Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Idon't remember asking for any help.” Lyra's voice was cutting and sharp, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she stared at the beautiful stranger.
Theo didn't want to admit he liked seeing Lyra be hostile towards the elf. He was good-looking. Theo wouldn’t have blamed Lyra for staring him down for entirely other reasons.
The elf was easily six and a half feet tall, with broader shoulders and a trim waist. His hair was the color of spilled ink, onyx and thick, trailing down his back in a series of elaborate braids.
“I suppose this is the best kind of help then,” the stranger smiled wider, not put off by Lyra's attitude in the slightest. “It's help you didn't even know was coming!” He seemed rather proud of himself for this fact, which made Theo grin.
“Technically,” Theo looked at Lyra, trying to keep his voice down. “I did ask Emmett for help.”
“Don't say that!” Lyra whispered at the same moment the elf in the boat snapped his fingers.
“And Emmett sent me!”
Lyra put her hand over her face, grunting in annoyance. She looked at Theo with a deadpan expression.
“We have no idea whether that's genuine or if he just heard you say it. Didn't your mother tell you not to talk to strangers?” As soon as the words were out of Lyra's mouth, she regretted them. Theo had told her enough about his upbringing; she should have known not to go there.
“I’m sorry,” Lyra started immediately, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. “I didn't mean—”
“Don't worry about it.” Theo winced slightly but kept the brevity in his voice. “I know what you meant, and you aren't wrong.”
“I don't mean to intrude,” the elf shouted over the beach, “but I can hear everything you're saying. Also, young prince, your beautiful friend is correct. Which is why you should call Emmett and hear it from his mouth.” The elf stood on one of the small benches on the dinghy, bowing his head slightly. “I’m Wyn.”
Lyra curled her lip as though she was about to start hissing at Wyn, but held her tongue. Theo pulled his phone out and started to ring Emmett, continually pleased that Lyra seemed to be uninterested in the elf's flirtations.
Emmett picked up on the first ring and confirmed Wyn had arrived to help escort them to find the Blue Men of the Minch.
“He seems…” Theo searched for the right word, taking a few steps away from Lyra to find a semblance of privacy. “Eager.”
Emmett laughed. “He's more harmless than his brother, I'll tell you that much. Hùisdean is the real pain in the ass. Okay, okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. How are you both doing?”
Theo opened his mouth to respond, but there was a shuffling sound on the other end of the line.
“Theo?”
Theo's heart jumped when he heard Calum on the phone.
“Calum! Yes, hi, it's me. Hi. Hello.” Theo awkwardly cleared his throat, overwhelmed by the sound of his brother's voice.
Theo had always been the odd one out at school.
He moved frequently among boarding schools, his caretakers and nannies always looking over their shoulders.
Despite being his brother, speaking to Calum still made Theo feel as though he was trying to make friends with the popular, older students at his newest school.
“How is everything going?” Calum sounded anxious, and Theo tripped over his words to reassure him, another habit that, Theo promised himself, a few sessions with a therapist would fix.
“Good. Great, actually. Really good.” Theo turned and looked at Lyra and the elf, who were arguing about something. Lyra looked genuinely upset while the elf had a cocky smirk on his face, which somehow still managed to look endearing.
Theo sounded more confident than he felt. Calum could sense it, raising an eyebrow in his office that Theo couldn't see.
“Do you want to try to answer that again?” For someone who was relatively out of practice being an older brother, he picked up the role naturally.
Theo shifted his weight uncomfortably, chewing on his lip. Several feet away, Lyra was now pinching the bridge of her nose, and Wyn was practically beaming with mischief.
“I feel like a problem that needs to be fixed,” the words started tumbling out of Theo's mouth before he could stop them. “And now Wyn is here to assist, too, and it is starting to seem like a lot of resources.”
“I can assure you that one elf is not a lot of resources,” Calum scoffed playfully, “especially not Wyn. I'll be surprised if he manages to be more of a help than a hindrance, but something is better than nothing.”
