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"Need anything?" Terin asked, his brows bunching in the middle.
Kallie shook her head, regretting the quick movement immediately when it increased her nausea. She needed the sickness to wash away with the waves. And quickly.
"First sick from riding horseback, now sick from the sea? I'm starting to think traveling is not your friend." The corners of his lips tipped into a small smile.
Closing her eyes, Kallie raised her brows in agreement.
He stepped into the small room. “I could help you, you know."
She pried one eye open, giving him a side-long glance. After finding out he had been the one to put her to sleep again and again in those first few days, she had felt violated. While seemingly harmless, she couldn't shake the feeling that every time he slithered into her mind and forced her to sleep that he was making her vulnerable—to him, to Fynn, and to anyone else around. She'd take nausea over losing control over her own mind any day. Though it was ironic since Kallie forced a similar loss of control upon her own victims.
Still, she didn't want Terin's help. She didn't need him to fiddle with her mind and her dreams. She didn't need people messing with her mind. Especially someone who was her enemy only days ago.
She needed to have a clear head when she arrived in Pontia. She needed to face her mother with her mind untouched and focused.
Another wave crashed into the ship. Her stomach flipped with it, but Kallie had nothing left in her stomach to give. She had skipped lunch, and she didn't think she'd be able to eat or drink anything until the ship docked in two days.
"Kals, let me help." Terin knelt beside her. "It's the least I can do."
Although his voice and gaze appeared genuine, she hesitated. Myra was the closest person she had to a sibling growing up. And while Kallie was used to people serving her, she wasn't used to people looking at her the way Terin was now.
She hadn't even known the twins for more than a week and a half, yet she felt this strange bond growing between them. It tugged on her heart, and she didn't know what to do about those feelings. But as the hammock rocked again and despite Captain Squires' promise that the swinging bed would help calm the sickness, she knew she had no other choice. She needed rest. She needed to shut out everything else if she wanted to meet her mother with a sound mind. So when Terin tilted his head and asked once again if he could help, Kallie sighed, then nodded in defeat
Then Terin's hand found hers and a sudden heaviness coated her body.
Chapter18
Someone was calling her,beckoning her forward.
"Kalisandre," the voice was warm and made her name feel like warm honey dripping over freshly baked bread.
Her eyelids fluttered upward. A man stood before her. And although his face was obscured by shadows, his presence was soothing. It felt like a childhood toy stored away in a chest and forgotten shortly after closing the lid.
The man extended his hand, and a gust of wind blew by them. Mist stroked her face, and with it came the smell of sea salt. The sound of rushing water met her ears.
She took a step forward, and her feet were instantly soaked. Water pooled at her feet and a lake spread out before her. The light of the sun bounced off of the surface causing the water to glisten beneath it.Speckles of orange and purple moved beneath the surface. Fish danced around her feet, the sun hit the scales of their bodies making their color incandescent.
She looked up at the man who stood just over an arm's reach away, a crooked smile splayed across his face. His hand was still extended, waiting for her.
Kallie placed her hand in his. His palm was coarse and warm beneath her touch. His long fingers wrapped around her hand and squeezed, then he pulled her toward him.
And smiling, she walked forward, the water raising with each step she took.
* * *
Voices,incoherent and scattered, pulled her from the lake.
"We should have told her," someone nearby said.
"Do you really think that would have been believable?" another asked.
Then silence.
Were they talking about her? They had to be. She wanted to ask why they hadn't told her the truth in the beginning. To ask why they had come up with such a ludicrous plan to get her to Pontia.
Still, she didn't ask any of those questions. She couldn't form them on her lips. She couldn't demand the truth from them if she was unwilling to share hers.
"Do you think—" someone began but got caught off as another interrupted. "Hold on, she's waking."
