12. Chapter Twelve
Kalia didn”t know how long she sat in the cell. She took turns watching the swaying lantern, listening to the churning waves blast against the keel, and tracking the water that leaked down the side of the bulwark. The man next to her, sickly pale with a smattering of freckles that coated the bridge of his nose and a bruise that purpled his left eye, had attempted to make conversation a few times, but she ignored him.
She remembered him, of course. She remembered his ridiculously chivalrous pursuit to rescue her from the men of the crew. It had only led him here, locked in a musty brig in the bowels of a pirate ship next to her.
But it wasn”t long before he got the hint and fell silent. Not long after he was pulled from the brig, Kalia”s magic was still too dull to inflict any damage on the men who had forced him from the cell—not that she didn”t try.
She vaguely tracked the passing of time by how much of her power had returned. First, she felt the dregs of it in her mind, a flicker of light in the depths of her soul. Next, it hemmed to her heart, filling the voided spaces and strengthening the wall she had built around herself before finally sinking into her bones and tingling the ends of her fingers. That”s when she knew she was ready.
The door to the narrow passage squeaked open, and Kalia lifted her head from where she rested it against her knees. She shot to her feet, readying to wield her magic like a sword, piercing whoever thought it a good idea to waltz over the threshold.
However, Kalia”s brow furrowed when a woman not much older than herself peered around the door jam, curly blonde locks framing her round face. The woman crept in, grimacing with every noise from the floorboards beneath her feet. Kalia got a good look at her when she was a series of steps into the brig.
Mousywas the best way to describe her. The shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders, and the cotton skirts tied around her waist were both a size too large. Small scars littered her chin and cheeks, presumably from where she had anxiously picked at her acne, and her rounded shoulders did little to exude any semblance of confidence.
”Can I help you?” Kalia drawled, draping her arms through the iron bars.
The woman jumped, clearly unaware that Kalia had been watching her, and a hand flew to her chest. ”I—I…oh, I”m sorry,” she stammered, tightening her hand around the napkin she held. ”I didn”t know—I didn”t think—” She hesitantly swept her gaze toward Kalia as though she were afraid Kalia would turn her to stone if she made eye contact. ”I brought you some bread.”
Kalia held out her hand, and the woman shuffled forward, depositing the lump of bread into her upturned palm before hurrying back. Kalia studied the woman as she unwrapped the napkin, assessing her wide hazel eyes and skittish demeanor. She had half a mind to push her magic into this woman, to take over her thoughts and memories, and force her to bring the set of keys still dangling across the room. But as she called it to the forefront, she paused, instead watching as the woman wound a loose thread around a finger.
Kalia couldn”t help the oily slide of pity in her chest.
”What are you still doing here?” Kalia asked against her will, picking a corner from the bread and placing it between her lips. It was stale, and she was sure it was a few days old, but it was something.
”I”m Elodie…I mean, I was just wondering if—” The woman named Elodie paused, seemingly centering herself before speaking again. ”I thought you asked my name. I— I was told to bring you some bread.”
Kalia”s brows rose again as she broke off another piece and popped it into her mouth, chewing slowly. ”And you didn”t think to ask what a djinn was before tromping down here?” Kalia herself still didn”t know what a djinn was. ”Aren”t you afraid that I”m going to turn you into some slimy aquatic animal and pitch you over the side of the ship?”
Elodie”s face blanched, the scars appearing more like specks of blood across her pale face. ”I—I—the men thought you might have a soft spot for—you know—” she trailed off, gesturing vaguely down the front of her skirts and stays. The right side of the shawl slipped off her shoulder, and Elodie adjusted it before opening her mouth. Nothing came out.
Kalia”s amused expression slid from her face. ”The men sent you down here hoping I would have a soft spot for you?” She shook her head. ”What a bunch of bastards.”
Elodie giggled, the sound bouncing off the wooden walls like tinkling china. ”You know,” she breathily gushed, taking a tentative step forward, ”I— I read in one of the captain”s scrolls that djinn don”t need to eat.” She looked at Kalia expectantly, her bright eyes dropping to the bread in Kalia”s hand.
