Chapter 13
13
Marcelis
Go!
I didn’t hesitate. As soon as Toorin whispered those words, we sprinted for the gate.
“Oi!” shouted one of the guards. “Stop, on the order of the Chancellor!”
Yeah. That might have stopped some people, but I’d rather have the guards run me through with an arrow than have them capture me and drag me and Toorin to my sire’s doorstep. Not sure either of us would survive that.
We ran faster, Toorin’s breaths coming in great gasps. I was worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up or that his heart would stop and he’d drop dead at my feet. As fast as we ran, the guards ran faster. Despite my new heart and how much better I felt, we were not in good enough condition to run for our lives.
The rustling behind the guard shack grew louder, but with the guards quickly gaining on us, I didn’t bother to see what in the stars caused it. The guards’ boots slapped the road, the footfalls louder and more earthshaking than an elephant’s. At least, that was my suspicion from the stories I’d been told about elephants. But it wasn’t like anyone had seen a live one in decades.
One of the guards was close enough that their ragged breath reached my ears. I tried for more speed, but I’d maxed out. Maxed out and slowing down. No way would I make the gate before they caught us. At least they couldn’t run and shoot arrows at the same time.
Then I heard a shout. And a thump. Toorin glanced behind us and managed a breathless “Faster!”
The command didn’t matter. My speed refused to change. We sprinted through the gate, my pace waning. My legs must have belonged to someone else because they refused to listen to my instructions. My lungs burned, and I feared I’d collapse if I tried to stop.
At least the guards had stopped running, but from the sounds behind me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to turn around and discover why.
“ Pssst . Over here!”
Toorin zigged. I zagged. The voice came from the shadowed alley I had run down when I’d escaped the first time. Only this time, the people on the other side of that voice were on my side. Mostly. I think Bodie held deserved reservations.
We negotiated the corner. I only slammed the edge of my shoulder into it. I’m sure it hurt, but it didn’t register between my burning lungs and dead legs. We skidded to a stop. Bodie caught Toorin before he cratered to the ground.
No one caught me.
My face slid across the jagged gravel. That was gonna leave a mark. “ Ooof .”
I didn’t get a hand up. But I got a shhhh from Bodie.
Toorin tried to run again. “We have to—”
“Easy.” Bodie let go of Toorin except for a stabilizing hand on his arm to keep him balanced.
Juniper crouched at the corner of the shack that nearly took my shoulder out and checked behind us. “All clear.”
Muffled shouts came from the direction of the gate. I got to my feet, legs shaky, yet recovering, and eased up to the corner. My hand lay on the side of the shack in case my legs failed me. I looked back at the gate. Moon and mars... “What the—”
Juniper’s muffled laugh cut me off. “Killer camels.”
I swiped at my eyes, in case what I saw wasn’t real, but if it wasn’t, Juniper lived in the same fantasy world as me. Bodie, Toorin, Lyric, and Darwin all gathered around to watch.
In front of the guard shack, a bull camel had the two guards on the ground. He kicked and stomped and spit. The guards didn’t stand a chance. Eventually, they both stopped moving, and the camel lowered its head and sniffed the two men before blowing out a nostril-clearing breath. Then he ambled toward us as if he hadn’t stomped two men into the ground.
I leaned against the shack. It shuddered under my weight, and I locked my knees to stay erect.
“Let’s get back to the Lark before you two get into any more trouble,” Bodie said.
Toorin chuckled. Bodie didn’t. He took hold of Toorin’s upper arm and led him away. Everyone else followed. I’d catch up, but I needed a minute to recover.
Juniper must have noticed that I hadn’t followed. She came back. “Best be moving. It’s not safe for you alone out here.”
I shifted, and my knees tried to buckle. She put her shoulder under my arm and wrapped her arm around my waist. I wanted to tell her it wasn’t necessary, but it was. Everyone else had turned a corner and disappeared down another alley. We didn’t catch up to them until we’d reached the dinghy.
