Chapter 34
I’ve never felt so hungry in my life. Perched like a bird in a nest, I lie on the top shelf in the back of the closet. Not once have I thought of food during this plan, or I would never have gone along with sneaking into enemy lines.
Why didn’t I think of that? What else did I expect would happen?
Also, another weird thing happened. Prince Reen moved rooms. I overheard him telling someone named Alad that he needed a bigger room because this one was too small for him.
Rich fucking elemny. This room is faultless!
And so, I left my perch on this journey to have some dignity and pee in the toilet. Flushing was avoided for fear of disturbing others because of possible faults in the ship’s plumbing system. So…I timed when I flushed the toilet.
Sometimes, on the journey from the closet to the toilet, I contemplated sleeping on the bed with silk sheets and frilly, expensive pillows. But after considering how careless it would be, I re-entered the closet and hid there. It has been a few days, and I have only had water from the bathroom tap.
Footsteps thump on the deck outside the room. “Sir, we’re nearing the Fountain of Silver.”
“Let’s review our plan,” Prince Reen says.
Their voices fade.
The Fountain of Silver makes my heart flutter. Almost daringly, I push the boxes aside, open the closet, and strain my body until I’m peeking outside the window. My face breaks into a broad grin at the island in the distance.
I slide down from the closet when the numbness of sitting for too long shudders up my legs, prickling them with every unforgivable step.
Every step sparks tingling pins and needles, and I sit on the floor and rub some life into my feet and calves to prepare myself.
After a few minutes, I get back on my feet and enter the bathroom to pee because the nervousness gets to me.
As soon as I sit down, the door opens, and the footsteps grow closer. The bathroom door opens, and a man with a perplexed look stands there. Silver eyes bore into me, and the dark circles under his eyes still plague him. I know him. He was the one who found me that night.
My body locks when he reaches into his pocket. He offered me a cigarette that night by pulling out a packet, bumping two sticks together and gesturing. He does the same thing now.
“What’s up with the fucking cigarette?” I breathe.
He stares without expression; when he talks, it’s as lifeless as his looks. “This is the second time we’re meeting, and it seems both times are in weird fucking situations, don’t you think?”
Fuck, he’s not wrong. I’m on a ship where I shouldn’t be, squatting on the toilet with a man watching me.
“Are you going to tell him?” I say.
“He already knows. It’s the reason he changed rooms.”
My shoulders tremble, and knots in my stomach crunch when I lean forward and laugh.
Fuck me!
“And why hasn’t he killed me?”
The air elemny shrugs. “Something about a debt. He promised not to hunt you until you’re off the ship.”
Pull up my underwear and pants, wash my hands in the sink, and walk past him. If my thoughts are correct, I assume Astin means the time I saved Prince Reen’s life all those years ago. So, he knows it’s me now. And what does that mean? He has a heart and a moral code.
Ha.
Unbelievable.
“What are you doing?” he says when I reach into the closet and grab my bag.
“Well, if you’re right, why the fuck am I hiding?”
With confidence that I shouldn’t have and a sense of power over everything, I open the door and step out without a freaking care.
Fresh air first smacks me in the face, and it’s heavenly after sitting in a stuffy closet for days.
I inhale deeply, drinking in the atmosphere, the air, and the sounds of lapping waves.
I glance to my right, seeing a man leaning against the railing with arms folded across his chest. He arches a brow, and dark humour holds his demeanour in his crimson eyes.
Prince Reen’s taller than I expected now that I’m seeing him up close and personal, but the pressure and intensity of his glare and sharpened eyes make him seem even taller.
I incline my head. “Prince Reen.”
He dips his head. “Pandora Hart.”
I lean my elbows on the railing and glare out at the sea. “You want a hunt. I can give you that, but you need to give me a twenty-minute head start.”
“Are you giving me orders?” Prince Reen chuckles.
“And?”
Red eyes narrow, and upon analysing his face, I see the resolve. “Ten minutes. You’re too good for me to give you more of a head start.”
“What will happen when you find me?” I say out of curiosity. “Will you take me to King Walkyer or kill me?”