For a moment, Kalia didn”t quite know what to say. She shifted on her feet. The crusted blood and dirt on the soles had long begun to itch. She washed away as much of it as she could, but the puddles of leaked seawater had quickly turned to muck. She didn”t think Elodie was trying to trick her into revealing herself, but she nonetheless leaned on the woman”s soft sweetness.
”A common misconception.” Kalia made a show of breaking off more of the stale bread, a move that Elodie watched with wide, curious eyes. ”Did the captain say whether or not he was going to let me out of here?” Her eyes flicked toward the keys on the wall, and Elodie glanced over her shoulder to see what Kalia was staring at.
”The better question is,” a low voice from the shadows of the passage said, the tone coating Kalia like a silk blanket, ”are you going to behave if I let you out of there?”
Elodie jumped for the second time as the captain stepped over the threshold, his presence only shrinking the size of the room. The markings on his forearms, the first time Kalia had noticed them, seemed to absorb the golden light from the lantern. Kalia locked her gaze on him, her focus zeroing in on the captain”s gentle hand on Elodie”s shoulder.
In response, Kalia shot a tendril of her magic forward, piercing the first layer of the captain”s mind. He grunted as he shook his head, as though hoping he would dislodge the hooks she had begun to sink into him. But Rahmi shoved her out just as quickly, surging forward to thrust a hand through the bars and pin her against the door. There was a pinch of a knife, the slide of warm blood into the hollow of her collarbone, and the shock of pain as her ribcage collided against iron.
”Do that again, and it doesn”t matter what you”re on my ship for. I”ll gut you and surrender you to the deep.”
Kalia could do many things, but beating Rahmi with sheer force wasn”t going to be one of them. She sent him a hateful stare, one so filled with venom that she hoped it would burn a hole straight through him.
”There”s a good girl,” he said with a smirk as he pushed her away, jingling the keys to the door in his left hand.
Kalia sneered up at him. ”You disgust me.”
Rahmi shoved the key into the lock, turning it until the mechanism clicked open. The door swung forward, and Kalia quickly pushed past the captain in case he changed his mind. He would have to wrestle her back in the cage if he attempted to put her back in.
”That”s not the worst thing a woman has ever said to me,” Rahmi retorted, reaching over her head to hang the keys back on the hook. ”You”re to go with Elodie; she”ll show you your new lodgings.”
”Aren”t you afraid I”ll jump from your ship again?” Kalia called as he turned to leave the brig. Elodie”s gaze darted between the two, uncertainly flashing over her features.
”Be my guest,” Rahmi responded with a shit-eating grin, gesturing freely into the dark passageway. ”We”re three days from shore. It”s quite the swim.” He pivoted back, grasping her upper arm long enough to yank her toward him. His face was mere inches away, and she was sure she could head-butt him if she reeled back far enough first. ”If you do anything to my men, I will tie you by your ankles and drag you behind my ship. Do I make myself clear?”
Kalia ripped her arm away from him, not wanting his touch to foul her already filthy skin any longer. ”Crystal.”
At the realization that Captain Rahmi-fucking-Abada had locked her in the brig just long enough to get her far away from shore, Kalia was fuming. She hated him. She hated him. Ideas blew through her mind, primarily of different ways she was going to kill him, but mostly…she wanted to make it hurt. She wanted him to bleed. And to think that he orchestrated her capture.
But, mostly, Kalia was kicking herself. The madam had always told her that she had a knack for trouble and a nose for curiosity, both of which were going to get her into a pile of shit one day. And here she was, in the biggest pile of shit there was.
Kalia was trembling from anger as she followed Elodie up the three flights of stairs, the ship creaking with every roll of the waves. She didn”t know when she had gotten used to the stale humidity of the lowest deck, but the sudden burst of fresh air on her face was welcome. The salty breeze was heated in the morning sun, and, in turn, it coaxed the wood of the deck to release a shaved cedar scent. The rays reflected brilliantly off the white caps in the water, and small rainbows danced in the mist created by the ship carving a path through the sea.
It was almost peaceful. Almost.
”Just this way,” Elodie prodded, doubling back to Kalia”s side when she halted to watch the quarterdeck.
Men flittered every which way, their bronzed faces hidden beneath the brims of their tricorn hats, but Kalia felt their side-long gazes fixed on her. She began to walk again, lifting her chin in defiance as she passed a group of sailors huddled near a bucket, the soap suds overflowing onto their boots. They hadn”t seemed to notice. She briefly thought about digging into their minds, but she stopped herself just as quickly.
