Chapter 68
Iwoke up on the floor, too sore to move. Silence filled the ship. Light streamed from the small window in the door. I pushed up to my knees, releasing a shrill gasp as an electric jolt shot from my hip and into my back. My hand pressed onto the small of my waist, and I froze, remembering where I was.
Beside me, Kye slept chained to the wall. His head lolled to one side in a way that made his neck appear broken.
A cut under one eye gaped open, blood crusted in the corners. His opposite eye shone black and swollen, his lips a tinged blue. An abrasion traveled the line of his jaw, disappearing into his chin. Dried blood stained his neck, a sharp line cut into his skin just above his throat. He breathed laboriously; his mouth barely parted as he rasped through each inhale.
I gathered myself to my feet. Too fast. My head swam as a wave of nausea knocked me sideways, and I managed to sit heavily on my empty wooden chest, leaning forward to brace my head between my knees.
The ship rocked. A soft pattering of rain fell distantly overhead. I closed my eyes, feeling the motion and sound of waves hitting the ship, counting the seconds between swells.
Cautiously, I slid from the wooden chest to try the door.
Locked.
Crouching in front of Kye, I leaned between his knees, ignoring the queasiness in my stomach. My fingertips traced the base of his chest, eyes intent and alert for any sign he might wake up as I softly called to the water in his body.
Immediately, I felt the presence of blood in his lungs.
Fresh alarm lanced through my chest as I listened to the air crackle within him. He was littered with bruises. A hole burned in my throat, and I swallowed it as I pushed closer. Calling to the liquid in his lobes, I grappled to lift the slippery blood up his trachea. He coughed as it came up in a clotted mess, and I dropped it onto the corner of the floor. Leaning back on my heels, I waited for the sound of his crackling breath to calm, even by an infinitesimal amount.
Any improvement would do.
Anything at all.
But he sounded the same. I closed my eyes as a wave of nausea engulfed me, leaning hard against his knee.
At least he wouldn’t drown in his own blood.
My belly rolled. Bile crept up my throat. I laid my head against his thigh, closing my eyes.
Chains rattled. A hand smoothed my hair.
I looked up to find him staring at me, golden eyes pensive.
“Hey,” he rasped, his voice a fractured whisper, as though he’d screamed himself hoarse. “You should sit back. You look pale.”
“What happened to you?” I asked, though I knew. I knew what had happened after I’d fallen asleep. My belly lurched, nausea swarming.
His jaw hardened. “Either sit back or lean on me.”
I gulped; throat dry as nausea engulfed me. Huddling against his lap, the world tilted sideways. The room spun. My stomach rolled. I wrapped my arms around Kye’s waist, anchoring myself as everything turned and twisted. Wood splinters bit under my nails.
Kye’s knees cradled my sides, steadying me. “Give it a moment,” he whispered.
I squeezed my eyes, willing the queasiness in my stomach to fade. The spinning slowed, but I remained curled into him, afraid it might return.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
I frowned into my elbow. Images of the beach flashed. Fighting Kriska’s men, boarding the ship—but the memories were distant. As if they’d come from someone else”s head.
I sifted through them slowly. The hook through the fishnet. Captain Kriska and his folded missive, the reward for my capture. The water he’d forced me to drink by strangling Kye.
Lifting my hand, I trailed a single finger under the line at his throat. “This.”
He swallowed, the movement brushing my fingertip.
“How long was I out?”
“A day and a half.”
“What?” I glanced at him in disbelief.
“I think. It’s hard to tell without daylight. The pirates all went to bed. They got up and sailed all day, and then they went to bed again.” He glowered as he stared at bruises along my legs, and I remembered them stepping on me to get to him.
Curling my feet under my body, I finally pulled back, looking down at myself. The thin white satin of my dress was stained with dirt, almost transparent over my body. I wished he’d look away, though I found my eyes holding his a moment later, wondering what had happened.
What they’d done to him after I’d gone unconscious.
And what he’d been forced to watch.
A rope tightened deep in my belly, leaving me sick with something other than the side-effects of drugged water. My hand roamed across my stomach as I began probing internally for an answer I didn’t want to find.