He shrugs. “Depends on how good the hunt is. But we’re docking soon, so you’d best start preparing.” Prince Reen pushes off from the railing and walks in the opposite direction. “You should shower. It won’t take me long to find you if you smell like that.”
“Fuck you.”
“Wouldn’t that be an interesting turn of events?” he laughs.
The air elemny leaves with Prince Reen, and I am not stupid. They planned this. He wants me to break into a sweat, but also ease my erratic heart. But why?
I enter the room again and eye the bathroom.
If he knew I was in the closet the whole time but didn’t tell me, help a fucking sister out! I could have slept in the fucking bed and eaten food! I wouldn’t have tiptoed around, afraid of getting caught.
Arsehole.
I scrub my skin raw and abuse the lotions and body wash in there because, fuck it. I fucking can. What are they going to do about it?
When I dress in a fresh T-shirt and shorts, we’re docking the Fountain of Silver. There’s no one on the deck, which means Prince Reen’s giving me some privacy to flee before he hunts me down. It gives me more chances against him, knowing where I am headed.
Unless he already fucking knows. And if that’s the case, yeah…Yeah, Plan B sounds the safest.
“Pandora.”
I spin around, clutching the dagger in my hands. An elemny of colour stands behind me. He eyes the blade but doesn’t move to come closer or step away.
“What do you want?”
“Prince Reen told me to let you off. Time starts when your feet touch the ground. He will stay in his room until I tell him ten minutes have passed,” he says.
“Will you tell him which direction I went?”
“Disrupting his hunt can be punishable by death,” he says. “It would be stupid for me to do so.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“My name is Alad, if you were interested in knowing.”
I turn away and glare at the ship, slowing at the pier. “Not really. There’s no interest in knowing someone I will never see again.”
He stays silent. Instead, stairs move from the pressure of air, settling in place from where I stand.
When the stairs are secure, I head down them.
Wooden flooring creaks under my weight as I step down, and without turning to look, I run down the pier until I’m consumed by elemny.
Considering it’s a free city, there’s no process I need to go through to enter.
I have enough freedom to go anywhere. But my mind drifts to the postal locker.
I need that passport.
Maya told me there are two postal boxes in the Fountain of Silver. One is by the green building with a floral design, and the other is by the lighthouse in the city centre. I need to go to the one near the green building. If Prince Reen knows my need to go there, he will prioritise it.
I need to monitor the situation before I can proceed.
The Fountain of Silver differs from Oceanview Harbour.
Because elemny from the harbour is more heartless and careless, or maybe everyone here has more of a carefree, spiritual nature—music pumps from the record store on the left.
Elemny scream in my ear on the other side of me as they wave flyers in their hands and beg for potential buyers.
Food trucks line the right side of the street and attract groups of elemny looking to eat.
My stomach grumbles.
How much time do I have? Five minutes.
The guy working at the food truck smiles when he notices me approaching him.
I ordered a beef kebab. He gives me the goods in a matter of seconds, and I hand him the money before fleeing.
It was worth it, though. My stomach is seconds away from eating itself, and after hanging out in a cupboard for days, I need a meaty meal.
My focus lands on the closest motel near the green building. The electronic doors open, emitting a sing-song sound that immediately alerts the woman behind the counter. A smile, almost always given by receptionists, brightens her features.
“Room for one,” I tell her.
“How many nights?”
“One.”
“That’s ninety dollars.”
I hand her the notes—thanks to the air elemny I stole from—and she hands over the key and gestures to the stairs. Stairs. No elevator. I fucking hate stairs.
The room she gave me is compact but adequate. Before watching TV, I toss my damp and stinky clothes in the washer and dryer. Prince Reen is clever; I give him that. But he can be as bright as he wants, yet it doesn’t stop the fawning fans from showing me where he’s going.
My grin broadens at the first glimpse of him entering the Fountain of Silver.
“There you are,” I say as I lean forward on the bed. “As long as they keep recording you, I will always be one step ahead. Who’s the hunter now?”