Chapter 15 #2
Previous arrogance stilted, she eased to her feet and took stock, noting where she was stiff and which parts tingled with renewed blood flow.
By the time she was fully upright, she decided she could run if given an opportunity.
And once her shoulders worked out their stiffness, she could swim—not well or fast, however.
There was just one problem: there wasn’t a spec of land in sight. For the time being, she was stuck here.
Thorne dragged from his pipe and blew the sweet smoke in her face. “Better?”
“I could use a hot bath.”
“Couldn’t we all?” Belatedly, he released a smile that sent a chill across her skin. In a blink, he thrust her back against the mast and held her low on the throat. She could breathe, but barely. “I am a patient man, Selene, but never mistake that for mercy.”
Selene had been on the other end of madness enough times to know when to remain silent.
“I offered you the courtesy of your life,” he said. “A modicum of trust.”
His crew was beginning to arrive on deck, rumpled from sleep. Strangely, though, several had blood on their clothes. She spotted a black eye here and there. Smears of blood on their skin. They looked as though they’d been through a hard-fought battle. A recent one.
“I expected more…honesty from you.” Thorne brought his face near hers and flashed his teeth. The smoke on his breath made her dizzy. “I’d expect this sort of betrayal from Augustus. You’re supposed to be the good one.”
Her heartbeat was a drum in her ears.
“Augustus is the liar, the scoundrel,” he continued. “But you… You’re the martyr. The little flame he follows, while holding the sea back so you won’t get doused. I think he’s been doing it for so long now that you’ve forgotten… You’re not as clever and untouchable as you think.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been preparing for this war for far too long to let two little girls get in my way.”
Two girls? Was he seeing double?
Thorne released her with a hard shove and spun around. “Bring her out.”
More men emerged from the ship’s bowels. They threw a figure onto the deck—small, bloodied, her brown hair in wet, matted ropes. A groan. A curl of a familiar voice. Then Selene knew.
Petrina.
“Here’s how it’s going to go,” Thorne said. “I’m going to take care of this little problem, and you’re going to watch. Then, when it’s over, you’ll understand the seriousness of your situation.”
He made a circular motion with his finger, and several crewmen descended on Petrina, lifting her to her feet. Her head bobbed up and down, and only one of her eyes stayed open. Whatever they’d done to her, she had no fight left.
“She’s barely even conscious,” Selene snapped, stepping forward into a pair of bracketing arms. “What are you doing?”
“Feeding the sharks,” Thorne said.
They tied ropes around Petrina’s ankles and wrists. Nearby, a plank creaked and groaned into place across the rail, a crude gangway to nowhere.
“Listen to me,” Selene said, her breath coming in harsh rasps, “I don’t know what she’s done, but—”
“How many others should I expect to find sneaking around my ship?” Thorne ignored Petrina’s death stroll. “The truth, Selene.”
“I didn’t know she was on board.”
“Walk her out,” he ordered.
Two men shuffled sideways down the gangplank with Petrina hanging by the arms between them.
Thorne dipped toward Selene’s ear and whispered, “You’re running out of time, Selene.”
“I don’t know why she’s here. We don’t even know each other.”
“I’m supposed to believe that? She helped you fight in the marketplace.”
And now Selene owed her a debt—not that she could watch her die, regardless. “She used to be one of Princess Alexandra’s sycophants. That’s all I know.”
From atop the gangplank, Petrina said, “Fuck that vile bitch. I will spit on her grave.”
Deep chuckles rumbled across the decks.
“Last chance,” Thorne said. “How many others are aboard?”
Selene shook her head. “She was alone in the market. I don’t know.”
“Drop her.”
Selene was already moving before they pushed Petrina off the edge. Months of training stole through her limbs and emptied her mind of anything but her destination. She ducked and spun the reaching hands, twisted and pushed.
She bound onto the railing like a clumsy child, a shin scraping the hard edge.
Down in the turbulent sea, Petrina’s head sank beneath the surface—
Selene’s heels left the wood. Wind slapped her face. Then she cracked through the icy surface where the cold swallowed her whole.
And immediately realized her mistake—she didn’t have enough air.
Time wasn’t on her side.
But maybe the gods were. Petrina was within sight, writhing as she sank, struggling to free her binds.