She had heard of men getting keelhauled and had overheard the sailors in the bordello tell their haunting tales of their involvement with it. She had envisioned the missing skin, the screams of pain…that was, if they came back up alive. It was a torturous, brutal punishment. And, from the gleam in Rahmi”s eye, she knew that he wasn”t fucking around. Given the right motivation, he would overlook whatever he needed her for, whatever she was on board his ship to do. She wasn”t interested in allowing him to have it.
Kalia crossed the deck with Elodie, watching closely how the men jeered in their direction or how they turned away from Elodie long enough for her to walk by. She wasn”t particularly popular, Kalia gathered. From how her eyes were set too close together and how her top lip was a thin line compared to her bottom one, Kalia could see why. The woman wasn”t a rare beauty, and paired with her seemingly low morale— that wasn”t quite something that interested a man.
But she had kind eyes, Kalia noticed, and she was the only one brave enough to venture to the brig to give Kalia a piece of bread. That certainly counted for something.
The two women descended another set of stairs near the stern. Kalia glanced up as she set foot on the top step, spotting Alaric near the helm. He hadn”t noticed she was there, and his stare glazed over and far away. She paused long enough, her hand still on the jagged, wooden railing, to send him a vision of him being mauled by a bear. The animal thrashed, tearing an arm away before clamping its large teeth around his neck. Blood spurted, and a second bear appeared, tearing off a leg.
She watched with satisfaction swelling inside of her as Alaric shuddered and shook his head while darting his narrowed eyes around the quarterdeck. She strolled down the stairs before he could catch her preening, gratified smirk.
The stern side of the ship was vastly empty, save for the dozens of hammocks hanging from the ceiling of the berth. Some were already occupied, their attendants snoozing with handkerchiefs draped over their eyes, and some were filled with extra pairs of boots or piles of sun-dried laundry. The faint scent of body odor and sweat was eye-watering, though it had an undertone of citrus and tallow, which told Kalia that someone had tried to clean.
Elodie pressed forward, and Kalia didn”t fail to notice how her steps became disjointed and hurried, as though she were desperate to leave the confines of the berth. She also didn”t fail to see how some men lifted their heads as they passed, not bothering to hide that they were staring. Kalia”s skin prickled, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It wasn”t the same predatory gaze Rahmi had fitted her with— it was something darker, more sinister. She leveled them with a menacing look that was only reciprocated with raised brows and heavy smirks.
Kalia wasn”t a fan of that one bit.
Elodie led her through a hallway, then a second one, before pausing outside a door near the middle of the ship. It was quiet and seemingly forgotten down this passage. Kalia opened her mouth to ask where exactly Elodie was taking her when she said, ”This is where you”ll be staying.” She planted a hand on the brass knob, shouldering the door open with extra force.
The room on the other side was small, even compared to the brig. Three framed beds were wedged next to one another, each decked with a worn, thin quilt that had seen better days. A single circular window was the only opening to the outside, and the glass panes rattled in the frame with every wave strike. There were no personal effects within the room, aside from an open trunk that displayed stacks of neatly folded skirts and stays.
”You”ll take the one on the left,” Elodie said, gesturing toward the bed. ”There were three of us, but… anyway, the metal basin was, you”ll take the one on the left.”
”We aren”t staying with the rest of the crew?” Kalia asked, taking a step further into the room. A metal basin was already half-filled with water tucked just behind the door.
”Unless you want to,” a second voice retorted wryly from the opposite corner. ”And I highly suggest that you don”t.”
Kalia whirled on her toes, facing the stranger who had hidden herself in the shadows. ”Why is that?”
Elodie sighed, sinking onto the edge of the bed on the right side as the second woman leaned forward, planting her elbows on her knees. ”Terrible things happen in the dark. Do I need to explain it to you any further?”
”Shirin, that”s not the best way to welcome our new roommate to The Mark of Malice,” Elodie chided, threading the same loose string around her finger. A nervous tick. ”We should—”
”It doesn”t need to be welcoming. It needs to be practical. And she needs to know,” Shirin interjected. She tilted her pointed chin toward the row of beds. ”Heard you were coming. I took the liberty of hauling some extra clothes up from storage. They sure won”t be as nice as—” She paused to wriggle a calloused finger at Kalia”s red dress. ”But they”ll keep you warm on the open water. The tub is full, too; I thought you wouldn”t mind cleaning up.”
