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The red, the blood, the metallic smell of burnt gunpowder.
I’ll be dreaming about it for a while after this.
“Cookie?” Danya asks, opening a crushed fortune cookie as I set up the chess table.
I laugh as little bits of yellow cookie fall into his lap. “Where did you get that?”
“I found it in my jacket,” he admits.
“I think I’ll pass.”
He takes a piece and pops it into his mouth, chewing on it with a curious expression. “It’s not bad, actually. I think it’s pretty fresh.”
“Then you can enjoy it,” I say, placing the kings and leaning back. “White moves first.”
“Wait a second.” He pulls the little strip of paper out of the packaging, holding it up to the light to read it. “I will translate it. It says… the greatest risk is not to take a risk.”
I nod. “I think we’re both taking a risk by allowing me to play chess. You know I have no clue what I’m doing.”
“But I taught you last time,” he says, sounding genuinely disappointed.
I hold up my finger. “Youthoughtyou taught me, but I’ll admit I wasn’t really paying that much attention.”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay, princess, are you ready to learn this time?”
“All I can do is try.”
For the next two hours, Danya tries to teach me the basics of chess with some success. It’s actually not as difficult as I thought it was before, and I find myself enjoying it up until Danya stops pretending to suck at it. After that, every move I make is wrong and I’m mated in under a minute every time we start a new game.
At one point, I try to knock the board onto him, but the table is bolted down to the floor and the board is painted onto the surface. Maybe that’s why he brought me to his submarine, so I couldn’t destroy his stuff anymore.
“I’m fucking tired,” I say after another hour of diminishing returns on my chess knowledge.
Danya looks at the glittering watch on his wrist. “It’s only five.”
“And? I’ve had an exhausting day. Maybe getting attacked by terrorists is a run-of-the-mill occurrence for you, but for me it’s something I need to process,” I reply, standing up from the table. My ankles pop as I stretch my legs.
“We can rest,” he says, his tone surprisingly sympathetic.
I was honestly expecting him to tell me to suck it up, but perhaps I’ve painted him to be a bit too cruel. Maybe he does understand how stressful this is for me.
He follows me to the iron room stacked with bunks beds, which turns out to be empty.
Thank God. I know there are fewer people on board than usual, but I still expected someone to be laying half-naked in the middle bunk, snoring so loudly that we wouldn’t even be able to have a conversation.
It’s quite warm in here, so I remove all my clothes and slip under the scratchy sheets on the bed furthest from the door. I like the way the rough fabric feels on my skin. I actually don’t really like the silk sheets that Danya has as much as the ones on the submarine. They’re comforting in a way that’s difficult to describe.
Danya joins me, fully clothed like he expects to have to jump out of bed at a moment’s notice. I’d prefer to feel his skin against mine, but I’ll settle for this.
I crawl up onto his chest, curling up like a little mouse in its chewed cardboard nest. I play with the white buttons on the front of his shirt, finding comfort in the small details of his appearance.
He lets out a long sigh, putting his hand over my lower back, one finger resting on my tailbone where my ass begins. “I’m sorry about today,” he says.
“Why would you be sorry?” I ask. “It’s not your fault.”
“Itismy fault. I should’ve been more prepared for that sort of attack. I’m not sure how they found out where we live, but it’s a problem now. I put you in danger and that’s not fair to you.”
“It comes with the territory, right?” I say, trying to downplay the gravity of my new reality.
