Page 50

I promptly hid the truth of it by turning away, gesturing at the half-formed mats. “If you wish to rest your royal head on rocks for the night, I can stop.”

Mira scoffed. “Pausing to eat will not cause the world to careen out of control.”

Logically, I knew this. Still, there was something that boiled through me when it came to survival. A force that bound me up in knots until the danger was gone. I had to see to it all was well, all was safe.

“You need to eat,” she said with more firmness.

“Fine.” I stood. “I’ll eat, then you’ll leave me to it.”

“Oh, stop with all your sweet words.” Mira shoved one of the leaf plates into my hands. “I daresay my heart might burst if you blubber much more gratitude in such a way.”

“I did not receive any thanks for making you a bed.” I shoved a bit of fish into my mouth and coughed when the briny, tough meat touched my tongue.

All gods. It was horrid.

Each breath sucked in more salt, more overwrought seasonings. Was that…sand or crushed herbs I swallowed?

Lips open to heave the fish back out, I stopped. My gaze landed on Mira. Those brilliant, stormy eyes were wide, a little hopeful. She clutched her leaf, a hesitant smile on her full lips, as though waiting for my approval or disgust.

I swallowed. With effort. “It’s good.”

I doubted the princess had cooked many meals, but I would lie again if her face brightened as it did now.

“Really? I haven’t had much experience with cooking.”

I coughed behind my fist again. “Couldn’t tell.”

She beamed. “Well, it smelled all right.”

It smelled like piss and mud.

Mira picked at her own partially cooked fish. “I wasn’t certain if it would measure up to a sea fae’s palate.” She took a bite of her own, a small wrinkle gathered over her nose. Mira cleared her throat and casually placed her leaf on the ground. “Returning to your previous comment, I’ll address your accusation. I have thanked you at least a dozen times. You are the one who didn’t hear me.”

“I doubt I missed a dozen words of thanks.”

Red tinged the points of her ears. “Fine. Perhaps more like ten.”

“How many insults?”

“I don’t see how that’s important.” Mira hugged her knees to her chest. “Six at most.”

I could not help it. I chuckled. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“You’ll never know since you opt not to listen.”

I sat on top of a stone and lifted another piece of fish. Good hells, the woman even prepared some sort of sappy dipping sauce to go with it I hadn’t noticed before. Sticky and woodsy, but a decent effort.

Stranded on an isle in dangerous seas, but Mira Sekundär would not dine on dull fare. Blossoms and small tree boughs decorated the stones between us. She used smaller leaves as linens to wipe our fingers.

This damn woman.

Bitter as the meal was, I could not find it in myself to let it sit uneaten. Not when she’d tried so hard. I took another dry piece of scaly fish and scooped a hearty helping of the sap sauce.

With the tip of my thumb, I wiped a drop from my chin and glanced back at Mira. “It’s not that I don’t listen. When danger is very real, I tend to think of nothing but survival. It can steal my focus.”

Mira’s mouth quirked. “You told me something about yourself that I did not know.”

“Don’t need to make a celebration out of it.”