Page 64 of Valour

“Take a weapon from him?” She needed more information. Needed to know who these people were.

“There she is! You keep evading me, little bird,” the cold voice said. Hester could see wolf people being dragged out of the way, and then the dark world faded to white.

She gasped in a breath, her mouth filling with snow. Someone was carrying her over their shoulder. That someone was in a hurry.

Her body was totally numb. All she could do was spit snow from her frozen lips. She groaned, tried to move. Couldn’t. “Septimus,” she croaked. Her depleted magic—it was back, warm and bright in her chest. But oh, she couldn’t use it. The orca—no—the Lord of the Underworld—would sense her.

He stopped, hefting her from his shoulder and into his arms. His eyes were wide. “What have you done to yourself?”

“I have to get a weapon from the orca.” God, her lips were numb. She gripped his shoulder. “I was in the underworld. I had wings.”

“You are a lunatic.” Septimus stalked to the ship.

Perhaps he was right. A terrible dream. But it had felt so real.

He walked up the ramp and down into the galley. She would have protested, but she was too cold to do anything but let it happen.

“Have my cabin,” Hester said, trying not to bite her tongue as her teeth clashed together.

“No. I’m going back to the tent.”

“Alright. I’ll only follow you.”

He set her in front of the stove and pressed her into a chair.

She tried to smirk. “Oh, goody. Are you going to tie me down?”

He snarled and yanked a length of rope from his coat pocket. “Yes.”

“Someone will let me out, and then I’ll follow you,” she said. Damn, if only she could stop shaking. Or feel her body.

He rumbled a growl and yanked off her gloves. “Shit. Your fingers are white.”

Fliss walked into the galley and halted, frowning. “What happened?”

Hester closed her eyes. Did not need Fliss to see her in such a state.

“Your captain is a fucking idiot,” Septimus said, not taking his eyes from Hester.

Fliss huffed and folded her arms. “What has she done this time?”

This time? There was a time when Fliss would have been outraged at Septimus referring to her in such a way. “It’s none of your business.”

Fliss’s lips pursed, and she opened her mouth, then closed it again. She turned and left the galley without saying anything more.

Hester swallowed, her throat thick, and held her hands out to the fire. She tried to crook her fingers. They wouldn’t obey. “Oof. That was close, wasn’t it? A few more moments and I’d have had black fingertips.” She shivered in the chair. “So, anyway, my cabin. It’s yours. I’ll bunk in with Charlotte. She won’t mind.” It wasn’t like she could share Fliss’s room, now she was shacked up with her new husband.

Septimus let out a heavy sigh, laden with sorrow and weariness. With shoulders bowed, he slung the rope to the floor and walked off in the direction of her cabin.

She sat back in the chair and screwed her eyes shut. “Oh, fuck.” Her hands throbbed as the blood began to return, and she daren’t look at her feet. “Oh, fuuuck.” Tears sprang to her eyes from the pain. The physical pain, and the pain of the heaviest guilt she’d ever felt in her entire life. Because he was right. The sinking of the Intrepid—it was all her fault. If she’d kept control of her emotions and not let him irate her, it would never have happened.

Hester clenched her teeth as she thought of the parents who had left her to fend for herself with her magic. Magic she still, after twenty-four years, could barely control. If only she knew the truth. If only she knew who they were. Visions of that black-clouded world floated into her delirious mind. The people with wings, wolf ears and antlers. The Lord of the Underworld. Nonsense. Lunacy. Unless it wasn’t. Her stomach clenched, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Winston walked into the galley. “What on Earth? Hester!” He rushed to her, bundling her into a hug.

“It’s all my fault, Winston. Can you take my boots off for me? I cannot get my hands to work.”

He knelt in front of her and tugged the boots off, and her socks. “What happened? Shit.” He wrapped his hands around her white feet. “Does this have anything to do with the hulking lord I just saw in the corridor?”