“How do you know him?” Theo was suddenly a bit more worried about the elf's presence than he had been a few seconds ago.
“Oh, no, he's very trustworthy.” Calum sensed his brother's nerves. “I was kidding before. He's got a mouth on him, that's all. Loves to stir the pot, but most elves do, believe it or not. He's part of the Shetland Islands royal family.”
Theo blushed, embarrassed, and was grateful his brother couldn't see. He was becoming increasingly spiteful of his own seemingly incessant need to ask questions.
“I don't know much of the politics stuff,” Theo stammered awkwardly, opting for a statement instead of a question, and finding a bizarre amount of comfort in it.
“Ah, well, most days I don’t either,” Calum said easily, trying to soothe Theo's anxiety. “All you really need to know is that he is very dependable. You might want to pull your hair out by the end of the journey.”
“Ah.” Theo made a noncommittal noise, not knowing what else to say.
“You aren't a problem to be fixed,” Calum whispered, his voice full of a calm confidence that Theo would do anything to have for himself. “You're family, and I take care of my family.”
Calum's statement was so resolute that Theo didn’t dream of arguing with him about it, even though he didn't feel it. His silence said enough.
“Theo?” Calum asked. “It's going to be okay. I promise you that.”
“Yeah, absolutely.” Theo forced a bit of cheeriness in his voice.
“You’re insane!” Lyra shouted, and Theo's attention was diverted.
“Uhh, Calum? I need to go. Wyn and Lyra—”
“Say no more,” Calum agreed. “I love you, Theo, and it is all going to work out.”
“Love you, too,” Theo tried to sound half as confident as his brother, hanging up the call quickly to not worry Calum any further. He pocketed the phone and jogged over the sand, preparing to get in between Lyra and Wyn if needed.
“I’m not getting in this bloody thing,” Lyra snapped, crossing her hands over her chest. Theo walked right into an intense argument over the size of Wyn's boat. “It hardly looks seaworthy, and it's insulting. I'll swim alongside.”
“She's not what she looks.” Wyn still had a devilish smirk on his face. “I’m asking you to take one single step forward and then decide for yourself.”
“And I'm telling you it would be an insult to all of my sisters and everyone in the waters to do it.” Lyra stepped back from the store to illustrate her point.
Theo realized he'd never seen her move away from water. It surprised him.
“Here, here.” Theo held up his hands, moving forward. “I’ll step on the boat.”
Lyra rolled her eyes, unimpressed, while Wyn simultaneously gave Theo a small bow.
“You'll find her more than seaworthy,” Wyn promised, holding out a hand to help Theo across the water. Theo accepted the help, and the moment his foot touched the dinghy, the sight shifted before his very eyes.
The small rowboat was gone. Instead, Theo was standing on the deck of a very large ship.
It looked like a traditional knarr, a Viking merchant ship, except even bigger.
Theo could tell from the size alone that there were several cabins beneath the deck.
The bright green sails were shining in the sunlight, embroidered with gold thread in the shape of a family crest. All of the wood fixtures had been hand-carved, and everything from the railings to the doorknobs was etched with motifs and runes.
The prow of the boat featured a huge dragon painted in bright colors.
The dragon turned towards Theo, its wooden tail whipping back, and roared.
“Shit!” Theo cursed, stumbling backward in an effort to get away.
Wyn laughed, a deep, hearty sound that didn't contain any malice, but rather, the sound of a man who had done the same thing more than once.
“Oh, don't you worry about her.” Wyn helped Theo straighten up. “The Barufakr is a good ship, and the dragon won't harm you none. She can't move from her post anyhow.”
“This is incredible—” Theo started to ask more about the ship when Lyra interrupted them from the shoreline.
“What are you even talking about?” She scowled, assuming there was some magic afoot now. “I can't see any dragons. Besides, there haven't been dragons in Scotland for five hundred years.”
