Chapter Thirty-Nine
‘How is that even possible? You’ve got to be cheating somehow.’ Cole throws his cards down on the makeshift table of crates and a plank of wood. Calli smugly pulls her winnings towards her, an assortment of various trinkets, a few loose coins, a big brown button and one of Cole’s silver rings.
‘It’s not Calli’s fault your strategy is always shit,’ Lillienne says, gathering all the cards up again to shuffle. ‘Another game? Or are you afraid you’ll lose what’s left of your dignity alongside all your possessions?’
‘I am no longer in the mood. This damned ship is making me feel sick.’ He gets up, brushing off his trousers. ‘And this is not me surrendering. We will pick this up later,’ he says this only to Lillienne, even though she isn’t even who he was playing against.
‘He’s a delight,’ Calli jokes as he takes his leave of us. ‘I love how much you seem to rile him up. He’s like a more annoying and arrogant version of my brother.’
‘I have an adverse reaction to any man that holds himself in such exaggerated esteem, and I have never been able to hide my feelings about someone.’ Lillienne places the pack of cards down in a neat pile.
‘I think you’re only encouraging him the more you voice your dislike of him,’ I tell her, moving over to where Cole had sat.
‘He seriously cannot read women then,’ she replies.
‘It’s no surprise why he frequents the brothels, that’s for sure,’ Calli chimes in.
Lillienne looks to me in my new seat. ‘You want to try your hand at beating the queen of cards?’
Calli frames her chin with both hands, showcasing her pride at her new title. And then I realise, Lillienne cleverly sitting next to her, the queen of cards' idea no doubt. She needs to borrow her eyes after all. Just as she did Cole’s.
‘It would be very difficult to win against someone with such a strong ability to estimate which cards I’d have in hand.’
‘Hey! I win through talent and skill alone.’ She fakes a scowl, crossing her arms.
It would be safe to assume that Cole doesn’t know about the situation with her sight and being trusted with the information – that she obviously doesn’t openly share – I don’t insinuate any further cheating on her part.
‘Where’s Diarmid? I haven’t seen him all morning,’ I question Lillienne.
She giggles and points upwards, and I follow the direction of her finger to the crow’s nest, around forty feet in the air and squint just enough to make out two figures.
One pointing excitedly to the horizon. ‘He pestered Truman just enough to let him get up there. Says he thinks he might spot a dolphin or whatever crazy creature it was he was desperate to find.’
‘I don’t envy that poor guy stuck up there with him, I bet he wishes he stayed home from this adventure of a lifetime,’ I say, shaking my head at the comedy of it.
‘I think it’s sweet how passionate he is about animal life, I bet he’s in his element.
’ Calli puts the ring she won from Cole on her finger and turns her head to me.
I wonder if she is using my sight or borrowing from Lillienne still.
I try and shake the thought away. Best not to give it too much space in my mind.
‘Ah so you find him sweet. The gentle, blondstable manager taken your fancy, has he?’ I joke, and Calli suppresses a smile. Lillienne sucks in her lips and straightens up the already neat stack of cards.
‘It’s just nice to meet a man who cares that much about something is all.’ Calli shrugs casually. Lillienne says nothing.
With perfect timing, the small cabin boy runs over, cutting through any building awkwardness with the sound of his little boots whacking against the wood with haste.
His brown hair is long and floppy, so long that it would be easy to confuse him with a little girl from behind, but seeing his face you’d know for certain that he is no such thing, his thick, bushy eyebrows, and the roundness of his young face.
His countenance is a veil of mischief and roughness that is only found in a boy.
He seems to teeter on the brink of scowling, playfully teasing that he might steal something, or kick you in the shins.
‘Miss Delengranz?’ His eyes flicker between the three of us, as though unsure which one the name belongs to.
‘That would be me.’ I raise my hand for his attention. ‘What is the cause of such hurry?’
‘Please say Cole has fallen overboard,’ Lillienne says eagerly.
The boy shakes his head. ‘I was told by the king to retrieve Miss Delengranz for him.’
A part of me wants to get up right now and go to him, to look at him, to talk about last night.
But the rest of me refuses to get up for a man who kissed me and held me all night, just to leave me in his bed, and pretend like it never happened.
The man who has sent a cabin boy to fetch me like a pet loose from its leash.
‘Tell the king that I do not respond to requests for my presence through messenger.’
‘But miss—’
‘Go on.’ I shoo him away with my hand, and he huffs with pure childish annoyance, turns on his heel, and runs off.
