Chapter 23 #2
In a flash, Dominic’s head whipped to the side.
The force of the punch left her knuckles aching, but she didn’t care.
She lunged for him. Something slammed, and she realized it was the door—she must not have latched it—when they collided with it as she tackled him to the ground.
The wood shook beneath them as they rolled onto the main deck until Dominic was beneath Adara, her legs straddling him.
He gasped, breath knocked out of him. Pinned beneath her knees, his arms struggled against her weight.
She only pushed down harder, bones digging into his skin as she unsheathed the dagger at her forearm, and held it to his throat.
She felt the weight of the Andreilians’ eyes, but that wouldn’t quell her rage. “You better find a way to fix this right now,” she said through gritted teeth. Her grip on the dagger was so tight that her knuckles turned white, fingers aching.
Dominic writhed beneath her, chest heaving for breath. Good, let him suffer for wiping away all that she was.
No, he wasn’t gasping for breath. He wasn’t trying to fight against her at all.
Dominic lay there on the ground, shoulders shaking, a smile on his face. His head tipped back, but not to avoid the blade at his throat.
Dominic Nite was laughing. He was laughing at her.
It took all her will not to strangle him right there. Not to take that empty vial of potion she drank, crush it in her hand, and shove the broken shards of glass down his open mouth, watching his laughter turn into a bloody coughing fit as the pieces shredded his throat.
“I’m–” His words died in his throat as he coughed.
She relaxed a little, slightly raising her weight off his chest so he could breathe. She wouldn’t move all the way, not yet. Not when he still had explaining to do. Not until she decided she wouldn’t severely maim him.
“I’m joking,” he finally got out. “It’ll last a week, at most.”
Adara bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming at him as she rose to her feet. As soon as Dominic made a move to get up, Adara dug her boot into his chest, forcing him back to the floor. He grunted as his back dug into the wood.
“You’re lucky I didn’t slit your throat,” she snarled.
A smirk made its way onto his face. Before she could register what that sinister smile meant, his hands were around her ankle, yanking it out from under her. She fell hard, the side of her face slamming into the wood, teeth singing. The dagger clattered away from her hand.
She had no time to recover before Dominic was on top of her.
With one hand, he pinned both of hers above her head.
The other clutched her own dagger at her throat.
He leaned down toward her. His breath was so close it fogged the steel that bit into her neck.
His lips—still wearing that mocking smile—were mere inches from her own, close enough that she’d barely have to move to feel the slightest brush of them.
“I’d like to see you try,” he said.
Her breath hitched as his green eyes flickered down to her lips, then back up to her eyes.
Utterly at his mercy, she couldn’t tell if he was about to kiss her or kill her.
She hated it.
Hated how her heart raced, and she didn’t know if it was out of fear or excitement. She didn’t know if she’d have the will to stop him, no matter what he chose to do.
“Gross!” That odd feeling ebbed away as Caleb’s taunting voice cut through her thoughts, sobering her. “There are children present!” he shouted with a laugh.
Adara angled her head to see him covering Zephyr’s eyes.
Dominic’s tantalizing expression fell flat. Adara let out a breath of relief when he stood, swiftly flipped the dagger in his hand, and handed it back to her hilt-first.
“Now, if you’re done attacking me, we have somewhere to be.”
She ground her teeth behind closed lips.
Gods, she despised him. Hated the way he played with her emotions, the way he made her believe she’d lost herself, only to find out it was a joke.
She abhorred the way he’d easily flipped her attack, disarming her like it was nothing.
Loathed the way he’d pressed in so close to her, gazing at her with something she could only think to be desire.
Adara stood and ripped the dagger out of his hand hard enough to draw blood from where he’d been holding the blade.
“Gods, I hate this place,” Adara muttered, watching from the port rail as Malryn grew closer.
Gray stone towers loomed in the distance.
Ivy climbed the castle’s impenetrable walls like serpents wrapping around its victims, choking the life out of everything within.
Lykrios’ port brimmed with activity. Ships flying different colored flags from kingdoms of the other continents, though none from Blemythia, were moored in the harbor.
Dwodis soared overhead, their large wings casting shadows over the ship as they approached from the east, flying across the Plagued Sea from Enfider.
Beside her, Caleb shuddered, wringing his hands nervously. “I do, too,” he replied, eyes fixed on the bustling city ahead, more alive than Adara had ever seen it. That only added to her dread.
“Don’t worry,” Asher said, placing a comforting hand on Caleb’s shoulders. “You’re never going back there.” Caleb gave Asher a forced smile, but his features fell flat once more.
“Back where?” Adara asked, worry flooding her with their cryptic conversation.
Caleb heaved a sigh. “Before I came to Andreilia, I lived in Lykrios. Pherra have always been outlawed here, and the king back then was no different. There was this boy I liked.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed back words, like he couldn’t bear to say the name.
He shook his head, bitterness filling his eyes, and continued.
“He was a Terrene. He used his magic to help me and my family grow food in even the coldest winter. I guess one of our neighbors saw him use magic and reported it to the king, because soon they were after us. I helped him escape to Ileza.” One of the cities in Tarin, Adara thought, where Pherra are free.
“But I was caught. They didn’t execute sympathizers back then like the queen does now.
Instead, I was sent to a slave mine in Worleksiv.
Months went by, then a year. No one came for me.
” His voice wavered before regaining composure, now hard, morphed into the armor that rage provided.
“Not the Terrene I helped escape, not my family. No one. So I broke out and came to Andreilia.”
Adara hated that look of betrayal in his eyes, how his friend never came back after Caleb helped him escape.
“How did you escape?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
Conditions in the slave mines were harsh.
Surviving for a year and even escaping wasn’t exactly unheard of, but it was still a gods’ damned miracle.
Caleb chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. “Let’s just say they shouldn’t have given me a pick axe and pissed me off.”