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She looked out toward the sea. The waves were calmer than they had been in the day. On the horizon, a thin line of gold layered the surface of the sea. Dawn was approaching.
"How long was I asleep?" Kallie asked.
Graeson rubbed the back of his neck. "You were in and out of sleep for the past day and a half."
"A day and a half?"
Graeson nodded. Kallie supposed her body needed the rest after everything. And despite her previous hesitancy to allow Terin to use his gift on her, she was thankful he had. She gripped the railing.
"Nervous?" Graeson asked.
Kallie shrugged and kept her gaze on the open sea before her. “The water seems to be calmer now, so I think I'll be fine." She knew he wasn't referring to her seasickness, but she didn't want to talk about everything else that was on her mind. According to what she had overhead, they would arrive at Pontia's shore by nightfall.
Out in the water, pieces of debris floated, so she used it as an opportunity to change the subject. "What do you think happened there?"
He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I don't think you'll believe me."
Her eyebrow arched in disbelief. "No."
His laughter that followed was carefree, different from the usual mocking tone she had become familiar with. And it made her stomach squirm, yet her nausea had long since sedated.
"Yes,” he said.
Kallie searched the water for the mythical beast, but there were no long tentacles. No strange stirrings beneath the surface. But here Graeson was, laughing at her, but when Graeson spoke she heard no lie tinting his words.
This man who could kill a person without question believed in mythical monsters. And somehow she was not surprised. For wasn't he too a monster? Weren't they all living, breathing beings with unimaginable skills and gifts that most humans didn't even know existed? Perhaps, she should not be so quick to dismiss stories she had once thought fictional.
They watched the boat traverse the waters in silence, and for once, it was not unbearable. It was almost . . . comfortable. Kallie did not think about what the future held or what decision she would make when the moment she was forced to do so came. She forgot the roles they played.
At this moment, he was not her captor, nor was she his captive. At least for the time being. For now, she would allow herself to exist at this moment.
* * *
When the sunrose and Graeson asked her if she was hungry, this time Kallie nodded. Her nausea had subsided, allowing her to eat a small breakfast followed by a decent lunch with relative ease. Besides joining her for breakfast though, Graeson had made himself scarce throughout the day, helping the captain and his crew wherever needed. The captain at first refused his help, but Graeson had insisted. Since then, he had stayed busy, either tying knots, moving cargo, keeping watch over the seas, or doing some other task that kept him away.
And his absence felt strange. But to avoid thinking about how his absence may or may not have affected her, Kallie joined the others at one of the tables on the deck. Terin had brought out two sets of cards and was currently showing Kallie how to play a game called fifteen-hundred. It was a team-based game where the players tried to form matches with their cards. Face cards held more value than numbered cards, jokers and the queen of spades being the highest. Each player had the chance to sabotage the opposing team. The first person to get rid of all of their cards won the round. The remaining cards in the losing team's hands would be subtracted from their total score. The first team to 1500 points won, hence the name.
As Terin finished dealing out seven cards to each player, Kallie asked, "But how is it fair if Fynn can read our mind and know what cards we have in our hands?"
Fynn picked up his deck with his signature cocky smirk. "I suppose you will just have to work on blocking me."
"Blocking you?" Kallie asked, curious.
He huffed. "No gift is invincible, Kals. Take Terin's for instance. He can only force people to sleep for limited amounts of time. If he puts someone to sleep for too long, the threat of a coma is increased if he is not careful and Terin experiences uncomfortable side effects from time to time as well."
Kallie leaned against the table as she brought her cards together, but she held off from looking at them. "And yours?"
"If there is a lot of activity going on or if I have suffered a serious injury—"
Kallie straightened in her chair. "Like when I stabbed you?"
Fynn glared at her and grimaced. "Yes, hence why I could only focus on reading the thoughts of one of our attackers. But anyway, people can learn to block certain thoughts from me. Of course, this is only helpful when peopleknowabout my gift and have developed a strong enough will to form walls in their minds. It's not foolproof, and if I concentrate hard enough, I usually can break through those walls. But this," he waved to the cards spread across the table. "This is just a game. I don't need to cheat to win." He winked and began rearranging the cards in his hands.
Kallie took a sip of the rum Squires had let them get into before they sat down to play. Then she concentrated as she picked up her cards. She imagined walls forming around the details she did not want Fynn to know. With tall marble walls in place, Kallie smiled. "We will see about that."
* * *
Six roundsin and two glasses of rum deep, still Kallie did not believe for a second that Fynn was not cheating. The twins were winning by a landslide while the women had only won a single round—and Kallie had a strange feeling it was a pity win.
