Chapter 34 Nyte #2
“There’s a temple underwater beneath the Sterling Mountains; we’ll need your help to get inside it once we have the trident.”
“Ahh yes, they speak of the cursed temple under the sea. My kind wouldn’t dare try to enter such an ancient place. Fortunately for you, angering gods sounds delightful to me.”
“Good. Once I’ve retrieved the trident, we’ll meet you there.”
Fedora smiled, baring serrated teeth, which was more frightening than endearing. She cupped both my and Astraea’s cheeks.
“It’s so precious seeing the star and the night together,” she doted. Then her eyes flicked up, and her expression turned dark on the approaching ship. “I could take you to shore instead.”
“We wouldn’t last in these waters for that long,” I told her.
She pouted. “Leaving me so soon?”
“How will I call for you when I have the trident?” I asked.
Fedora held such adoring eyes on Astraea, stroking her cheek like a pet. Then before I could stop her, a long sharp nail cut her cheek, making her bleed, and Astraea’s grip tightened on me.
My teeth gritted, suppressing my instinct to kill as I watched Fedora bring Astraea’s blood, beaded on her nail, to her tongue.
“A drop into the water you’re near and I’ll be the first to find you,” she said, eyes flaring wildly as she sucked her crimson-tipped finger into her mouth. “Like tasting the stars.”
Fedora giggled, an eerie sound. “Don’t keep me waiting long!” she sang; then she dove sideways, disappearing under the dark water and splashing us with her tail, which surfaced, then plunged back under.
“She’s … terrifying,” Astraea said through chittering breaths.
I stroked a thumb under her bleeding cheek. “She’s a thorn in my side.”
“I didn’t really feel it. My face is quite numb.”
The boat was near, and from the actions of the crew preparing a rope ladder over the side, I knew they’d seen us. Glancing skyward, Eltanin fought my inner command for him to leave, but eventually he began soaring away.
I helped Astraea climb onto the ladder first, following right behind until we both felt the bliss of solid wood beneath our feet. Pulling Astraea to me, I surveyed the crew, who watched us warily, like we were unidentified creatures pulled up in their nets.
“There’s no other who can claim they caught a star in their waters.” A low, gruff voice broke the stiff silence. The deck creaked, giving me their direction to find a tall, broad, middle-aged man with dark hair curling under his tricorn. The captain, I presumed from his confident demeanor.
I anticipated those on board would recognize Astraea, but I could wipe their memories before we got to shore, so I wasn’t too concerned.
“We need passage to Volanis and can pay well,” I said to the captain.
“We have no coin,” Astraea countered through our bond.
“They won’t remember.”
The captain said, “It was not my intended destination, but I’m intrigued as to what the Maiden and the notorious Nightsdeath would be after on such a prized island.”
“It’s merely a political endeavor.”
“I see. Gathering allies to stand against the High Celestials after killing Auster Nova, I presume? We’re not cut off from affairs out at sea.”
If only the threats brewing were as simple as that. A war with only two sides. Us and them. The whole world was oblivious to the scale of what threatened their peace.
“Something like that, yes,” I said.
The captain’s brown eyes roved over Astraea, and I itched to claw them out.
“I’m curious as to how two with wings and a dragon end up helpless and near frozen in the sea between the mainland and Volanis.”
Only one with wings, I thought with a twinge in my chest. Astraea shook stiffly, and I was losing patience with being the crew’s entertainment while she was suffering.
“If you have a fire we could warm and dry by, we might be more inclined to share a story.”
The captain ignored me to address her. “So quiet, Maiden.”
Don’t do something reckless, I tamed myself.
Astraea answered through chittering teeth, “I have little desire for conversation when I still feel like I’m in the sea.”
The captain chuckled deeply. “Very well. Follow me.”
I didn’t trust this man, though I couldn’t place why. We followed with little choice, but I was at ease knowing I could kill everyone on this ship and not feel bad about it if they tried to harm Astraea.
We went below deck, and the warmth drifting through the cabin was already a reprieve. In the captain’s quarters, Astraea left my side to go to the fire, immediately sinking to her knees and holding her hands toward it with soft sighs.
I scanned the room, which was very lavishly decorated with red carpet and velvet-clad seating behind a mahogany desk.
“You must trade well,” I observed, heading absentmindedly toward Astraea while keeping my full attention on this man.
“I captain the finest ship on the seas, the Silver Sparrow,” he replied proudly, wandering around his room with hands clasped behind his back.