Toorin looked relieved to see us. Bodie planted his hands on his hips, looking annoyed. Under her breath, Juniper said, “I don’t think he’s happy to see us. Or should I say you ?”
“I get it.” I mean, I was the reason his friend didn’t have his heart, so it wasn’t like I blamed him. It didn’t matter to him that Toorin had forgiven me. At least, I thought he had. He wouldn’t have kissed me in the culvert like that if he hadn’t.
Keep telling yourself that, Toft.
Bodie would come around, or he wouldn’t, and I doubted nothing I said or did would change that.
“Get in,” Bodie ordered.
Toorin and Lyric were already on board. Juniper climbed in, and Darwin and Bodie not-so-gently loaded me onto the dinghy like a sack of rotten potatoes they wanted nothing to do with. I didn’t complain as I landed on my ass in the bottom of the dinghy with a thud.
Bodie and Darwin shoved us away from shore and climbed in from the front. They dripped water into the bottom of the boat, and it rolled to the lowest point and dampened my clothes. Bodie and Darwin each took a set of oars, and Darwin had to work extra hard to keep up with Bodie’s vigorous strokes.
I held onto the side, unconvinced that Bodie wouldn’t find the deepest part of the bay and toss me into it.
Toorin
After returning to the Lark, we raised and secured the dinghy for sailing. We had no reason to stay, and the sooner we set sail, the sooner we could find Dr. Hahl, the surgeon Solomon had told us about, and bring her back to Toonu to switch out my heart.
If she would come.
It was a long shot.
The six of us gathered in the galley, and I scooted into the booth beside Marc, who’d nearly fallen asleep with his head resting against the bulkhead.
Juniper slid in across from us next to Lyric. Darwin stood by the hob, and Bodie leaned against the counter, his arms folded across his chest with a scowl that had nearly become a permanent fixture on his face since we’d picked up Marc. Bodie didn’t trust him, and I would only make it worse if I tried to force him into accepting Marc.
And I don’t think telling Bodie that I’d kissed Marc would make Bodie change his mind. In fact, it would probably be best if we kept that to ourselves. I didn’t need Bodie wondering if I was thinking with my dick instead of my brain. Last thing I wanted was a mutiny on my hands. Those were never pretty.
“So,” Bodie’s impatience turned his words into a growl. “When do you get your heart back?”
I grimaced. Bodie wasn’t going to like what I had to say.
I told them everything, not leaving anything out except for the kiss and how Marc had made me feel back in the culvert. Like we’d connected. Like I wasn’t alone even though I was rarely more than forty feet from any of my crew. I could hardly believe it, and I don’t think I had the words to make Bodie believe it, too.
But he didn’t have to understand all that to understand the challenge ahead of us.
“Let me get this straight.” Bodie’s scowl deepened until I thought the furrow between his brows might cleave his face in two. “We have to sail across the IP to Turtle Bay as gale season approaches, make a two-week journey across the badlands to get to the Mercy Province, and hope the doctor there is willing to risk their life to return to Toonu and operate.”
I glanced at Marc. He shrugged. That pretty much covered it. “Yes. If we can get some camels, we could probably cut that two-week trek across the badlands into a week.”
“Great. I feel so much better.”
Lyric laughed at Bodie’s sarcasm, then swallowed it down and sobered when nobody else laughed. “Sorry.”
With the rising sun, ambient light seeped into the galley, and Darwin snuffed out the lanterns.
“Everyone get some sleep,” Bodie said. “We’ll set sail early afternoon once we’re rested.”
No one had to tell Lyric, Darwin, or Juniper twice. They scrambled out of the galley in a rush to get to their bunks. I didn’t blame them. I was ready for some real sleep.
“I don’t like this,” Bodie said when it was the three of us. “What if the doctor refuses to come?”
It was time for me to be the captain and take some of the weight and worry off Bodie’s shoulders. “Let me worry about that. We thought finding Marc would be impossible, yet here we are.”
