Chapter 70
“They laugh when you threaten them,” I whispered.
After only one night under the moon, I already felt improved. Strength returned to my fingers; I could sense water in the air again. “Don’t react to them. They’re not going to hurt me.”
Kye ignored me, eyes thrust hard into the wall as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.
His black eye had faded to pale green, the swelling in his face eased away. The cut over his cheek bone had healed into a shining pink line and would surely scar.
But a new split in his lip had appeared overnight while I’d been chained to the oar bench, and he refused to talk about it.
“Kye.”
“What?”
I glared at him until he looked at me. “Whoever hired Kriska ordered them not to harm me. He frowns when he sees the bruises around my wrists from the cuffs. They haven”t laid a hand on me since we boarded. If they were going to injure me, they would have by now. They just want a rise out of you so they can attack you. It’s all a game to them.”
My words begged the question: who was paying Kriska? Someone who knew I was a Naiad. Not Selena, not Thaan. Their plans hinged on my remaining in Calder.
Someone else. But who?
He cleared his throat. “I seem to remember you telling me you can”t read people, Leihani”
I stiffened at the use of my own words against me, watching his knee bounce softly. The scent of hot metal wrapped around the room, stronger than Captain Kriska’s anger had been the day before.
“Promise me you won’t react.”
His knee jiggled harder.
“Kye.”
“No.” He gave a sharp shake, a whispered snarl grinding itself from his chest. “I can’t. I can”t watch them put their hands on you and not want to rip them apart. I can’t, so don’t ask me to.”
I released a slow breath, head cradled against the hard wall, and studied him for a long time.
Where I’m from, everyone wants to press their advantage. You either learn how to manage people or you let them control you.
And where’s that?
Here and there, up north. I can’t stay anywhere too long. I’m always looking for something I can’t find at home.
The memory of Kye growing anxious as we watched the naval ships cruise into the Leihani harbor floated to the forefront of my mind.
He’s always looking for ways to disappoint his father.
Like Hadrian, I’d thought Kye self-indulgent and spoiled. Immature. Someone who ran from his responsibilities, chasing the idea of adventure instead.
Now I realized he’d simply been unraveling under the loss of control over his life.
That’s why he’d left home.
I coveted freedom above all else, but Kye needed autonomy. A license to do what he wanted without needing permission or approval. Here, chained to the wall of a pirate ship, he was tending to the wounds of his own anger and fear the only way he knew how.
Picking fights.
He”d been raised to become a commander in his father’s army, and here he was defenseless against attack, but he searched for it anyway. For the reprieve it offered.
Mihauna, what an idiot.
But even as I thought the words, something inside me softened. I watched him buckle under the weight of his own private chaos, and worry bloomed inside me like dark little flowers. I made myself turn to stone as I gazed at him, unwilling to take no for an answer.
“Promise me.”
His muscles twitched and jerked like the idea of swearing such a thing was worse than belly-crawling through a cave of venomous spiders. I wondered if his pride blocked the ability to say the words. If they died on his tongue the way Naiad died on mine.
“They won”t hurt me, but you do, Kye,” I said, switching tactics as I felt myself grow desperate for him to stop shaking and listen.
His mouth parted as his gaze drifted to meet mine. His heels fell flat against the floor, his knee frozen as he absorbed my words, not a flicker of movement across his body.
“I suffer every time they lay a hand on you,” I said, and realized the words were true. “It”s killing me. If you can”t stop to protect yourself, find a way to stop and protect me.”
It was an unfair blow.
It was manipulative and low—invoking whatever guilt laying dormant under the surface of his ire.
But it was true.
Besides, I had no other hand to play, so I cast my cards across the table, hoping my face remained hard enough to hide the fear that crawled under my skin every time a new bruise appeared on his.
Kye stared at me, his breath slow and heavy.
“I’ll try.”