Selene arced her arms wide through the water. Her shoulders ached, and her legs burned. The sea wasn’t just cold—it was vicious, gnashing, and yanking from all directions.
But Petrina had risked her life for her and her people. Whatever her reasons, Petrina had at least proved she wasn’t like Alexandra. She deserved a chance to live. For that reason alone, Selene wouldn’t give up.
She finally reached Petrina and hooked her around the waist. Petrina relaxed into her hold, until they surfaced with great gasps, the roiling surface splashing their faces. Petrina was immediately wracked with coughs.
Selene worked on Petrina’s ropes one-handed, holding them both above water with only her kicking feet. Exhaustion threatened to take her under any second.
“You should have let me drown,” Petrina said as her wrists came free. “Now he’ll kill us both.”
“Staying wasn’t going to end in me sitting down to tea with a warm towel, either.”
Miles away, the ship had slowed, and several rowboats were being lowered into the water. Selene, again, searched for land to no avail. “We can try taking one of the boats when they get here.”
“I can’t fight,” Petrina said. Her dark hair wound across her pale face like thick tentacles. “Look at me. I can barely keep my head above water.”
Selene had burned through all her reserves as well. “We have to try.”
“You’re a fool.”
“Maybe, but I’m not the one who snuck aboard a pirate ship.”
Petrina slipped further into the water as she worked the binding off her ankles. “At least I can say I didn’t board arm-in-arm with my captor.”
“I made the only choice I had. My people were dying.”
“They made a choice.”
Petrina’s head bobbed as if fighting unconsciousness.
Selene shook her, the move dipping her mouth back into the salty water.
“Stay awake. I can’t hold us both for much longer.
” They had to survive long enough for the rowboats to reach them.
After that, she’d do and say whatever she had to to keep them both alive.
“Keep talking. Tell me why you followed me.”
The woman’s one good eye fluttered wetly. “In the mountain temple… The walls were coming down, and you knew you’d never save that girl. I could see it in your eyes. And yet, you stayed so she wouldn’t die alone.”
Selene shut her eyes at the stinging memory. Noi followed her through that crack in the mountain wall, right into the viper’s nest. When the battle didn’t kill her, the failing temple did.
“Alexandra never would have done that for me,” Petrina continued. “For any of us. We did everything for her, and she still pushed me into that room. All so she could get to you. My life was worth the risk to her.”
“Alexandra never cared about anyone but herself.”
Petrina ground out a laugh. “And you care about too many. She’ll cross the wrong person and get herself killed, but you’ll die to save the world, won’t you? You’re both idiots.”
“Maybe. But you’re the idiot who came after me.”
Petrina coughed. “Fuck you, Marinea. Next time, I’ll just sit back with a cup of tea and a warm towel. Will that make you feel better?”
Three rowboats arrived and surrounded them.
Thorne peered over the side of one with raised brows. “How’s the water?”
“Very refreshing,” Selene said, teeth chattering.
“Pull them in.”
The pirates snatched Selene and Petrina up by their wet shirts. Selene let them drag her across the side, unable to move her frozen limbs properly. She and Petrina hit the plankboard bottom with a thunk, a wet slap, and great, heaving gasps for air.
If Augustus were here, he’d already have half the crew bleeding, and the other half begging to join him. She hated how much she missed that chaos.
Thorne, seated next to her, rested an elbow across his knee and blinked down at her from above.
“Why not let us drown?” Selene asked from the flat of her back. She was too tired to face him properly. “You’re just going to kill us anyway.”
“There’s only one thing you should know for certain,” he said. “Doing so now would ruin my plans.” He turned to Petrina. “Maybe I should thank you.”
Petrina looked ready to pass out, but still managed to shoot a glare up at him. “You couldn’t have considered that before throwing me into the sea to die?”
His mouth twitched, then he returned his attention to Selene. “We’re going to be at sea for quite a while, you and I. And now I know how to—or rather, who will—keep you in line.”
Petrina let loose a string of curses under her breath, but one word rang clearer than the rest. “Idiot.”
Selene sagged further into the boat’s bottom. She’d been played. Worse, she’d let him see her weakness.
But if Thorne thought he’d broken her, he’d find out just how dangerous hope could be when cornered.