“Aye, Captain,” Bodie said. He never called me that unless I’d annoyed him. His agreement hadn’t come voluntarily but out of necessity. After all, what other choice did we have? We had to try, and even with his pessimism, Bodie had my back.
Bodie stepped away without another word, leaving me alone with Marc. We scooted out of the booth, and I got a good look at the abrasion on his cheek for the first time. I lifted his chin and turned his cheek toward the light.
“How did this happen?”
“When I fell in the alley. It’s nothing.” He took his chin back, and I put a staying hand in the middle of his chest to keep him from leaving.
“Hold up.”
He sighed and leaned against the table while I retrieved the first aid kit. There would be no infections on my watch if I could help it.
I retrieved the kit from one of the drawers in the galley and set it on the table before finding our nearly empty bottle of moonshine.
I wet an almost clean scrap of cloth with the moonshine. “This is going to sting.”
Marc hissed in a breath as the rag touched the wound, somehow managing to swallow down the curse words. He held his breath while I cleaned, only letting it out when I’d finished.
I topped his skin with some salve we’d had on the boat since forever. A little bit of that stuff went a long way. I inspected my work, letting go of Marc’s face when I’d covered all the raw skin.
“Thank you.” His nearly whispered words brushed my face as his gaze dropped to my mouth. I hadn’t realized how close I’d stepped until then. “You have a… gentleness about you.”
“Don’t tell the crew that.” I was joking. Mostly.
Marc ducked his head. Then, a smile tilted his lips. A smile that made me want nothing more than to taste those lips again. “You don’t have any of them fooled. They don’t follow you because they fear you. They follow you because they love you.”
I didn’t think anyone had ever said anything as beautiful as that to me before. That he knew me that well so soon seemed impossible, but he understood me at a level that most didn’t. Maybe that was one of the things that inexplicably drew me to him.
My eyes dipped to his lips. I waited, giving him a chance to move away if whatever we’d shared in the culvert had been a one-time thing. I’d understand if it were. It was a rare moment of shared vulnerability.
Instead of moving away, he leaned in, brushing his lips to mine. Fuck . “ Mmpf ,” the sound crawled up the back of my throat, a deep, desperate sound that I wouldn’t and couldn’t take back.
With a hand on the back of his neck, I held him in place and deepened the kiss. He tasted like escape. Like a place I wanted to live but could only dream about.
I kept the kiss slow and languid, savoring his taste in a starving world where most things were devoured.
His hands fisted in my shirt, holding me close as if he feared I’d vanish. Finally, we broke the kiss.
“Wow,” fell from his lips as he rested his forehead against mine. “Moon and mars,” he said with an awe I’d only heard in a small child seeing the vastness of the IP for the first time. But I got it. I’d never been so drawn to anyone in my life.
It thrilled me.
It scared the piss out of me.
I heard the scuff of Bodie’s boot a second before he stepped into the galley. We broke apart, but not before Bodie saw enough for his sure steps to falter.
“Are you coming?” Bodie asked. He tried schooling his expression, but I saw the blatant disapproval mar his features.
“Where to?” I asked as I put more space between Marc and me.
“I’m on watch duty first,” he said.
I had no clue what he was talking about. It must have shown on my face because Bodie added, “To watch you while you sleep. You know, to make sure you don’t die.” He glanced pointedly at Marc.
But Bodie needed sleep as much as the rest of the crew if we were going to set sail later in the day. “I’m fine. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I’ll do it,” Marc said.
We both looked at him.
“What?” Marc glanced between us. “It makes the most sense. I know nothing about how to sail a boat. I’ll be no good to you on deck, but I can watch Toorin. Then I can sleep.”
I schooled my smile because Marc was right, and that would grate on Bodie.
“Suit yourself.” Bodie turned on his heel without another word.
“I better go talk to him,” I said, though it was the last thing I wanted to do, especially with him in a mood.
