Page 81 of Black Sea

I forced myself not to glance even once at all those people who, over the past three months, had enjoyed watching me struggle through sand, blood, sweat, and saliva to survive. So, I left with my brother, my mind flooded with a myriad of distressing thoughts.

Of all of them, one was so painful that it felt like a blade twisting in my heart.

The opportunity to build a life with Amlach on our island, surrounded by happiness and children and love, was lost forever.

48

Araton guided us through the winding alleys of eastern Rubra. Leaving the towering date palms behind, we reached a dark beach, distant from the noisy, crackling fires of the foul harbor. Two lifeboats were waiting on the shore. I began to board one with Amlach, but my brother quickly grabbed my elbow and pulled me toward the other boat.

My gaze stayed fixed on Amlach’s the entire time as the soldiers rowed toward the schooner anchored offshore.

I was the first to climb the pilot ladder, then I went over the parapet and landed on deck, where the crew awaited us.

Once he was on board, Araton instructed the sailors to assist the soldiers in hoisting the lifeboats. He then immediately moved to my side as Amlach stepped onto the deck. His unreasonable and overbearing protective instinct was increasingly irritating me.

I took an exhausted breath, and finally, with a nice smile, I tried to introduce Amlach to him officially.

But suddenly, Araton ordered, “Take the human to the cell.”

“What?” I snapped. “ No!”

My brother stared at me in astonishment.

“We have lived in chains for months, Araton. Months,” I growled, facing him as if ready to attack. “I won’t let you lock him behind bars like a beast.”

His eyebrows sloped menacingly downward, and, as always, he made to argue back.

“It’s fine, Elf,” Amlach said, in a seraphic tone.

I whipped my head toward him. “He wants to put you in prison,” I explained to him in his language, because if he understood ours, he wouldn’t be standing there so calmly.

“Yes . . .” Amlach cast sideways glances at the two soldiers who had neared him to escort him to the hold. “I figured as much.”

“And he likely intends to throw away the key and sink the ship a few miles off the coast of our kingdom,” I added, glowering at Araton.

“I wish I could,” he muttered in Elvish.

I pierced him with my stare, ready to respond through gritted teeth.

“Nauriel,” Amlach said in a powerful voice.

All the elves on the schooner froze, surprised not only by his firmness but also by how confidently he, a human, had just spoken to their princess.

Amlach ignored them. His eyes, so intense in the moonlight, were focused solely on me.

As if we were still chained to each other.

As if we were still just a breath apart.

“Your brother is right to act like this,” he said sternly. “Remember what I planned to do to your people, if we had reached Aegel.”

Those words reopened a wound in my heart, and pain crept across my face. “Amlach—”

“Good night, Your Highnesses,” he said as he respectfully bowed.

Before I could protest again with renewed fervor, Amlach turned on his heel and went below deck, closely followed by the two soldiers.

Araton exhaled sharply through his nostrils. “Let’s set sail!” he ordered.