Chapter 14
Jessamine breathed in the salty air and tried hard not to let the sway of the boat turn her stomach.
It had been hard enough getting to Orenda.
The last thing she’d expected while traveling was to discover that she was horribly and unendingly seasick.
Nothing helped. Not the herbs Sybil brought, not the meditative techniques Elissa taught her, and certainly not the stern talking-to that Agnes gave her.
The only thing that gave her even the smallest semblance of relief was holding on to the edge of the boat and counting every inhalation. Slowly. She had to keep her eyes on the land that they were approaching, and that much, at least, she knew she could do.
If she didn’t look away from the land, then her stomach didn’t churn quite so bad. Unfortunately, that also meant she had far too much time to think.
Her mind hadn’t been kind since last night. The other witches were startled by what had happened and terrified of what it meant. After all, they had lost loved ones, and then Jessamine had given them quite a fright.
Sybil had washed the ooze from Jessamine’s face, and there had been something unsettled in her eyes. As though Sybil knew something that she didn’t.
Even now, on the same boat they had come to this kingdom in, Jessamine couldn’t stop worrying. Elric seemed to think that it was just the remnants of the curse that Ajax had cast on her, but… what if it was more than that?
At least the ship itself was sturdy and strong.
It bobbed on the waves and never seemed to rock overly much.
There were two masts on it, so it was a smaller ship, but the captain was a friend of Agnes’s from when they were very young.
The old whaling ship had a crew of fifteen men and their captain.
It was easy enough for them to double their numbers, and witchcraft made sailing much easier.
Pale hands joined hers on the side of the ship, and Elissa leaned against the rail with her.
Together, they stared at Inverholm, completely uncertain of what they would find there.
She felt even more guilty with Elissa, because this young woman’s entire life had been left behind.
All her birds. All her friends. Clients.
Family. She barely knew if Elissa even had family there, although Jessamine didn’t think she did.
“What do you think we’re going to find there?” Elissa asked, her voice pitched low so no one else could hear them.
“Nothing. I think we’re going to find a lot of nothing.”
“But that’s not entirely correct, is it? I heard what you two were saying. I heard them tell you that the God King is likely stealing all of their souls, and that means Inverholm is exactly what Leon Bishop wanted, isn’t it? A kingdom of infected.”
Already she swore she could hear the moans on the breeze. There was a part of her that was terrified that was exactly what they would find. Another part of her was certain of it. Elric was rarely wrong, especially when it came to his siblings.
If this was just a kingdom of dead people, then what was she supposed to do now? It didn’t matter that they couldn’t stay in Orenda. This was their home. The witches knew better than to leave Inverholm, no matter what Ajax might have done.
“I don’t care if it’s a kingdom of infected. It’s still our home.” Jessamine tried to stand up and straighten her spine, even though nausea had her breakfast rolling up into her throat. “There’s still a chance we can take it back.”
“But if there are thousands of infected…”
“We will figure it out.” Jessamine reached for Elissa’s shoulders, holding on to her for balance as much as for support.
“I know you’re worried. All of us are. But we are the only ones who can fix what has been done, and we will fix it.
I’m not sure how yet, but I think we’ll all know better once we’re in the city. ”
Elissa nodded. Though her expression was still troubled, Jessamine could see there was a bit more hope in her.
“Right. I’ll just… go tell the others. A few of the newer witches are concerned about what the plan is.
But you’re right. We can’t make a good plan until we know what has happened for certain.
And even then… Well, we’ll know when we get there. ”
She watched as Elissa walked away, her feet so confident as she strode across the ship. Who knew the woman obsessed with birds would be the one to take to a ship so easily?
A few of the witches were out on the deck, and most of them immediately went to Elissa.
Were they afraid to talk to Jessamine? That seemed odd.
Jessamine had done everything she could to welcome the newcomers.
But then again, a coven was hard to break into.
These young women were learning how to make magic, they were learning about themselves in the process, and they suddenly had a real live god to worship. Not to mention… everything else.
Jessamine supposed it made sense that they were a little uncomfortable with her.
Sighing, she let her gaze rove over the deck.
There were the usual stacks of ropes, along with a few crew members who were tending to everything that needed to happen on a ship.
She wasn’t sure what they were doing, but they all seemed very busy all the time.
A few of them had grumbled about the bad luck of having so many women aboard, but they quickly quieted after the first storm that threatened their journey was diverted by a few of the weather witches.
The door opened into the lower parts of the ship and led to two split galleys.
One side where the witches were staying that had been cordoned off with quite a few stacked wooden boxes, and then the other side where the kitchen and most of the sailors were sleeping.
It wasn’t the prettiest way to travel, but it worked.
The upper deck was mostly taken up by the wheel of the ship and the captain. She’d spoken with him very little, but he hadn’t made a point to reach out to her either. Both he and Agnes were usually up there together, and she swore there were a few soft touches they shared.
Agnes wasn’t herself anymore, though. She was the younger version of a very impressive woman, and that must have been strange for this captain to see. If they’d had some kind of romance before, it was harder to do that now. She was young again, and he was much older.
“Making up stories in your head for all the people surrounding you?” Elric’s voice broke through her thoughts.
She glanced to her left, not surprised to see he had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Making all the sailors start telling tales about old legends again?”
“Sailors work best when they are superstitious.” Her god walked up to her with his hands in his pockets, a stiff breeze ruffling his hair. He looked so handsome. The salty air tousled his dark locks in a way that made her want to run her fingers through them and make them even more messy.
