28 LONNIE
ABOARD THE FORESIGHT
“Why did you leave the royal family?”
“To join the army,”
Ambrose replied without inflection. “Did you love any of your human lovers?”
“No.”
I took a bite of toast. “I thought you started the army…?”
He shook his head. “No, I took it over. What about the man who brought you food in the dungeon?”
“What about him?”
I countered.
“Did he love you?”
I laughed. “Not at all.”
“Then why bring the food?”
I grinned. “It’s my turn. Save your question.”
We were sitting at the breakfast table in the same cabin where our dinner had been interrupted several days before. Only I was eating, while Ambrose simply sat, his feet up on the table, watching me.
Somehow, my pretending to be Rosey was becoming easier with each meal and against my better judgment, Ambrose and I had fallen into something of a rhythm.
We didn’t interact outside of meals, not even when he came to the cabin to sleep at night. I’d thought perhaps he would stop watching me so carefully, after the gift of the new bed, but he did not. Still, he never so much as brushed against my side at night, giving me all the space possible. With time, I was beginning to think he was not quite so abhorrent as I’d originally thought.
Ambrose hardly ever asked anything serious, and steered noticeably clear of mentioning any of his family, especially Bael and Scion, or discussing my magic. He seemed to want to know only mundane things—my favorite food (I didn’t have one), did I prefer the morning or the evening (morning), and if I missed living in Aftermath (yes). This morning, he’d fixated on my love life prior to winning the crown, and wanted to know all about every guard who’d ever looked twice at me.
It could’ve been far worse.
For his part, he held true to his word and answered everything I asked him. The only problem was, he refused to give more than the most direct answer, forcing me to yank every detail out of him like pulling teeth.
If I didn’t know better, I would’ve said he was doing it on purpose. Perhaps trying to keep me at the table longer.
I put my fork down with a definitive clang.
Ambrose sat up slightly straighter at the sound, leaning forward to fix me with one of his bottomless stares. “It’s your turn.”
“I’ve finished eating,”
I replied, scooting my chair back from the table. “Isn’t that how this works?”
He scowled, looking slightly aggravated, but raised a hand to wave me off. “Fine, go.”
My eyebrows pulled together. We’d been sitting here for several hours already, to the point that soon one meal would bleed into another and lunch would begin. Yet, for some reason, he seemed bothered that I was leaving. Perhaps if he’d ever asked anything serious, I would’ve understood, but how interesting could it be to make me recount my various likes and dislikes in excruciating detail?
I didn’t understand this male at all. Could he be all bad? What would have happened if I’d met him without all the preconceived opinions I’d formed, ever since losing my sister?
Except, there had to be more to it. He was still a killer, still the head of an army. Moreover, Scion hated him…there had to be some reason for that. I supposed, I would simply have to work up the courage to ask…perhaps during lunch.
I stood, and turned toward the door, ready to return to my cabin. However, I hadn’t taken more than a step when he called me back.
“Wait!”
I glanced over my shoulder, my hand on the door. “Yes?”
He was biting the inside of his lip, in one of the most distinctly human expressions I’d ever seen on his face. Having sat across from each other for several meals now, I’d come to notice that Ambrose often moved like a human. He fiddled with his utensils, blinked often, and slouched in his chairs. It was at complete odds with Bael and Scion, who’d never once looked human to me in the time I’d known them. Their posture was too good, their movements too fast. I had to assume that spending twenty or more years surrounded by mortals had forced the rebel king to pick up some habits.
With a start, I wondered if I would pick up Fae mannerisms in as many years? Had I already?
After an inordinately long pause, in which I began to wonder if I’d imagined him calling me back, Ambrose opened his mouth to reply, but did not get a chance.
Without warning, a tremor rocked the ship. Plates and glasses slid from the table onto the floor, shattering at our feet. Outside, I heard the distant sounds of other things crashing against the deck, then the beginnings of screaming.
“What was that?”
I demanded, stumbling back.
Across from me, Ambrose’s black eyes widened, as if he were shocked by the words coming out of his own mouth. “I have no fucking idea.”
Ambrose stared off into the space over my head, as if he could see something more than the dark, wooden wall behind me. His eyebrows came together. “Fuck.”
“How can you possibly not know what’s causing this?”
I asked, frustration evident in my tone.
“I don’t know everything, nor do I have time to discuss it with you.”
He turned on his heel and sprinted toward the door, leaving it wide open behind him.
Grasping the edge of the table to steady myself as the boat rocked once more, I stared after him, my mind moving sluggishly, seeming unable to make a decision. I supposed, if we were about to sink at the mercy of a thunderstorm, I’d be worse off inside than out.
Tripping over my dress, I stumbled after him, and emerged outside to find the entire crew in chaos. People were scurrying in all directions, slipping on the wet surface of the deck and screaming as the ship tilted back and forth. I looked up in bewilderment at the serene sky above. There was no sign of a storm or even a slight breeze to disturb my hair, yet the ground beneath me swayed as if caught in the midst of a hurricane. What the hell was going on?
As the thought entered my mind, it was immediately answered by a rush of sea water that sprayed into the air. An all too familiar reddish-brown tentacle burst from the ocean and flopped hard against the deck, writhing like the body of a gigantic snake.
I shrieked and jumped back. Was it the same monster I’d encountered while in the row boat, or another of the same type? I didn’t know, nor did I care to wait and find out.