For the presence of any sensation other than familiar. For rawness or soreness. For pain.
But there was nothing.
Eyes wide, I snapped my gaze to his, and he seemed to read my thoughts.
“They didn’t,” was all he said, hands curling into tight fists.
“You’re sure?” I whispered, hugging my knees.
His hands flexed again; knuckles bloodied. “They didn’t.” He looked as if he might say something else. Guilt flashed behind his eyes, but he turned away, staring hard at the floor. “Their attention wasn’t on you. They laid you on the floor, and a few of them stepped on you—” But he stopped there, running his teeth over his lower lip.
My stomach hardened. Time for a change in subject. “How long did I take to fall asleep?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Ten minutes.”
“That’s all?” It had felt longer.
Kye’s gaze hardened onto a knot of wood in the plankboards.
I nestled my jaw onto the crests of my knees, listening to the bumps and scrapes of the pirates overhead, ignoring the shifting queasy tide within me at every lurch and bounce of the ship.
His mouth opened to say something as the slat on the door flew open. Two eyes appeared through the window. It snapped shut again.
A minute later, the door swung wide.
“Good morning, my distinguished guests,” Kriska boomed loudly at us. “Malá ryba, I see you are awake. You took a good long rest, yes? Let”s get you back in your place. Aleksei!”
The pirate captain stepped aside for the pug-nosed man. Aleksei yanked me up by the arm. I yelped out loud, flinging myself onto the chest simply so I wouldn’t have to bear touching him.
Kye snarled, iron clanging as he shot forward.
“Careful, Highness, I don’t think you can afford being disciplined a second time.” Captain Kriska cocked his head. “Why, malá ryba. What is wrong?”
I closed my eyes, ignoring him, quelling the nausea that swelled from sudden movement.
“Don’t talk to her,” Kye growled.
Kriska clicked his tongue, ignoring him. “The effects of the tonic wear off slowly when you’re not used to it. The dizziness only lasts a few hours. It’s a handy concoction, the koren valeriany. Good to keep on board when the nights are long, and work is hard. Demyan learned the trade from his dear babicka. An old family recipe. I went to their shop every time I docked for years, trying to recruit Demyan to my crew, so I may learn more of his concoctions, until finally—”
“Where are we?” Kye cut in.
Kriska turned to look at him with an expression of surprise, as if he’d thought Kye had left and was shocked to see him still chained to the wall. When he answered, he directed his attention back to me.
“We are approaching the coast of Rivea.”
“How long will we be on this ship?”
“That depends on many factors, little prince. How will the sea fare? Will we be delayed in harbor? We have stops to make. I need to send correspondence to my contacts. How long will it take to resupply? Will the ship require any repairs at port? It is not a simple question. But we’ll probably sail for two weeks.”
Two weeks.
I went still, calculating the days in my head. I’d miss the next full moon.
“Where are you taking us?” Kye deadpanned, as though resolute to whatever answer Kriska might give.
Kriska flashed his black teeth. “Ah! There is something I can answer. But I won’t. Burian, bring malá ryba her breakfast.”
“Who was it?”
Kriska turned slowly on his heel, facing Kye.
Kye’s mouth curled, the promise of violence thick in his eyes. “Who’s paying you for us?”
Kriska smiled, his hand slithering over a pocket, fingers prodding the fabric of his pants. “It doesn’t concern you. She’ll learn soon enough.”
My eyes fixed onto the fabric under his hand, where the letter was—the one he’d read to us. The one the pirates used to identify me.
Kriska swiveled back to me, twisting his gaze over my body, a sly smile over his mouth. “Pekné na rybu, nie?” he mused to the other pirates, grinning over his shoulder. One of them answered in Kravan, earning a low chuckle from the rest. Kriska smirked, his thumb drifting over his chin as he gazed at me in thought.
I glowered at them, but it was Kye who sneered back. “Dotkni sa jej a zabijem ?a.”
They erupted in laughter, repeating his words tauntingly back to him. Kriska watched in mute humor until he inclined his head, signaling the pirates to return to work.
The door snapped shut behind them. Across from me, a dark rage vibrated against the wall like a black cloud burning over the sea.