“From what I’ve heard, the captain would prefer it if you didn’t do that to his sailors. They have a hard time focusing when you’re on deck.” She grinned. “I think if you give them a proper reason to believe you are a god, then they’ll be even harder to control.”
“I do believe you are a bad influence on me.”
“Ah, some people might say that. Others might claim I am simply providing you the outlet to be who you are na—natur—” She pressed her hand against her mouth, trying desperately to hold the vomit in before she spewed all the meager breakfast she’d managed to eat.
Elric immediately reached for her, pressing his cool hand against the back of her neck and steering her back to the edge of the ship. “Look at the land.”
“I’ve been looking at the land,” she grumbled before gagging over the side of the ship.
She would not lose all the food in her stomach. She wouldn’t. But it was so hard to do when the waves rolled the ship up and over them, and it felt like her stomach was already pressed into the back of her throat.
“Easy,” he murmured, rubbing her back with those cool hands. “It’s going to be fine, nightmare. We’re nearly there, anyway.”
“I think that’s part of the problem,” she whispered. “I don’t know what we’re going to find when we get there. What if there’s nothing left?”
Her entire life had been spent preparing to take over this kingdom and run it as her own.
And then she’d died. Still, she hadn’t been willing to give up on the dream that this place would be hers, and she’d fought tooth and nail to get back to it.
Jessamine had clawed her way out of her very grave to gain access to her throne once again, and now what?
Now she wasn’t even sure that would be possible. A kingdom was nothing but a hollow ground if there weren’t people in it to make it flourish.
Elric stared at Inverholm with her. Already they both could tell it wasn’t normal.
There were no smokestacks from the Factory District, which always started first thing in the morning.
The Water District was silent. Usually she’d be able to hear the churning sound of all the purification plants that turned the sea into drinking water.
It was like the entire city was holding its breath. As though it were waiting for her to return so that she could make the choice of what would happen to everyone within it.
“What happens if they’re all infected?” she asked. “What should we do if there isn’t a single person left in Inverholm that still has a soul to keep their body reasonable?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because that’s our reality, isn’t it?”
Elric nodded, his hand squeezing the back of her neck. “Most likely. I believe that Ajax’s spell was meant to take more souls. He’s likely torturing them even now.”
She steadied herself for what she was about to ask him. “When we first met, you made a deal with me, Deathless One. You said you would help me get my throne back in exchange for the destruction of my kingdom. Did you know this was going to happen?”
“I didn’t.”
“But you asked for me to destroy everything I loved in return for a throne.”
“At the time, I believed I was asking you to give up all your morals. You would have to become a witch, sacrifice many things to raise a deathless god, and then eventually learn how to love magic because you would need to be by my side always. I never thought it would come to this.” His hands left her neck, leaving a cool spot on her skin as he joined her, leaning against the side of the ship.
Elric’s hands dangled over the railing, and she couldn’t stop staring at his fingers.
The thick veins on the back of them usually trapped her attention, but it was more than that now.
It was the scars that decorated the tips.
The choices he’d had to make that had marred his skin forever.
What torture had he survived, trying to make the right, albeit hard, choices as a god?
“Jessamine?” he asked, his voice once again breaking through the thoughts that trapped her so easily.
She cleared her throat and shook her head. “We need to be in Inverholm. The coven is all we have left, and we cannot fight Leon in his own kingdom. He has too many opportunities to overtake us. We have to have a safe place to rest at night without constantly fearing we’ll be found.”
“I’d hazard a guess that you’re right. At least in Inverholm there is a much smaller risk that he will find us.
” Elric tilted his head, cracking his neck.
“But it is not impossible that Ajax will lead them here if we stay. He won’t want to give up that easily.
If he has his eyes set on you to be the Huntress, then… well…”
“Why do you think he wants me specifically?” She had her own theories, but Elric was his brother.
He shrugged. “You have already dealt with gods. That makes you more susceptible to the magic that he’ll want to put inside of you. But I suspect it has to do with the fact that you beat him. You escaped, and he doesn’t like anything that makes his ego sting.”
That made sense. The God King was the embodiment of male pride, it seemed.
She turned her gaze back to her kingdom, where she could just barely make out figures on the beach that were shambling back and forth.
Her heart broke at the sight of them. The plague had never gotten so bad that there were infected just wandering a shoreline that should have been bustling and busy.
Guards always kept them at bay so they could at the very least have a thriving harbor.
Even at the height of the infection, they had always made sure that the sea was open.
“I promised you that I would unmake my kingdom,” she murmured. “And that is exactly what I am going to do.”
“Jessamine, there is still a chance that they might live.”
She gave him a dirty look. “I know that, Elric. I am not giving up on the people within it, but there are certain sacrifices we must make. There’s just not enough time. We need a safe place to land, and I have a coven at my disposal.”
“What are you going to do?” He looked suspicious, and that made Jessamine even more angry.
“This is my kingdom. My throne. I am their queen.” It was the first time she’d thought of herself like that. It was her responsibility to take care of these people, and she would do exactly that. No matter how hard it was.
“Gather my coven,” she said. “We have work to do.”
“Jessamine—”
“Elric,” she snapped. “I am not talking about this any longer. I have made up my mind about what to do, and I will do it. Whether you agree or not.”
A muscle in his jaw jumped, but he nodded. “Then the coven is at your whim, nightmare. Just make sure you can live with your choice once it’s done.”