Chapter 12
HEMMING
I awoke with a start when a loud banging sound cut through the room. My sword was in my hand before my feet hit the floor, ready to fight. Ariel shot up in the bed behind me, and I reached my arm out to keep her there until I dealt with whatever lurked on the other side of the door.
Shayfer sprang to his feet and cut a look over his shoulder to me. “Who is it?” he asked.
“It’s Eldrien.”
Shayfer pulled the door open, and muted sunlight spilled through the dark room. The Minyade poked his head in and eyed my weapon—and my proximity to the bed.
I didn’t bother to lower my sword. Or explain.
“Is it time?” Ariel asked as she slipped around my outstretched arm.
Eldrien’s expression warmed at the sight of her. “It is. I’ll take you to the ship now.” He stepped back from the doorway and gestured for us to follow.
Ariel grabbed her staff, then headed toward the door with me close behind.
Eldrien led the way through the winding, rocky paths until we reached a dock up the coast. Moored to it was a ship that had seen better days. Algae clung to the hull, which appeared to be in desperate need of a scrubbing, and missing planks peppered the deck. Holes could be seen in the sails even though they were still furled, which didn’t bode well for the parts we couldn’t see. The thought of traveling into the unknown aboard such a sad vessel was far from comforting, especially without my wings. But I stuffed that concern down as we trekked up onto the deck to find Eldrien’s men hard at work carrying whatever provisions they’d mustered to the cabin below and readying the sails and rigging.
“I’m a bit concerned we might sink before we make it off the coast,” Ariel whispered conspiratorially.
“At least you can fly.”
She shot me an incredulous look that softened once she saw me attempting to withhold my laughter. “But can you swim? That is the real question.”
My laughter boomed in response, drawing Eldrien’s attention, and he scowled at me over his shoulder. I laughed a little harder at the bruise blossoming around his right eye.
“Perhaps you could put that strength of yours to good use and help the others. Ariel can join me in the meantime.”
“I’m afraid I’ll be too busy below, searching for signs of sabotage. And Ariel can wait with Shayfer until I return.”
“Hemming,” Ariel began in a tone that almost made me regret saying that out loud, “is that really necessary?”
“It is.” I jerked my head toward the spy, whose expression nearly made me laugh all over again. “I’ll be back shortly.” Shayfer nodded and took Ariel by the arm. The weight of her parting stare fell heavy on the side of my face, but I ignored it until she muttered something under her breath and walked away with Shayfer’s escort.
Then I turned to head below with Eldrien trailing behind me, yapping like a small dog. “What exactly do you think you’re going to find down here, Hemming? A hole carved into the hull?”
“Maybe.”
My dismissive answer earned me a loud exhale from the Minyade leader. “To what end? Sinking the boat would hardly harm her, if that was indeed my intent. She can fly, you know.”
I wheeled around on him, shoving my face in his. “But Shayfer and I cannot,” I replied through gritted teeth. “What a convenient way that would be to get rid of us, don’t you think?”
“And why would I want to dispose of you?”
“Because we might be obstacles in your plan.” His brows furrowed, as though my words made no sense. “You need her far more than she needs you, a fact of which we are all well aware. But she will not be made a prisoner again,” I said, using the lie to my advantage, “by nefarious means—or by an arranged marriage that she wants no part of. You know that Shayfer and I won’t allow anything unsavory to happen to her. Seems motive enough to get rid of us.”
To his credit, he looked truly offended. “Whatever you may think of my motives, know that nothing is more sacred to us than Ariel, and you are largely responsible for her return. That means something in my world. The Minyades are beings of honor, even if the Neráides are not.”
“Maybe, but desperation is a heavy burden for honor to bear. I have seen men crumble under its weight, do unspeakable things in its name. So let me be clear in this, Eldrien: I do not trust you. And that will never change as long as the survival of your people rests solely on her shoulders.”
His blue eyes shone with anger in the darkened depths of the hull as he leaned in closer. “And your adamance in this matter only makes me more suspicious of you.”
The surprise I felt at his daring remained hidden behind my steady expression, but it was there all the same, holding my tongue hostage until Eldrien was halfway up the ladder to the deck. Perhaps there was more to the Minyade leader than I’d realized.
ARIEL
“ E verything looks to be secure,” Hemming announced as he rejoined us.
“Did you find a small army lying in wait down there?” Though Shayfer laid his teasing on thick, it did not faze my self-appointed guardian.
“I expect the worst until proven otherwise.”
I shot Shayfer a sideward glance to silence him before he said something to set Hemming off any more than our plan already had—or the sight of Eldrien heading our way would.
