harrowlanders but as Immani journeys across the sea, she will discover serpentines and other scaled creatures warriors have only heard about in myths…and that can strike at any moment.

One wrong move could cost her life—and everyone she loves. But Immani may find there is more than meets the eye crossing the serpent sea…and betrayal cuts deeper than any dagger.

Échantillon de lecture
1

IMANI

In long grass, the serpent is king. If the lion is wise, he will take care where he steps. This is how you become strong: by knowing where you are weak first.

“Imani, it’s time.”

I rouse with a gasp, Baba’s lesson fading to memory. The shadow of my twenty-two-year-old brother, Atheer, leans over me. Abovedeck, sailors call, ropes and canvas shift, the ship rocks, and long, ominous bellows reverberate across the Bay of Glass. I lay a hand over my thrumming heart and inspect the bunk below me. Our sister, Amira, two years younger than me at fifteen, is snoring in it.

I sit up. “How long have I been asleep?”

“A few hours. Horns are blowing in the city.” Atheer gives me room to slide down from my bunk. “We’ll find out why on the way to the stables. We need to fetch the horses.”

“Is it wise for you to leave the ship when you’re the most wanted man in Taeel-Sa?” I ask him. “Glaedric’s men will be searching for you.” I sling my cloak over my shoulders, thinking of how we sprang King Glaedric’s prize prisoner from captivity last night and sank the royal ship in a blaze. But I should know my brother better by now. Brave to a fault.

“We’ll be cautious.” He waits for me to pull boots onto my aching feet and check that the bandage on my neck isn’t blood-soaked. We retreat through the cramped crew quarters.

“How about a tea ceremony to replenish our magic?” I suggest, sidestepping a tipped-over clay jug that smells of wine.

“Better not to risk the temptation of using it in Glaedric’s city.” He glances at me sideways. “I already made that mistake.”

And it got him arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. As we near the hatch leading abovedeck, the red afternoon light confirms that this Atheer is not the brother of my happy memories, in which we spar with wooden swords in the courtyard at home and later take our horses for a ride beyond Qalia’s walls. Neither is he like the warrior-heroes of folklore I’ve admired since childhood, immense figures who move mountains and swallow dust storms whole and never look the worse for wear. This Atheer is marked by bruises, scratches, and burns; he’s gaunt from starvation, his jaw sharp enough to cut steel, his brown eyes unduly large and framed by limp caramel-colored curls. This is my new brother in my new world.

Qayn waits for us by the mainmast, portrait-still in odd contrast to the sailors working the rigging around him and those extending the ribbed bridge from the ship to the pier. The Lion’s Prize has been moved from where it was anchored this morning into an isolated berth on the Bay’s edge, inhabited by barnacled fishing boats and tired, worm-eaten merchant dhows. A place no one willingly comes except to be forgotten.

The sailors repay Qayn’s attention with bashful glances. Though I’m more familiar with the djinni, I’m equally captivated by the symmetry of his angular features, and the way he comports his slender frame with both serious, regal grace and a casual, boyish ease. At dawn, he promised to save my people if I returned his stolen magic. Now I regard him as if he’s an oasis. Beneath my relief at finding a life-saving refuge, I feel the primal fear that I am being lured by a mirage to my death.

He greets us with a nod before glancing wryly over my shoulder. “Quite the motley company you’ve assembled, Atheer.”

Taha and Reza lurk in the recessed shelter under the gangway behind me, but the ropes that the sailors used to bind their wrists after they tried to kill us are nowhere to be seen. Sunlight touches Taha’s eyes, their color the pale green of drought-stricken fields; it finds the wounds I gave him last night, his split bottom lip and the welt on his cheekbone. How could I have ever craved his kiss? I was a trusting, foolish girl who cared too much what he thought of me. It’s clear now that during our entire journey here, he was only manipulating me to make his mission easier. In the prison, I even confessed that I wanted his kisses to mean something. And he was surprised, not because he’d assumed I’d been pretending to like him all along and was moved to discover that the opposite was true. No; it was because the thought of how I felt had never crossed his mind before.

I turn to Atheer. “What are you thinking, letting them go free? They tried to kill you barely ten hours ago!”

They also nearly buried me alive …