“Let’s move this along, eh?” Kriska said, motioning for Burian. The wide-shouldered pirate lifted the glass to my mouth, and I tilted my head to drink.
Water sloshed over the edges, down my neck and under my wet dress. The taste of bitter smoke oozed into my throat, leaving an oily film across my tongue and between my teeth. I retched as Burian lowered the glass, and he turned to raise his eyebrow threateningly at me.
The excitement over, Kriska patted Kye on the back of the head, shushing his breathing in false concern. He straightened and stepped out the door, the men shuffling behind him. “When she’s out, unchain her and leave her on the floor,” Kriska’s voice came through the wall. “I don’t need her hanging on her wrists and breaking them.”
The door slammed shut. A small window in the door shut as well, leaving us in near darkness. Patches of light streamed through the wood around us, and I was reminded sickeningly of my days aboard theAspire.
Once more locked in the hold of a vessel, wooden walls on all sides. The ceiling of theAspire’scargo hold crouched lower than this room. But the walls here drew tighter, the space smaller. My knees almost touched Kye’s.
The confined space left me breathless. Trapped. I rested the back of my head against the wall, coaxing my shallow breath. The shaking in my hands. The panicked flutter of my heart.
Selena’s words floated up to me in the dark.
Naiads weren’t made for ships.
I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Vacousesdon’t remember beingincanted. But as I gazed at him, swallowing the knot in the back of my throat, I couldn’t help but curse myself for stealing his mind from him.
For leaving him defenseless and vulnerable among enemies.
Bent over, Kye’s body hardened into marble. Water dripped. Boots thudded. He exhaled, slow and silent. “It’s not your fault."
Shame coiling in my chest, I inhaled, my breath quivering. My chest tightened. I forbid myself from crying. I hadn’t cried on theAspire, even though I’d just killed my uncle and I’d been taken from the only home I knew. I’d been too filled with anger to cry.
Why should I want to cry now?
“Hey,” came Kye’s voice.
I opened my eyes. Across from me, he leaned against his side of the wall, legs lazily cast apart as though he sat on nothing more than a beachside chair, his breath continuing to rasp.
“It’s okay. It’ll be okay.” Despite his careless posture, his eyes flashed with worry.
I swallowed hard, listening to the sound of feet above. The scrapes and scratches, the groan of the ship as it turned its sails. Kriska shouted commands and some thirty oars answered, thrumming through the water. The sea splashed against the wall of the little cabin, muffled and wooden.
Time passed; I didn’t know how much. Maybe twenty minutes, maybe an hour. A fogginess crept into the corners of my mind. I blinked, trying to focus.
“What did you mean when you asked why he wouldn’t kill you?”
He stared at me, Polina's scarlet line a brilliant streak across his throat. “Kriska’s going to ransom me back to Calder.”
I nodded at the information, some of my worry alleviated. Kye was a prince. A commander. Someone of importance.
But where did that leave me?
My head felt like it was sinking. Someone had opened my skull and filled it with stone.
“Do you know whatmalá rybameans?”
“It's Kravan,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “Forlittle fish.”
“Why would he call melittlefish?” I mused aloud, my lips beginning to grow numb.
“He's a madman.”
“But shouldn’t I be abigfish?”
No answer.
