Chapter 14
KORMAC
The strange metal net broke the surface of the water, angry waves crashing into us. The air was bitter, instantly sending us both into a spell of shivers. A stronger wind blew at the water, dark clouds rolling across the sky.
I smelled rain.
Out of the sea, our legs returned. I held Valance close, trying to keep him warm. Protecting him. Not knowing how to make this better.
He’d not hurt me in his berserker rage. Again. He’d come to me, stared at me, been in the same weird trance as after the goblin slaughter. Then passed out.
I wanted him safe, alive, to find a fire somewhere. Keep him warm, shield him. Once again, those who were supposed to be his allies turned on him. It brought me no joy, not even a rebellious sliver against the soul bond.
Higher and higher, the net rose, attached to a huge ship by a metal arm. The grinding of machinery thundered against the roar of the waves, a chain pulley system dragging us up.
Much more sophisticated than fishing with my dad in my childhood. We used nets and lines made by him, neither of them metal.
The ship was made of metal and wood, the deck lined with Gentry fae ready for battle. Dressed in copper armor—metal, not the leather elven kind—and armed to the teeth with all manner of weapons, they were a formidable bunch.
And here we were, caught in a net, completely naked and freezing to death.
The shores of Spring sat close by, bathed in the bright light of a full moon when the clouds didn’t pass across it. It was the smallest of the four countries of Faerie, now the deadliest. A shoreline of cliffs and sand, a huge keep looming over everything, partly built into the cliff face.
Anywhere else on Faerie would be preferable to this place. Even the White Wastes.
Even Winter.
The net swung around with the arm. Then the pully system worked to move us along the arm until we reached the ship. We hovered above the army of men and women on deck before being lowered.
Two Gentry fae opened the net, others surging forward to join them. They pounced on us, prying us apart.
“No!” I boomed. “Get your hands off him!”
They ignored me, carrying Valance away. I ached as they took him below, clawed at the air in pure anguish.
“I need him here!” I roared, swinging a punch at one fae.
I received a punch to my stomach in return—from a man wearing a heavy gauntlet. He knocked the wind out of me, my intestines screaming from the horrible shock. I bent over, falling painfully to my knees.
“Valance…” I managed, sensing his fear.
Shackles locked over my wrists, my neck. Fae manhandled me, adding shackles to my ankles. I shivered in the cold, naked on the wet deck.
“Get him to his quarters,” a woman ordered.
My quarters? Shouldn’t that be dungeon or cell?
The neck shackle was fixed to a chain. A leash. A man ordered me to move, pulling on it. Slow and unsteady, I got to my feet. I rocked as the ship did, almost tumbling back down. To my surprise, the man at the end of my leash steadied me.
“Give him back,” I said.
“Move.”
“I want the prince.”
I didn’t get what I wanted, taken below deck into a corridor of cabins with circular doors. Without much room for a stride with the shackles at my ankles. My captor opened the second door along as the ship lurched suddenly, throwing me into the wall.
“Are you okay?” he asked in his sharp Spring twang, the door swinging open.
“What do you care?” I asked.
“I care a lot.”
“Then give me back my prince.”
“He’s not your prince.”
I stared at this fair-skinned fae with the blazing red hair of the Gentry—long and curly. Young, fresh-faced. Maybe only in his late teens. Skinny yet strong yet breakable if I were given the chance to snap him.
He was armed with two swords at his back, the weapons looking almost as tall as him. Trying to be tough, not fooling anyone. But that didn’t matter at this point. He held the upper hand on this ship. The shackles restricted my movements, and I didn’t know where Valance had been taken.
“Is he okay?” I tried.
“Who?”
Don’t be stupid! “The prince.”
“He’s not your concern.”
“He’s my only concern.”
He shook his head, a hand on my lower back to gesture me inside.
I followed orders, trying to come up with something to hurt him and get me what I wanted. But that copper armor revealed no handy weak points.
My prince…
Inside the cabin was a bed, a small round window looking out to sea, and two candles burning in glass lanterns fixed to the walls. There were clothes draped across the white bedding and plenty of warmth hugging my body. The small glass window was closed, wind whistling behind it.
Didn’t stop my shivers.
Another man appeared. “Go ahead.”
The young fae unlocked my shackles quickly, immediately backing off.
The new Gentry pointed an arrow at my head, his hands steady on the bow. Older than the young one, a weathered face, cropped red hair. A man who’d seen a battle or two, lived a different life to his comrade.
“Stay where you are, human,” he said, his voice gruff and packed with rougher Gentry tones.
I obeyed, taking a seat on the bed as the young man left the room.
“You’ll stay here,” the arrow-wielder said.
“Until when?”
He didn’t answer, slamming the door closed. A lock clicked.
I collapsed onto my back, defeated.
“Valance…”
Images of the prince’s latest massacre flashed in my mind. The mer. The squid. All of them torn to pieces as if they were nothing but paper dolls.
Gods…
What was I going to do now?