Toorin
After searching the Lark, I finally found Bodie at the stern, looking over the vastness of the IP. Sailing to Turtle Bay this time of year would be dangerous, but not more dangerous than what we did nearly every day as scrappers dealing with storms and pirates and the peculiar idiosyncrasies of an old boat.
He had his back to me as I approached.
The Lark listed slightly to port, not something a person unfamiliar to her would notice without seeing her railing lined up with the horizon, but I could feel it beneath my feet. “We’ll need to make sure the bilge is pumped before we set sail.”
“Aye.” Bodie glanced over his shoulder without turning my way, his body blocking my view of his hands. I heard the distinct splash of water as Bodie finished relieving himself over the side.
He tucked himself away as I leaned against the rail and stared at the water and the slowly expanding oil slick on the surface directly beneath us.
I’d been so caught up with getting my heart back that I’d barely thought to ask Bodie how he was doing.
“You’re losing a lot of hydraulic fluid.” I nearly slapped myself for stating the obvious.
“Looks worse than it is when you see it spread out like that.”
I turned to face him. “How are you feeling?”
I expected his usual dark humor, but he hit me with the truth instead. “Like someone stole both of my kidneys, and I’ve been pissing hydraulic fluid for weeks.”
I thought about Tobs being trampled. At least I knew who had my heart. The one person we knew who had one of Bodie’s kidneys was dead, and we had no clue where to find the other. We both understood that we might never know. And running to Mercy Province on a whisper-thin hope that someone could help me also meant that Bodie might never find the other recipient.
“We could stay,” I said, liking the idea more as I sat with the words. “We could find your other kidney and—”
“You don’t have that kind of time.”
“And you do?”
“I’m not going to drop dead the way you keep trying to. We’ll get your heart sorted first, then we can worry about my kidney.”
“What if we never…” I let the rest of the sentence drop. I didn’t want to think about it, much less say it.
“There are other options out there. In the meantime, I’ll make sure I top up on hydraulic fluid regularly. I have the ports. It’s not that bad.”
I narrowed my eyes. Was he saying that because it was true, or was he deflecting?
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m checking on you. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“I’m not talking about that.”
“Then you’ll have to fill me in because I can’t read your mind.”
Bodie pushed away from the rail. “What are you doing with him ? And don’t you dare tell me it’s none of my business because it is my business, and it’s Lyric’s and Darwin’s and Juniper’s. What we’re about to do could get any or all of us killed. And we’re good with that.”
“But?” He didn’t say it, so I did.
“You don’t think he’s playing you? If he wants to live, it’s in his best interest to do everything in his power to stop you, you know that, right? Up and including seducing you.”
I knew he was right. But he didn’t understand. Bodie hadn’t been there in that culvert, hadn’t held me together as I broke apart. And if he had, he wouldn’t know how… safe Marc made me feel.
Marc wasn’t trying to seduce me into letting him go.
I’d bet my life on it.
I was betting my life on it.
But Bodie didn’t want to hear how I felt. He needed reason and proof. “Everything he has done since we’ve met him has been in my best interest. He never wanted my heart. His sire had defied his wishes. And now that he’s defied his sire, his life is also in danger. Maybe more because it’s harder for him to blend in. I can’t make you trust him, and I won’t try. But watch him. Listen to his words. Follow his actions. He’s staying for the right reasons.”
Bodie chewed on that much longer than I’d expected him to. To be fair, it was a lot to digest. For years, it had been us against the world. We’d learned to trust Lyric and Darwin and now Juniper. He’d have to get there with Marc.
“Yeah, well…” Bodie said with the tone of a man who didn’t believe much of what I said, even if he was trying to. “You best get some sleep. I smell rain in the air. We’ll need to be ready for whatever the IP throws at us.”
I turned toward my cabin. I’d smelled the rain, too, but I’d ignored it. Which made me wonder, what else was I ignoring?
Was Bodie right? Was Marc trying to seduce me? To use me to get what he wanted?