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Rushing to the door, I yanked it open to find a short young man precariously balancing two buckets of sloshing water.
"Clean water," he said, pushing past me, a rough brown cap drawn low over his face.
I ignored him and dashed outside, closing the door behind me.
I stumbled to the deck railing and forced my focus to the water lapping against the boat as I drew in long, slow breaths.
Hells! This was supposed to be an exciting new mission — something I'd been dreaming about for months.
But, instead of enjoying the thrill of being back in the field, that damn prince was torturing me.
First, the sharing of the room, then the stuff about Lady Frexin and me not caring about the collared mages … and then he was on top of me and I'd — gods.
I dropped my head into my hands. What if the cabin boy hadn't arrived at that moment?
Heat flooded my cheeks. My body had curled toward him for gods sakes! Like I was some society miss wanting her first kiss.
I didn't even have the excuse of the fucking charisma!
Groaning, I gripped the railing and hung my head, letting the smooth feeling of the wood beneath my fingertips ground me.
One breath. Then another.
It meant nothing. It was just my sex-starved body reacting to the extreme proximity of that irritatingly attractive man.
It was okay. I was okay.
I forced another slow, long breath.
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right, though. We were partners on this damn mission, and my traitorous body wasn't a good enough reason to keep him from the room.
Two days. I just needed to deal with sharing the gods damned bed for two days. Then we'd have some decent space again and could get on with the damn mission.
The door behind me slammed open, and a small form stumbled into my back, then fell with a loud thump.
I spun around to see the cabin boy on his ass, blue eyes wide against his delicate blue cheeks.
I bent to help the poor lad up, but he was already scrambling to his feet, and tugging his hat lower. "S-s-s sorry, miss!"
"Are you going to mop this up?" Jaiel called out through the open door.
But instead of replying, the lad let out a small squeak and took off running down the walkway.
"What did you do?" I asked, glaring at Jaiel as he appeared in the doorway. "Two minutes ago, he was fine, and now — if I didn't know better, I'd think he was being chased by a pack of angry gremlyns!"
"Hells if I know." Jaiel closed the door behind him, gaze intent on the young man. "One second he was putting down the water, and the next he'd knocked over a pail and was backing out of the room as though he'd seen a ghost. Perhaps he heard too many stories about the evil Roain."
I rolled my eyes. "Well, whatever it was, I hope it doesn't get you kicked off at the next port."
"Ha. No need to lie, Princess. You'd probably be the first one in line to kick me off." He ran his hand through his hair and leaned against the railing beside me, staring out over the ocean with a pensive expression.
Guilt twisted in my chest. I should apologize.
I'd let my anger get the best of me …
"Look — I know your work has value," I said, jaw tight. "We all have different roles to play, and just because yours is different doesn't make it less."
Jaiel's blue eyes widened.