The girls look at me intrigued, Lillienne suppressing whatever quip she has in her head, and Calli with quiet curiosity over what is going on between me and her brother – through Lillienne’s eyes no doubt.
I hold my hands up in surrender. ‘What? I am not something to be retrieved, that’s all.’
‘What if it’s something important?’ Calli questions.
‘It’s obviously not emergency enough if he can’t come tell me himself.’
‘Maybe he wishes to speak with you somewhere more… private,’ Lillienne giggles.
‘Oh, shut up.’ It can’t be a full five minutes before the boy appears again, red-faced and a little anxious this time.
‘Uh, the king says it is not a request but rather an insistence.’ The little boy’s lips quiver with hesitance before continuing, with a faint smirk. ‘He also said that you’re fucking stubborn.’
My eyes widen at the harsh language of the boy, how unnatural it is coming from someone so young, a mouth so small and na?ve.
‘You make sure to tell him that he does not have the authority over me to make such insistences. And remind him not to speak so colourfully in front of impressionable children.’
The boy straightens his posture and raises his chin. ‘I am not a child, miss, I’m ten and a half.’
‘You have existed the equivalent of a second of my life. Now do as I say.’
He rolls his eyes and disappears once again.
‘Woah, Eira. You don’t need to be so harsh, he’s just a boy.’ Lillienne scrunches her face up at me, looking as she did when I didn’t tell her what I’d found in the black book.
‘Well, Eliaz doesn’t need to be so infuriating,’ I say, a little louder than I would’ve liked. Calli twists the ring on her finger absently, head bowed.
‘I’m sorry, Calli. I’m just a little frustrated, is all.’
‘You could say that again,’ Lillienne mutters once again.
‘It’s fine, Eira, really. I know he can be a little confusing at times, but he means well, truly. He’s just out of sorts with how quickly everything is changing.’
I nod at her, coming closer to an understanding of how difficult it must have been to be the one to keep him on track and grounded all this time. Because at some point, he’s bound to have grown discouraged about his ability to right things, for himself and his people.
I place my hand on hers, the gem of the ring rough cut and jabbing into my skin.
‘You don’t need to explain. I would do well to remember that I am not the only one going through all this. We are all experiencing this and feeling this together. I really am sorry.’
She places her other hand on mine. ‘That aside, he can be a bit of a prick when he wants to be.’
‘A massive prick,’ I agree with a tentative laugh.
Lillienne looks to the left of me, and turns a very intense shade of red.
‘I would prefer if you made such statements to my face, Princess. Keeps us honest with each other.’
Oh fuck. Smash a hole in this ship and let the waves take me.
I cringe immensely as I turn my shoulder, closing my eyes for a second whilst I search for the courage to look at him.
He stands, arms crossed over his chest, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to reveal the bare skin of his forearms. Eyes narrow and impatient, but not without that annoying glint of amusement.
My heart flutters with my stomach, and it takes all my energy to remind myself that I am maddened by this man.
‘And I would prefer it if you didn’t involve the cabin boy in your desperate attempt to get a point across.’
‘I am doing nothing of the sort. I didn’t realise you’d decided to be difficult today, if I’d known, I’d have sent a fully grown man, would that have helped?’
Lillienne slaps a hand to her mouth, barely pushing down laughter.
I glower at him, clenching my fist in my lap. ‘That’s funny, I also didn’t realise you’d woken up and decided to test me.’
He grunts, looking upwards for a moment before returning his gaze to me. His exhale is teeming with exasperation. ‘Just come with me. I wanted to show you something.’
I raise a brow. ‘Unless it’s breakfast, I’m not interested.’
‘Eira.’ The sound of my name in his mouth is enough to make any girl comply.
‘Fine,’ I fold, getting to my feet. ‘But I will continue to be difficult as long as it suits me.’
His face softens into a laugh. ‘I think I can handle that.’
And he leads me away, his hand hovering over the small of my back, guiding me.
‘Do everything I would do!’ Lillienne calls after us, and I stick my middle finger up at her. Eliaz shakes his head, but not so much that I would miss the smile tugging at his lips.
It isn’t until we’re halfway up the stairs, that I realise where we’re headed.
‘If you wanted me alone, wouldn’t it have been easier to have not left me this morning?’
‘Ah. Of course, that’s why I’m being treated so harshly. Here I was thinking it’s because I didn’t put out.’ He closes the door to the cabin once we’re inside.