Kneeling, I unhooked the fastening on Astraea’s heavy sodden cloak, and she smiled her thanks when I peeled it away from her.
“You should take off your boots and socks too,” I said through our bond.
“You need to dry your clothes as well,” she said back.
I took off my cloak, but then I stood, facing the captain.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“Balthezar Corrick,” he supplied.
The name rang a faint familiarity, but I couldn’t grasp from where.
The captain took up his grand chair behind the desk, far neater than I’d expect. His calm demeanor told me he didn’t fear either of us, and I had to wonder what gave him such confidence.
I didn’t like it.
Slipping my hands into my pockets, I crossed the room, trying to figure this man out by the things he chose to keep in his private space.
I picked up a perfect silver sphere that had a good weight and tossed it a couple of times.
“I don’t appreciate people touching my things,” Balthezar said.
Catching and keeping hold of the sphere, I cast him a playful smile. “No point in being so precious about things that don’t really have ownership. If I burn this ship and it goes sinking to the bottom of this ocean, yours it would no longer be.”
I tossed it to him, delighting in the irritable flex around his eyes when he caught it.
“Do you make a habit of provoking those who aid you?”
Chuckling lightly, I skimmed my hands over more trinkets.
“I guess not all things reach you at sea if you know my name and thought it would greet you with kindness. Let’s not be under any pretense here: we both know the fate of every life aboard, including yours, is in my hands right now.”
I could feel Astraea’s eyes on me; she didn’t speak a note of reprimand for my behavior, but I felt it.
“You dare threaten me and my crew?”
Balthezar rose from his chair. I needed his anger, for him to test me, so he knew what I was capable of if given the right motivation.
I wouldn’t take any chances on a ship full of pirates that had the most precious prize aboard right now and might be tempted to do something very foolish to obtain her.
“If you did know of my reputation, you’d know there isn’t a person still alive I’ve threatened.”
“Oh I know all about you, Nightsdeath.”
I didn’t correct the name. That dark presence might be gone, but the reputation remained power in my hands.
“Good.”
“Like how to truly kill you.” His eyes flicked to Astraea.
I warned, cold and promising, “If a single drop of her blood spills aboard this ship, accidently or otherwise, I’ll make sure the nymphs are fed generously with every single one of you.”
“Nyte,” Astraea said my name, and it worked to tame the violent beast inside me.
I forced myself to add a smile toward Balthezar, but he knew there was nothing friendly in it.
“I should have left you to drown,” he hissed, rubbing his throat.
“If you did, I would have had to waste time hunting you down for leaving her to suffer. You would most certainly have felt my threat while in your final breaths then.”
“We are grateful for your help,” Astraea said.
Balthezar would lean more toward her kind reception; I had played my part in letting him know any action against us would be a final mistake. This was why we made a brilliant team.
“Might I ask where you were heading?” Astraea continued, starting friendly conversation I had no interest in.
Instead, I continued my vague scour of the room, and what caught my attention next jumped a beat in my chest. Rested proudly upon a velvet cloth was a golden monocular telescope. It couldn’t be the one I thought of …
“Must you touch everything that catches your eye?” Balthezar grumbled.
Ignoring him, I picked it up, scanning to find any indication it might be the one missing from the Wanderer’s Trove. I would wager Drystan would know right away somehow.
“My brother has a fascination for such trinkets. He would appreciate a souvenir from our travels, don’t you think?” I asked Astraea, holding it up and keeping my interest tame.
“Nothing in this room is for sale,” Balthezar warned.
“Oh, he would,” Astraea gushed, coming to take it from me. She put on an adoring act. “I even find myself quite taken with it.”
“Name your price,” I said to the captain.
His eyes narrowed. “It’s an heirloom and has been in my family for centuries. That monocular is priceless.”
“Nothing of material value is priceless.”
His brown eyes flicked to Astraea as if she were his asking price, and every nerve cell rattled within me, ready to lunge for his throat again if that request spilled from his mouth next.
“They say the Maiden’s blood can cure any ills, and her hair can grant immortality to humans.”
“They also say a pirate’s soul becomes chained to the wicked depths of the ocean if they’re killed aboard, and I’m more than eager to find out if that rumor is true.”
Astraea said, “My blood can’t cure all ills.” Her tone was quiet, being reminded of her friend, Cassia. Astraea’s blood had only delayed the inevitable, but Cassia’s fatal illness would have taken her life eventually.