Each night, Aleksei chained me to one of the benches above, shoving his pug nose into my neck and breathing deep. Each morning, after the moon set below the horizon, Burian hauled me below deck.
The skies churned with fickle clouds, but I could feel the advance of a storm, the water in the air calling to my body. I played with it as my strength returned, wafting mist over my lap, never letting it grow thick enough for the pirates or Kye to see.
I wished I could call the sea to swallow the ship whole. But I doubted I held that much power—and I didn’t dare try. Not with Kye chained below.
So I waited.
I was like a rabid animal to the pirates. Exciting enough to pique their curiosity, but dangerous enough to keep their distance. Like children in a contest of dare, they crept near, nudging my leg or yanking my hair before leaping over the bench, darting away as the others laughed.
Although the shoreline hadn”t breached the horizon, I knew we were approaching our destination the morning our journey hit a fortnight.
“We”re close to land,” I whispered as soon as Burian left after chaining me below.
Kye sat up higher, flexing his hands. “You saw it?”
“No.” I leaned against the wall, irritated I couldn”t rest my arms without the cuffs digging into my skin. The red chafe of the iron had given way to burning laceration. “I saw two birds this morning flying in the direction we’re heading. The water isn”t as dark, and the clouds here reflect light. We”re probably a few miles off the coast.”
Kye gazed at me, his face hardening as our near futures awaited in the unknown. What came next, after we stepped onto shore? Who was waiting to take me?
Even with all their threats of killing Kye, I knew they wouldn’t. A prince’s ransom was too tempting to kill off. But the thought of being separated from him struck air from my lungs, and every time the idea forced itself into my mind, my chest seized in panic. He’d return to Calder. But I didn’t know where I’d go.
Teeth clenched, I glared at the ceiling, because the only other alternative would be to yell and rage, and I couldn”t. Not when I was scared enough to realize my time with him was running out.
On cue, a voice from the main deck sang out, “Pobre?ie! Pobre?ie vpredu!”
Thirty pairs of feet above stood and ran in all directions over the main deck, a man-made thunderclap of excitement at the sight of land approaching.
Kye remained impassive, though he met my gaze straight on. He curled his hands toward his body, though he couldn”t fully reach himself, golden eyes drifting across the floor of the cabin.
“If they bring you the valeriany, don”t drink it,” he said evenly. “They’re going to kill me anyway.”
“They won’t kill you,” I whispered through clenched teeth. “They”re bluffing. They would have done it already. They have a reason to keep you alive.”
“They had a reason,” he replied calmly. “To keep you compliant. You think they’ll actually hand me back to Calder alive? Pirates don’t work that way. They’ll take the crown’s money and leave me dead.”
I glared at him, my pulse suddenly hard and fast.
He gave a quick smile, the corners of his mouth lifting and falling again, gloating at besting me. But he faced the wall, brows tightening as he mused over whatever dark thoughts floated in his head. Eyes narrow, I swung back around, grasping the chain as I tilted backwards, pressing my foot against the corner of the chest.
“You”ll hurt yourself,” Kye deadpanned.
I gritted my teeth. “Why do you care?”
His mouth parted, his stubble-lined jaw jutting, though he didn’t answer. I ignored him, my attention locked onto the bolt in the wall.
“Malá ryba, what are you doing?” Captain Kriska’s voice said behind me. I jumped, my chain rattling against its ring.
The pirate captain leaned in the doorway, legs crossed, a sly smile over his mouth like a fox in a henhouse. “Is there a problem you need to report to management? The honeymoon suite not as romantic as you imagined?”
I twisted back around, sitting heavily on the wood chest. Raw and slippery, my wrists burned.
“I’m sure you are feeling parched, malá ryba,” Kriska said, picking blandly at his nails. He buffed them against his shirt, lifting his gaze to mine. His eyes lingered on my scathed wrists, and his mouth clenched with irritation. “Burian is bringing you a nice, gentle brew to quench your thirst.”