Chapter 9 #2
“He didn’t take shit,” he snarls before softening, not just his voice but his body too. His shoulders lower infinitesimally, the tension draining from them. Voice almost coming out as a whisper, he says, : “But I did miss the sun…”
“You are still blind, but soon you will see. Are you able to eat breakfast with the crew?” At my question, he finally turns around to face me.
“All I will be soon is violently ill from not being with my fated mate, but you know that, don’t you?
” I stumble back at his words. Not because I believe them.
Not because I pity him for getting violently ill.
If anything, it might make him easier to be around.
It would dull his fire; it would silence the mouth that seems to always have an answer.
No, I stumble back because the shadows of my past pull me back. A memory hits me that makes my stomach twist so violently my legs can no longer carry me because it sways too hard with the swirling of my stomach.
“Just come home Celeste. We will take the Obsidian Oath and just go home,” I beg the woman that changed so much in the past weeks.
I cannot really say her light has fully dulled, more like her light has been replaced.
Something softer, as if someone took the sun from the skies and hung a lantern from the clouds.
Not everyone can see that her light has been replaced.
“Killy, I can’t, and you know I can’t,” Celeste tells me, turning me down once again.
And again her hands drift to the crude clam necklace Peter gave her.
“You can, you know what he is doing is not right,” I try to argue with her.
Trying to get her to come home with me. Trying to stop her from rejecting me time and time again.
“He is willing to change, Killy, maybe you should try to do that yourself one day. It will make you happier. He is my fated mate, I know I didn’t believe in it either.
Not before him, but if he is not with me, I will grow sick, the longer he is gone the worse I feel.
The only thing that helps is this necklace playing his flute.
Just go home Killian you’re not supposed to be here” With those words, she walks off, disembarking the ship.
And I am left standing here watching my baby sister, the Princess of the Fae just walk away from me. To spend her life with Faun who lies about all that he does. Who will never change, no matter how much she wants him too.
For a fleeting moment, I consider telling him about Celeste. The noble fae princess, the princess of the poor. Who spent her free time caring for the poorest within our realm. Until I see the whites of his teeth digging into his bottom lip. The faintest trace of iron fills the now muggy cabin.
“It stinks in here, best bathe and eat before heartbreak fever renders you even more useless.” I snarl, deciding right there and then that the stubborn bitter human that tried to kill my sister like she was a mere mosquito has no right to know the truth.
Maybe he will learn the truth when his so-called illness fades.
Perhaps he never will, maybe his goat king will come to collect him before.
Maybe he will be there to watch the wood of the upper deck turn red, soaking up faun army’s blood.
The blood spills might even reveal the truth about Peter.
Or more likely, he will be feeding Kinga as the remains of his body sink into the ocean so the bottom feeders can feast on his skin.
He is used to bottom feeders after all, I plucked him from a hooved one, there is a beautiful irony in me sending him to a watery grave, where this time the bottom feeders are scaled.
In both cases he will be blissfully unaware like only fools are, unless his withdrawal is quicker, shorter than hers was.
He rolls his eyes so hard, I am surprised he isn’t overcome by a dizzy spell.
“I am not going to just roll over and do as you say. So yes, I will bathe but only to get the stench of you off me.” Another little jab: this man is infuriating as hell.
Like a mosquito, he keeps making noise, keeps zooming around annoyingly.
And much like a mosquito, all I want to do is make him splatter against the wall.
A stain I can scrub away so that with it, the memory of the annoyance is gone too.
Shame I still have too much use for him and can’t just get rid of him.
Without another word, I lead him to one of the communal bathrooms. I made sure to have one of my most trusted faes clean the bathroom.
There is nothing he can use to hurt me. The porthole opens, but I doubt he will fit through it.
Even if he would, Kinga would have him for breakfast before the sound of his body hitting the water would be heard.
I stand watch at the door, even though he cannot escape the Obsidian Oath, not without committing a fool’s suicide.
Everyone in Silvermist knows these waters are Kinga’s domain.
None of that, however, means I am about to let this little pest walk my home, my ship alone.
He is the kind of little rat that would snoop, and I am not willing to deal with the consequences of what he might find.