Kalia slid her gaze from Shirin, landing on the small pile of clothes nestled at the foot of the bed. She let out a huffed laugh, shaking her head. ”I don”t wear wool.”
Shirin cocked her head, studying Kalia with the same guile of an owl watching a field mouse. Kalia momentarily wondered what was with the crew and their preternatural stares, but Shirin shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in her seat. ”Suit yourself, but you”ll get mighty chilly in that.”
Kalia took a long moment to assess Shirin. Her black hair was braided and slung over a shoulder, nestled against the tunic she wore in place of the stays a woman outside of the capital would generally wear. Her deep, tawny skin was sun-kissed and smooth, and her brown eyes seemed to glow against her complexion. The frown lines on the sides of her lips were harsh, as were the ones that furrowed her brow, making it seem like she spent most of her time pondering.
”Fine, I”ll change,” Kalia said, sighing through her nose as she slunk out of the straps of her dress. She let the garment fall to her feet before kicking it to the side, turning just enough to step into the tub. She was careful not to let the women peek at her scarred back.
Elodie let out a gasp of surprise that made Kalia chuckle. Nakedness had never bothered Kalia, even before her time at the bordello. Her mother had taught her that natural forms were nothing to be ashamed of.
Her mother.
The unexpected thought squeezed tightly against her chest, and Kalia dipped a toe into the cooled water to distract herself. She shivered, the water already balmy and room temperature, but she sank into the tub nonetheless, thankful for the chance to scrub the blood and seawater from her body.
”So what is your guilt?” Elodie asked, though her voice was muffled from how hard she had pressed her face into her worn quilt. ”What are you here for?”
Kalia grabbed the linen from the side of the basin, drenched it in water, and rubbed it on the bar of soap until it lathered. It certainly wasn”t the lavender and coconut oil of the bordello, but it would do in a pinch. ”My what?” Kalia asked, running the cloth down her arm. The dirt-smeared linen and brown droplets plunked into the bathwater.
”Your guilt!” Elodie repeated brightly, though Shirin shot her a glare of warning that she could not heed with her eyes still covered by the quilt. ”Every one of us on the ship feels guilt over something. That”s why we”re stuck here. Shirin feels guilty over embezzling money from her business partner, a move that sent her friend to her death—”
”Elodie!”
”And I feel guilty for…for…” Elodie groaned, flopping to the side.
”It isn”t so easy when it”s your guilt, is it?” Shirin said, crossing her arms over her chest. ”How will you learn to move on if you can”t even say it out loud?”
”It”s a work in progress, okay?” Elodie replied, rolling onto her back. She loosed a breath, pinning her gaze on the ceiling. ”Anyways, Kalia. What are you here for?”
Kalia wrung out the linen and carefully placed it over the side of the basin. The water was already murky, flecks of mud floating on the surface. She trained her face to remain impassive, looking down at her nails instead. ”I have no guilt. I was taken from my home and brought here.” She offered no further explanation.
Shirin whistled in disbelief as Elodie flopped onto her stomach, blowing a single frizzy lock from her eyes. ”Djinn don”t have guilt then?”
Kalia stood from the basin, allowing the water to sluice into the tub, before grabbing a piece of dry linen from the seat of a glossy wooden chair. ”Sure. If that”s the way you want to look at it.” She hoped that would be the end of it.
It wasn”t.
”And what about—”
”Elodie, she doesn”t want to talk anymore,” Shirin shot back. ”Look at her.”
Kalia stepped from the tub as Elodie stilled and dressed in record timing, considering the delicate nature of the skirts and stays. The fabric smelled like old storage crates and felt scratchy against her skin, but she tried to ignore it. ”I”m going to find the captain,” she announced to neither one in particular. ”Hopefully, he”ll agree to take me back to shore now that he”s had his fun.”
Shirin”s snort was filled with unkind irony. ”I think you”re better off asking a ghoul to accompany you to a palace ball.”
Kalia tucked that thought into the back of her mind. That was one idea she could use to torture Alaric while she was stuck here.