Bride of Ashes (Kingdom of Shadow and Ruin #1)

2. Reyla

2

REYLA

M y lungs shuttered, and I gulped, struggling to suck in air as shock blasted through me. I studied his wrist, finding no matching mark to the one that had just appeared on my flesh.

A glance back showed the guards scurrying away, nearly halfway down the pier already. No one else was close enough to see . . .

He was not my fated mate. It was a mistake. Did the fates do things like that?

A flick of his finger sent my bag soaring up off the pier and onto the deck, where it landed with a thud.

“Are you coming with me, my lady?” the man asked. “Or are you going to stand on the pier while we sail out of the harbor?” So sardonic. So conceited. Too sexy.

No, not sexy. I wasn’t attracted to this man. I’d never be attracted to anyone like him. Why, then, did I continue to hold his hand and stare up at him like a maiden with new love fluttering inside her chest?

I swallowed back that wretched thought. “Yes, I’m . . . I was trying to get on board the ship.”

“Then do so. Stop dallying, and we can get underway.” His lips thinned, and the sharp humor in his eyes made me want to kick him. “You can admire me later.”

I really wanted to kick him.

Huffing, I wrenched away from him, struggling to latch onto some semblance of composure. “There’s nothing to admire.”

He took the gangway to the top deck of the ship, and I followed like a well-behaved pup, joining him on the smooth wooden surface, stopping near my bag.

“Time to leave,” he barked out to the crew.

Sailors swarmed the deck, some pulling the gangplank on board, others rushing along the pier, releasing huge ropes pinning the boat in place. They leaped, landing squarely on the deck. Still others tugged the ropes onto the ship and coiled them around big metal bars bolted to the oiled decking.

I stood beside him, the sword I’d pulled back in the market still clutched in my sweaty hand.

With a scowl, he pried it from my fingers. “Do you believe you’re capable of doing more than pricking someone with this?” He held it up between us, the tip piercing the sky. His intense gaze narrowed on my face.

Ass.

“As the High Lady of Lydel’s Enforcer, I’m more than capable of wielding blades.” I plucked at my snug leather tunic. “Did you think I wore this because it’s the latest fashion? ”

A blink of his eyes, and my sword disappeared. Magicked to somewhere. I’d track it down and steal it back.

“You wouldn’t be the first to give an impression you don’t deserve,” he said.

Deserve, huh? Where did he get off—

Pivoting, he strode away from me, aiming for the center of the enormous ship.

“I’m also the Beast’s sister,” I called out. “And I want my sword back now.”

The eyes of a sailor tying off the final rope widened, his jaw unhinging. The rope dropped from his hands, thudding on the oiled wooden decking.

The cloaked man stopped, though he didn’t turn to face me. “For a lady, you have an interesting reputation.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Is there anything else I need to know about you?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Then welcome aboard the ship, Lady Reyla. We’re leaving. Find your footing and hold onto your belly, and you might just survive the trip.”

“Where’s the king?”

“He’ll join us tomorrow, during our journey.”

Would he flit to the ship? If so, he might be able to teach me how to master the trick.

That must be why we’d marry by proxy tonight. He needed to lock me into this farce of a marriage before I had second thoughts or found a way to back out, a challenging task while at sea.

The sailors unfurled a big, billowing sail on the front of the ship, and it caught the wind, snapping out to claim it. The sloshing motion of the floor picked up speed as the ship gradually turned toward the harbor opening, preparing to take us out to sea.

“What was that magic called, the one you used on the guards?” I shouted to the man’s back as he strode away from me again, aiming for a wooden cabin built between the enormous masts.

He didn’t look back, though he stopped.

“Elemental aegis,” he rasped.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Because it’s mine .”

“What does that mean?”

He said nothing, just opened the door on the side of the cabin.

A shrill bark was followed by a splash, and I spun and hurried to the railing, latching onto it. Something small and sleek moved through the water, whimpering as it feverishly swam toward the ship.

The nyxin’s gaze fixed on me.

I sucked in a breath and held it as the creature floundered toward the ship gaining speed and distance from the pier. When I first traveled to Lydel, I flew by dragon. As we soared above the channel, vicious blue fish with long teeth and a determination to eat us flung themselves up from the sea. They’d nearly killed us, and I was sure the same fish swam in this very harbor.

“Faster,” I cried, clinging to the rail. Every second stretched out my agony as one horrifying possibility after another clawed at my mind.

A fin broke the surface past the nyxin, the beast darting his way.

My heart slammed behind my ribcage, deafening and wild.