Before I could even react, however, a second tentacle snaked out of the water and landed beside the first. Both were covered in suckers the size of dinner plates, and were thicker even than the snake I’d met in Inbetwixt.
My eyes widened as the two slimy tentacles writhed and reached out, searching for something to cling onto. I could feel my heart racing in fear as I took a step back, trying to avoid their grasp.
The one closest to me wound its way around the thick central mast, and the wood creaked dangerously. My eyes bulged, and my mouth opened in a shrill scream, joining the cacophony of panicked voices that reverberated throughout the ship.
For a long moment, I couldn’t bring myself to move. Fear rooted me to the spot, and I stood frozen, until out of the corner of my eye I saw Ambrose dashing in the opposite direction from the rest of the crew. They were fleeing from the monstrous creature, while he charged toward it, drawing his sword from its sheath at his waist.
I watched him for a split second before snapping myself back to reality. What was I thinking? I couldn’t be of any assistance in this situation, I needed to get out of the way as quickly as possible.
I sprinted along with the panicked crowd, desperate to reach the cabin where I had been sleeping. My heart raced in my chest, and my feet struggled to maintain traction on the slippery dock, making it a challenge to keep my balance. Sea water sprayed over my head, and I choked when it burned my eyes and throat, soaking me entirely.
I was only a few steps away from the door to my cabin, when a giant shadow loomed over me. A third long tentacle ascended from the dark water and struck the ground with a loud thud, blocking my path to the door. My mouth fell open with another scream.
The slimy arm slithered toward me, as if reaching for a lifeline. It twisted and turned, searching for something to grip onto. My heart raced as it inched closer and closer, its searching motions sending shivers down my spine.
Without thinking, I threw my hands up in front of me and closed my eyes. I hadn’t been using magic long enough to be sure why, but it seemed as if I performed better when my life was truly in danger. I was certain that when I looked, the serpentine thing would be engulfed in foot-high flames, charred to a crisp.
But nothing happened.
I looked down at my hands, then it hit me like a ton of bricks and I screamed, this time with anger. I was incapable of performing magic. If we lived through this, I would kill Ambrose myself for giving me that power deadening potion.
I backed away from the cursed tentacle, real fear washing over me. It was driving me back toward its other wandering arm, and in a matter of seconds one of them was bound to snatch me up. or, perhaps worse, swat me like a fly until I smashed against the boat.
My heart raced and my breathing was rapid. The tentacle inched closer to me, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
The telltale swish of a sword cut through the air, followed by a dull thud. My breath caught in my throat and I forced my eyes open to look up into the face of my savior, already knowing who I’d see there. “Fuck you.”
Ambrose’s lips curled up into a grin as he pulled his sword out of the tentacle he had just expertly severed. The limp appendage flopped against the deck, and he quickly wiped away the purple-ish blood with the leg of his trousers. “That’s not a nice way to thank someone who saved your life, love.”
“Yeah?”
I shouted. “How about the bastard who put me on this ship in the first place and took away any ability to defend myself?”
“I’m not sure if I should be offended, or glad your fire has returned enough to hate me.”
He mused, already backing away to return to the fight, he pulled another long blade from his belt and tossed it at me. “Here, Defend yourself with that.”
I jumped backwards out of the way of the flying blade, letting it crash against the deck. “Are you insane? You’re going to cut my hand off.”
He looked genuinely perplexed. “Not if you caught the handle.”
I gaped at him in complete disgust. Not only was that blade far too heavy for me to ever lift on my own, the fact that he would expect me to catch it and hadn’t seen the monster coming had me questioning everything I’d ever known about Ambrose Dullahan. “What kind of a seer are you?”
“The kind who wasn’t paying attention for the last hour,”
he yelled over the wind and creaking of the ship. “If you want to blame someone for this, blame yourself. I couldn’t possibly be expected to look away from you in that dress.”
I felt my cheeks redden. It wasn’t really my fault, of course, but he had seemed…engrossed in our conversation.
“What is that thing?”
I demanded before he could run away again.
“It’s a Charybdis,”
he said as if it were obvious. “Every time one of the tentacles is severed it will grow two more in its place.”
I gaped at him in horror. “Then how do you kill it?”
“Cut all of them off at once before any others can grow,”
he replied.
“Oh, is that all?”
Without any warning, Ambrose barreled forward and collided into me. My breath was knocked out of my lungs, and we tumbled onto the hard surface of the deck. I let out a gasp and saw stars explode in my vision from the impact. And then I felt his weight come crashing down on top of me.
I lay flat on my back, disoriented, while Ambrose leaned over me. Our chests rose and fell in unison as we caught our breath, and I gazed into his intense, black eyes. In an instant, my entire world was consumed by his magnetic presence. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him, his sheer attractiveness captivating me and igniting an unexpected surge of desire within me.
I must have hit my head too hard.
“Get off me,”
I demanded, pushing at his chest.
He shifted back and, disgusted with myself, I looked past his head instead, and noticed two more tentacles above us. They were smaller than the first one, but still just as menacing, and they were moving in the exact spot we had been standing moments ago.
“Again, love, that’s a terrible way to say ‘thank you.’”
Ambrose grinned, almost as if he were enjoying himself, and jumped to his feet. “Go back to the cabin. If I don’t join you within the hour, you can assume I’ve been eaten.”
I blanched, staring after him, as he darted away. To my surprise, I felt...nervous. Worried for his safety, and whether he might return or not…and I didn’t like that. Not one bit.