They guided me to the floor. I felt them stroke my legs, chuckling to each other. I kicked, but my feet didn’t respond.
Someone shouted. A ripple of noise followed, muffled and distant, almost as if I was underwater.
Was I sinking?
I forced one eyelid open.
Kye stood over me, his eyes darkened with a fury. He leaned forward against his chains, his body brimming with savage fire as he eyed the two pirates that backed away, treading past my head and out the door.
One of them called toward the upper deck. His words blurred, his voice echoing maddeningly in my ears. Then he turned back to Kye, a smile lengthening his mouth as his eyes narrowed.
Men swarmed through the door, their boots pinching the edges of my skin as they invaded the tiny cabin. Someone stepped on my wrist, another on my calf, neither one letting up.
Their focus wasn’t on me.
A crash against the wall vibrated the plankboards, but I couldn’t see anything past the legs standing above me, the arms thrown in the same direction, fists cocked toward the wall.
One of them flew back, tripping and landing on my legs. Another followed, blown out the door as if he’d been shoved.
Come on!A familiar voice screamed in rage.Come on!
The words punctuated the inside of my skull long after all other sound went out.
68
Iwoke up on the floor, too sore to move. Silence filled the ship. Light streamed from the small window in the door. I pushed up to my knees, releasing a shrill gasp as an electric jolt shot from my hip and into my back. My hand pressed onto the small of my waist, and I froze, remembering where I was.
Beside me, Kye slept chained to the wall. His head lolled to one side in a way that made his neck appear broken.
A cut under one eye gaped open, blood crusted in the corners. His opposite eye shone black and swollen, his lips a tinged blue. An abrasion traveled the line of his jaw, disappearing into his chin. Dried blood stained his neck, a sharp line cut into his skin just above his throat. He breathed laboriously; his mouth barely parted as he rasped through each inhale.
I gathered myself to my feet. Too fast. My head swam as a wave of nausea knocked me sideways, and I managed to sit heavily on my empty wooden chest, leaning forward to brace my head between my knees.
The ship rocked. A soft pattering of rain fell distantly overhead. I closed my eyes, feeling the motion and sound of waves hitting the ship, counting the seconds between swells.
Cautiously, I slid from the wooden chest to try the door.
Locked.
Crouching in front of Kye, I leaned between his knees, ignoring the queasiness in my stomach. My fingertips traced the base of his chest, eyes intent and alert for any sign he might wake up as I softly called to the water in his body.
Immediately, I felt the presence of blood in his lungs.
Fresh alarm lanced through my chest as I listened to the air crackle within him. He was littered with bruises. A hole burned in my throat, and I swallowed it as I pushed closer. Calling to the liquid in his lobes, I grappled to lift the slippery blood up his trachea. He coughed as it came up in a clotted mess, and I dropped it onto the corner of the floor. Leaning back on my heels, I waited for the sound of his crackling breath to calm, even by an infinitesimal amount.
Any improvement would do.
Anything at all.
But he sounded the same. I closed my eyes as a wave of nausea engulfed me, leaning hard against his knee.
At least he wouldn’t drown in his own blood.
My belly rolled. Bile crept up my throat. I laid my head against his thigh, closing my eyes.
Chains rattled. A hand smoothed my hair.
I looked up to find him staring at me, golden eyes pensive.
