Summary

“Before” is narrated in third-person past. The narrator says that long ago, the boy and the girl had dreamt of magical fairytale ships when they were children. But the Verrhader was not a magical ship. It was a Kerch trader taking them across the ocean and away from their enemies. The boy worked as a sailor, but the girl made the others nervous with her haunted look and quiet nature. At night, the boy and the girl stayed up late looking at stars. They went to bed together, but the girl often dreamt of a pale prince who gave her a collar full of power. She missed her power. The boat took the couple to Novyi Zem and the two of them got off the boat to start a new life where hopefully they could be safe.

The body of the novel...