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It suddenly occurred to Oksana that Amber might be a little out of her league.
She wasn’t raised on the water like Amber was, didn’t grow up beside her like those others that Amber would sometimes mention with a bitter frown on her face, but they were young when they first met. Both of them were still basically kids.
And they’d been… good since then.
Amber had never turned her away at least.
So Oksana had believed she knew Amber better than anyone else in Founders’ Wake did.
Because everyone in Founders’ Wake knew Amber.
From the Boyar Hermine in the highest seat of the Ballast to the average Parish member who only gave gratitude on Harbor day to the most shady grotto-fish in the Marsh.
Everyone knew Amber.
She was Joshy’s most famous disciple. Rumors around Amber circled like the sharks they swore she killed.
Most of the time it didn’t bother Oksana. Amber never gave anyone more attention than they were worth, and nobody ever pulled the two of them apart. And honestly, Oksana totally agreed with all the praise Founders’ Wake lavished on Amber. Completely agreed.
It just never occurred to her that all the rumors were true.
As Oksana watched Amber brutally dispatch two monsters that had previously only existed in her nightmares, she realized that Amber wasn’t just famous. Or even notorious for following the city’s number one grifter.
No, Amber was the real deal.
She was a force of nature that originated fully separate from any Vestige.
She was worth twenty of every man on the Biggest Baby right now, and probably every single other in all the Ethersea.
She was way out of Oksana’s league.
Oh Koda, this was why Amber didn’t want to join the Chaperones.
How embarrassing would it be to babysit a bunch of soldiers that rely on a Vestige to give them power when you can decimate literal sea monsters with just your bare hands and cheesy lines!
Oksana carefully did not hide her face in her hands. She did not scream as she realized how lame she must have seemed to Amber. She did not fall on her own sword to avoid coming to terms with the fact that apparently everyone in Founders’ Wake knew Amber was some big damn hero and not just a super buff dork.
Instead she sheathed her sword and walked over to Amber. “Well, that was weird,” she began.
Amber turned to Oksana with a roguish grin, and her heart skipped a beat.
Shit, she was so out of her league.