Chapter 61
Agentle sway stirs me from sleep. I groan and turn my head as a throb pulses behind my eyes. Light filters through my eyelids, and I blink them open. Waves lap against a set of sweeping windows, and blinding light reflects off water. Deep cracks sting my dry lips, but a smile pulls at my mouth.
The ocean.
Yet I can’t taste her salt or hear her song.
I shift, and my shoulder stings where tape secures a wide strip of bloodied gauze.
Wincing, I go to rub my eyes, but my hands don’t cooperate, as if they’re weighed down.
An ache spreads through my chest, hollow and gnawing.
With how much power I expelled, it’s a miracle I didn’t burn out completely.
“She’s awake.”
I swivel my head to the voice, and my vision tunnels on a generous captain’s quarters, about the size as The Twelfth Night. Yet there’s nothing familiar about the crest on the wall—a sprawling tree with intertwined limbs.
A table takes up the majority of the space, its edges adorned with deep green emeralds. On the far wall, two portraits frame a detailed map, yet no sign of Delterran’s whereabouts.
Kressa sits on a padded armchair, knuckles white against the arms. Our gazes lock, and she looks away, her grip tightening. Resting against the open doorway, Elias presses his lips into a thin line.
A sea breeze floats in from outside, carrying wisps of brine, and sways the ends of Kressa’s hair. Sunlight beats down on the wooden deck, and a crew chatters.
I go to swallow, but my mouth is too dry. “Where am I?”
Neither of them answer.
I open my mind. Kressa?
She doesn’t so much as flinch, as if my words didn’t register.
“Can you hear me?” I ask.
Elias straightens, sending a final glance to his sister. “I should go check on Thea.”
I gasp and jolt from the mattress, but my arms jerk back and metal bites into the skin at my wrists. My gaze trails down my arm and past the crook of my elbow. I shrug off the thin sheet.
My stomach hollows out at the metal wrapped around my wrists.
Rhodium.
“Where’s Thea!” I scream, jerking against the bed frame bolted to the wall.
Pain sears up my side, where skin pulls taut against a row of stitches. I bite back the sting and thrash harder, but the rhodium only siphons more of my power and energy.
Elias lowers his gaze and backtracks out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. The quarters dim and cast Kressa’s face in shadows, but she hasn’t muttered a word—hasn’t even looked at me.
I freeze and pin her with a glare. “Explain. Now. Where is she?”
She doesn’t raise her head. “In the brig. Recovering, like you.”
“Brig?” I snarl.
She doesn’t pause. “Caelus is dead, but Isolde escaped on the back of a falcon. And you, my”—her hands clench, and she clears her throat—“We’re crossing to Ignata.”
“Why am I in rhodium cuffs?”
Finally, she stands. A sliver of sunlight washes over her face, and I resist the urge to flinch. The soft look in her eyes she spared only for me has disappeared. Rather, they’re hard as stone, her jaw set like granite.
I search the recesses of my mind and grapple for the door leading to hers, but it’s nowhere to be found. The cord tethering me to her—our bond—gone. My heart races, and I press myself to a shallow seat as she stops before me.
“You are in rhodium cuffs, Briar Calisdana, because you are a prisoner of the Earth Court.”
THE END