“They'll come back one day!” Wyn shouted eagerly, with an enthusiasm Theo didn’t understand and didn't have time to question. Theo knew an enchantment when he saw one, and realized from Lyra's perspective, they were still standing in a rowboat that barely fit the two men.
“It's enchanted, Lyra,” Theo called out. “It's not a rowboat.”
“Aww,” Wyn started pouting, which had more of an endearing effect than it should have on such a massive grown man. “You're going to ruin the surprise.”
Theo leveled a look at Wyn, shaking his head slowly. “Trust me. It's best to be direct. You aren't going to get far with Lyra if you're trying to play games.”
Lyra waded into the water and climbed into the rowboat, her reaction completely neutral as it transformed into the large ship around her.
“Well,” she pursed her lips, studying her surroundings, “this isn’t an embarrassment to be seen on. You should have just said so.”
“I thought it would be fun—” Wyn started to speak, but Lyra held up a hand to silence him and started walking towards the door below decks.
“I’m going to pick out a room for myself,” she informed Theo and Wyn, without leaving any room for discussion. “If you need me, don’t.”
The heavy door swung shut behind Lyra, leaving Wyn and Theo alone on deck. Wyn whistled lowly.
“She's a character, that one.”
“Be nice,” Theo snapped, coming to Lyra's defense far too quickly. Wyn caught this and raised an eyebrow, studying Theo and looking back to where Lyra had disappeared.
“Really? You two?”
“Well, no.” Theo started stammering, not sure what the most appropriate thing to say was in these situations. What would Lyra want him to say? Probably nothing.
I doubt she wants the world knowing she's slept with you, a spare. The word rang out in Theo's mind, managing to wound him even when there was no one else around saying it.
“But, kind of.” Theo shook his head. “No.” Wyn looked at Theo with a bemused expression, understanding better than Theo realized.
“‘Well, no, but kind of, no,’” Wyn repeated back to Theo, enunciating each word. “Understood. I've been in a few of those situations myself.”
“It's not really a situation,” Theo trailed after Wyn as he crossed the deck towards the ship's wheel. “I think situation is too formal a word.”
“Ah.” Wyn nodded, once again in complete understanding. It was starting to annoy Theo how Wyn was applying his own interpretations to the situation. It didn't matter that those interpretations were correct. “I’ve been in a few of those situations too.”
Theo realized he wasn't going to get anywhere with Wyn and shrugged. He said nothing in response, watching as Wyn deftly navigated the boat out of the shore and into the open water.
Panic began to rise in Theo's throat. The ocean was endless, reaching out before them towards the horizon. The waves were relatively calm, but the boat moved with the tide, rocking under Theo's feet. The air got cooler as they moved away from land, salt beginning to stick to Theo's skin and hair.
“Oh god,” Theo muttered, stumbling backward until he hit a railing. His hands flew to it, tightening his grip until his knuckles were white.
“Are you all right?” Wyn studied Theo's sudden change in body language. “You look like you're about to be sick. Do you get seasick?”
Theo tried to focus on Wyn’s question, but he didn't know the answer.
Did he get seasick? He hadn't been on a boat in decades.
This was the most water he'd seen since he was a very young child.
It was potentially the most water he'd ever seen.
The eternal nature of the sea overwhelmed him, making their quest seem even more impossible.
How are we going to go up against a goddess who controls all of this?
Theo couldn't take his eyes off the inky depths, the ocean’s untameable nature striking a chord of fear in his chest.
“I don't know.” Theo managed to stammer out. “I’ve never…” he trailed off. Understanding dawned on Wyn's face. When Calum asked for his help in escorting Theo and Lyra, he filled him in on the whole situation. It didn't take long for him to remember that Theo had avoided the sea his whole life.
Theo's hands were gripping the railing, but his knees were knocking together so violently that Wyn was worried he'd bruise himself.
“Lyra,” Wyn bellowed, hoping his voice would carry below deck. “You’d better get up here.”