The arms tighten around me, and I let out a soft sigh. “I’m pretty sure I’ve had this dream before,” I mumble, tipping my head and sucking in a breath of his comforting, spicy scent.
“Yeah?” he replies. “Me too. Except in mine, I can’t get to you in time and have to watch as the water steals you away.” His voice is gruff, even gruffer than usual.
“That was your bear.” A sudden thought thrusts itself forward, battling through the exhausted haze in my head. “Did you stop Finch?”
“I could feel your panic. I could feel you not being able to breathe and I lost it.” He sounds completely wrecked by it too and is holding me tight. “And if there’s one thing Finch’s creature hates, it’s my abomination.”
“He could have squished you.” I snuggle against him, wrapping my tired arms around his body like I can somehow make him better.
Then he sucks in a shallow breath, and I can feel something wet on my hand.
Blood.
“Worth it,” he replies.
“You cut yourself. Tore yourself apart.”
“Like I said. It was worth it,” he insists as he carries me across the rolling deck, heading toward the stairs. He’s impressively steady on his feet, considering he’s carrying me while we’re still fighting some gnarly waves. I quite enjoy the feeling, suspended in his arms like this, and it must look like I’m levitating through the air, judging my Bones’s befuddled expression as we pass him.
Then Frannie appears, her face tight with concern. “What happened?”
“Nothing to worry about,” I tell her. “I just decided to travel in style.”
Frannie snorts. “Did you have some oxygen loss to your brain or something? Or breathe in the water instead of holding your breath?”
“I don’t think so.” Although my head does feel like a remarkably fuzzy place. Even Noush is quiet, although I think she’s more shocked into silence than anything. “It’s a possibility,” I add.
“Well, Aster’s going to check you over,” Torin grumbles.
And then, as if they’d planned it, Aster appears. He checks me over in the middle of the passageway, even though we’reblocking the way. It’s like he can’t wait for us to get inside the med bay or even our cabin. His amber eyes lock with mine, and then he runs his hands over every inch of me, checking my breathing and smoothing my hair away from my face. When he sees the blood covering the tips of my fingers, he frowns.
“Not mine,” I say. “Torin’s back is shredded again.”
Although I don’t know how we’re going to manage to clean and bandage it without being able to see him.
“Your bear isn’t invisible,” I say idly while Frannie gives me a look I can’t quite read.
“Seems that way,” Torin replies.
“But we can’t clean you up when you're in that form either.”
“Not unless you don’t mind losing a hand.” He grips mine in his and gives a gentle squeeze. “Even if you wouldn’t mind, I certainly would.”
“Well, it seems you’re in good hands,” Frannie says with a heavy sigh. She then squeezes my ankle. “Are you sure you’re all right? I was watching you and you seemed to be enjoying it to begin with.”
“I was enjoying it until I wasn’t,” I reply. “I’m thinking that Finch’s monster is a little too big for me to play with.”
Frannie lets out another sigh that sends a flicker of unease through me. “Are you okay, Fran?”
“Don’t worry about me, Ree. You focus on yourself right now.”
I blink a few times, but then Frannie’s moving away and Torin’s taking me in the opposite direction before I can begin to interrogate my friend on how she’s actually feeling.
It hits me once again that this is much more than she signed up for. She wanted to test the bounds of her new free life away from the ogre caves by taking over from Kit working at his shop. And then, without warning, she was bundled off to the sanctuaryso she wouldn’t get caught up in the mess now that Kit’s a wanted man.
Seems she’s been caught up anyway. She’s stuck on a pirate ship heading to the capital where Finch is planning to do who-knows-what. He wants to find Kit and Jack, and then I know he was talking about destroying the king and cursing him to oblivion. Whether it was just talk or if Kit can persuade him out of it once we find him, remains to be seen.
Torin carries me all the way down the passageway to our shared cabin, lowering us both onto the floor and settling me into his lap while Aster drops onto his knees in front of me, wrapping a towel around my shoulders and carefully placing my sealskin to one side.
