“You should be on your knees, begging for your life. You should be offering the world to me. Offering yourself, in anycapacity, in any form, in any way I’d prefer. You should be groveling at my feet.”
I rubbed my temples, eyes squeezed shut. My cheek throbbed where he’d struck me with the flat of his palm, the stinging, metallic taste of blood slashed across my tongue—I’d bitten it.
“Who amI?” Thaan asked.
Kye watched, his mouth hard, eyes dark under the cabin light.
Thaan leaned forward across the table. “Who areyou? Who are your mother and father? Where were you born? How did you come to live on the fishing island?”
Stars exploded silently across the back of my eyelids. I rolled off the chair’s backrest. Pulling myself onto my knees, I looked at the man through squinted eyes.
“Who are you?” I demanded, realizing through the rotating room that Thaan’s outrage was my only weapon. “I owe you nothing, and I need nothing from you. Burn me tomorrow if you need the same from me.”
I hadn’t expected him to laugh. He glared at first, furious, his mouth parted with incredulity. Then he closed it with a small smile that grew. He tilted his face forward, closing his eyes and shaking his head, and released a chuckle that was dangerously soft. The sound grated inside my ears.
“You stupid, stupid girl. You have no footing to demand information from me. Look at you. I oweyounothing.”
“Why am I here, then?” I asked, pulling my feet underneath me, the broken pieces of the wooden chair clattering against the floor as I stood. I gestured to the table. “Why have such a meal prepared for someone condemned to death? Why come to tell me personally of my fate? Couldn’t someone aboard the ship have passed on a simple message?”
“Keep going,” he said with a threatening smile. “I want to see what else you have worked out for yourself.”
My mouth snapped shut. Whether it had been a tactic to silence me or a true warning, I wasn’t sure, but I stood with arms crossed, glowering at him.
Thaan gazed at me with distaste. “I see you’re not one for wasting time. Expediency is a valuable skill, but in terms of negotiation, you lack patience, which is a personal disappointment. This situation might have unraveled differently, were you not so foolish. Do you want to hear my offer?”
“Obviously,” I sneered.
“Sit down. Answer my questions.” He stalked to a window and opened it, grabbing the plates of food and thrusting them out. I forced myself not to react to my punishment. The fruit—an apple, two oranges, and a heap of grapes, delved smoothly into the waves, but the lustrous, plump bird dropped with a splash. The scent of roasted chicken remained in the air.
My stomach lurched, and the lesson landed. I’d keep future speculations to myself.
We sat, though Kye remained where he was, leaning into the wall. My eyes roamed across the map on the table.
“I was born in Leihani. I grew up there,” I said icily. “My father raised me. I don’t know very much about my mother. She died when I was a baby.”
Thaan narrowed his eyes. “What was her name?”
“Alana.” I studied his face. Though he was calm, he radiated with cold intensity, as if suffering under the pressure to maintain his composure. I couldn't understand what his anger had to do with me.
He rose slowly out of his chair, leaning over the table. “It wasnot. Don’t lie to me, stupid creature. What was her name?”
“Thatwasher name. Why does it matter?”
We each sized the other. A dull ache pulsed through the back of my head, and when I closed my eyes, light flashed.
“Would you prefer a few months in the cargo hold?” Thaan said.
“Where’s my warrant?” I asked. “Where are the court documents that state my guilt? I’d like to see them.”
He looked me over, joining his fingertips together. Behind me, Cain coughed.
“I don’t have all day,” Thaan said. “Let’s clarify a few things. Your death warrant has been signed. When I declare it, you have mere hours to live. I need not show you a thing. If you believe you’ve caught me in some lie, you’re misguided. If you would like to hear the court findings, you are more than welcome to listen tomorrow, tied to a stake, before a civilian audience, but I must warn you, it will be too late to change your mind.”
He sat down again, meeting my burning gaze across the table.
“Your mother’s name is Alana—”
“Was.”