“I believe we are all set,” Eldrien called out as he approached. Below, his men filed off the vessel and headed for the ropes tethering us to the dock.
“Will they not be voyaging with us?” Shayfer asked, noticing the exodus as I had.
“Given how few provisions we could spare, it will only be the four of us venturing out on this excursion.”
I looked up at the masts with the sails secured to them. Doubt crept in instantly. “Are you sure that will suffice?”
“Hemming is strong, and I’m assuming capable, under my direction,” he replied with a smile, though I couldn't help noticing how he avoided looking at Hemming as he spoke. “Shayfer can assist him. And I am a competent captain with experience. We will manage fine without a full crew.”
“And what am I to do?”
His smile widened. “Conserve your energy for what may come.”
“Are you expecting danger?” Shayfer asked in a casual tone.
“I have never experienced any, other than the perils of weather, in my previous expeditions into these waters in search of food. But I think it’s best to be cautious.”
“Ah, there it is—something you and Hemming can agree on.”
The muscles in Hemming’s jaw flexed as he bit back a response.
“We will set sail momentarily. If you all could situate yourselves along the rail, that would be most helpful.” He gave me a small bow, then turned on his heels and headed over to take his place at the helm.
“I will stay with Eldrien,” Shayfer said as he moved to follow. “Best he learn now rather than later that I don’t follow instructions well.” He winked as he walked away, leaving Hemming and me to head back to the main deck while a dozen Minyades swarmed the air around the mast.
“Shayfer does not trust him either,” Hemming said as he watched the brightly colored rainbow of wings above. “Maybe I like the spy more than I thought.”
“Or at least his judgment.”
His gaze dropped to me. “Where it pertains to you, yes.”
The weight of his stare bore down upon me, and I averted my gaze to the expanse of water awaiting us. “You don’t really believe Eldrien is up to something, do you?”
“I think I don’t want to find out after the fact that he is.”
A valid argument. “Do you think we’ll find it?” I asked so softly that the wind nearly carried those words away before he could hear them. But hear them he did, and he leaned over the rail just enough to block my view. “Or are we chasing a fantasy?”
“I think that remains to be seen.”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t want to be responsible for anything bad happening to us…to you and Shayfer?—”
“You won't be, so stop worrying.”
“How do you figure?”
He leveled his weighty stare on me. “Shayfer and I are grown men who chose this fate—whatever it might be—and the choices of others are not your responsibility. If you wanted to worry about that, you should have done so before we left the Midlands. That ship has sailed, pun intended.”
I groaned at his terrible joke. “You were making such a solid point until that ending.”
He shrugged. “Low-hanging fruit is still fruit.”
Shaking my head, I leaned forward to rest my hands on the rail, letting my fingers brush against the cool skin of his hand next to mine. “You know there’s no one else I’d rather travel into the unknown with at my side.”
Amusement twinkled in his grey eyes. “And there’s no one else who would want to do it more than me.”
“Which doesn’t say much for your sanity.”
“Yours, either.”
“Says the one who’s risked his life for mine more times than I can count,” I said as a gust of wind carried any shred of levity I’d felt in that moment far out to sea. “And his wings…” His sharp stare softened as he looked at the tears welling in my eyes. “I will always feel the weight of their absence, Hemming, knowing I caused it.” My throat tightened around those words as I spoke them, but the way he shifted closer, I knew he’d heard every one. “I know you grieve for them, Hemming. I grieve for them too.”
“Not like I would have grieved for you had I not surrendered them.”
“I know…but somehow that’s little consolation.”
“To you,” he countered as the massive sail overhead snapped wide. “To me, it is everything.” The boat shifted suddenly, knocking me into Hemming, who stood steadfast. His hands encircled my arms as he righted me and lingered a second or two longer than decorum demanded before letting me go. “I wouldn’t want Shayfer to come down here and scold me about our roles and discretion,” he said with a wicked smile. One the fae in question would have been proud of.
I glanced over at the helm where he stood next to Eldrien, glaring at me. “I think that may be our fate soon enough, regardless.”
That fact only seemed to amuse Hemming further. “We shall see…”
As the ship launched into the sea, the waves rocked us as we plunged deeper into the expanse of blue. I looked back to see a crowd lining the rocky shore, and the gravity of our situation punched me in the gut once again, especially when I saw the brothers edge their way to the front, their tiny frames shrinking as the winds carried us away. I wondered how much longer they could survive as they had been—how much time the Minyades had before this curse destroyed them all. Any fears or doubts I’d had about my decision to leave were eclipsed by my need to eradicate the cause of their slow demise. Dying in an effort to save them was a far better fate than doing nothing but watching them perish.
There truly were fates worse than death.