Almost paralyzed with fear, I drew power and infused it into my finger. It lit up like a beacon, and I pointed it, shooting the only magic I possessed at the fish in a bolt of flaming lightning. Hitting the creature’s back, it seared across it, gouging and cauterizing at the same time. The beast roared and flipped up out of the water, slamming back down with a huge splash. It sunk beneath the surface, but others shot from below to take its place, darting after the nyxin.

A sickening knot bunched in my belly, forcing bile up my throat to choke me.

The nyxin kept swimming.

As they drew near the poor creature, the fish dove. I could picture their mouths stretching wide, their jagged teeth poised to rip through the tiny beastie so valiantly trying to reach us.

When he got close to the ship, he lunged, snapping his teeth around a rope still dangling down from the side. He swayed and scrambled, trying to climb up the slick wooden surface.

“Pull him up,” I shouted. “Help the little thing.”

Two sailors joined me at the rail and leaned over.

The cloaked man had stopped and watched us from the open doorway, his frown forcing his scar into a feral grimace.

“Yes, pull it up,” one of the sailors said with a snicker. “Cook can stew it for dinner. ”

“We’re not eating him,” I snarled, shoving him away from the rail. “The nyxin is mine.”

“No one makes a pet of a creature like that,” the second sailor said. “But I’ll help you, my lady.” He tugged on the rope, and the nyxin clung, his eyes wild and his ears drooping, his silver fur plastered to his sides. Water sluiced from his tail, splattering back into the sea.

“Better to eat him than have him eat you,” the first sailor said, his face darkening with heat.

“He’s too small to eat more than mice.” I lit my finger once more.

When a blue fish jumped out of the water, its jaw scissoring and its teeth snapping with glee as it soared toward the nyxin, I shot it out of the air with a bolt of fire. Scorched, it toppled back into the water.

The sailor eager to eat the nyxin took a step away from me, his arms spiraling and his mouth ajar. “What did you do, my lady?”

I pointed my finger at him. “Try to eat that nyxin, and you’ll soon find out.”

He spun and darted across the ship to the other side.

When the sailor had tugged the rope up as far as it would go, the nyxin jumped, latching onto the lip of the ship with his teeth while his claws scrambled along the side to find purchase.

I dropped to my knees and grabbed onto his wet, silky coat and leaned back, hauling him on board. He flopped on the deck beside me, panting.

Another fish shimmied up the side of the ship and over the rail, smacking onto the deck. Its jaws snapping, it snaked across the surface, aiming for me and the nyxin.

Sailors latched onto it and heaved it back overboard.

I tentatively stroked the nyxin’s wet hide. “You’re safe,” I whispered. “No one will harm you.”

“No animals on my ship,” a man who sounded like he had authority called out. Dressed in a starched, silver-etched red uniform, dark pants, and polished black boots, he stood beside the cloaked man, both of them glaring at me. “We’re underway,” the man I realized must be the captain said. He waved to one of the sailors. “You, there, Brax. Toss the creature overboard for the fish. If they’re busy with the puny thing, they’ll leave us alone.” He turned and strode toward the large wheel mounted on a high platform that would give him a view of the direction ahead. “As soon as we clear the harbor, lift the main sails and bring out the windrams. We need to make progress tonight.”

“Come along there, tiny nyxin.” Brax stooped toward the shivering creature with his fingers outstretched like bait. “I promise it’ll be quick.”

“No,” I shrieked, ready to bite off his fingers myself. “You’re not throwing him to the fish. I told you he’s mine.”

“Stay away from her,” someone growled.

I spun, nearly falling onto my ass, and looked up, finding the man who was not my fated mate standing behind me, near enough to make my skin pepper over with goosebumps. He smelled too good, like the horig cakes my best friend loved, plus a spice I couldn’t name.

Despite how confused I felt about him, I couldn’t keep the pleading from my eyes. “Please. Don’t let them toss him into the sea to die.”

The scar on his face ticked with his pulse for a very long moment, before he grunted. “She can keep the nyxin.”

“Thank you.” I stood, lifting the poor, shivering creature with me, wrapping my arms around his lean frame.

Wiggling, he licked my chin.

The man frowned at the saturated beast before giving me a clipped nod. “I’ve notified your staff that you’re here.”

“I have staff?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” he drawled, his jaw tightening. “Lord Briscalar will help you change your clothing.”

A fae lord was going to play my lady’s maid? Not happening. “I don’t need to change my clothing.”

“Do you plan to get married in that wretched outfit?” He plucked at the neckline of my leather tunic, the warmth of his fingers searing my skin as sharply as my lightning had done the fish. “As soon as we’ve cleared the harbor, you and I will marry.”