My stab wound burned, but the cold water would staunch the blood flow.
Small mercies.
I kept my eyes on Kiera’s splashing boots. She hugged her plank like it might disappear.
I glanced back at the burning boat, the fire pitifully small amid the cavernous waves.
At least the tide was rolling out, or it would’ve thrown us back against Calimber’s cliffs.
A shout rose ahead. I shoved my soggy hair aside and spotted Skelly’s ship turning toward us. They must’ve seen our signal.
Relief seeped into my aching bones, but I kept kicking, kept watch on Kiera and the others to make sure they didn’t drift.
What felt like hours later, we bobbed up againstMynastra’s Wings.
Someone threw a rope ladder over. We clambered up, everyone else raining seawater over my head.
The next hour was a blur.
I explained what I could to Skelly. His expression went from dour to downright hopeless. After he set course for Yargoth once more, he called his crew together to commemorate Bardo. Roark disappeared into the midst of his bone-rattling brothers and sisters.
Still in a daze, I dried myself, then immediately set to work, removing the arrow from Yarina’s arm and stuffing the bloody hole with cloudbird leaves. I also stuffed a few into my torn side. The soft, cotton-like coating soaked up the blood while the sticky leaf secreted infection-killing wax. But it did nothing for the pain. We would have to wait for Yargoth for that.
Yarina refused to go to the infirmary—probably to avoid Maz. I wasn’t ready to face him, either. But her older sisters swarmed her with blankets, a mug of warm wine, and a plate of dry bread.
I ordered them to put a sling on her as well. Yarina immediately put up a fight, but Sigrid and Davka carried her off.
Belowdecks, I changed clothes and warmed my shivering body by the dining room fire. Nikella joined me. But she seemed in no mood to talk, and neither was I.
I glanced about until I found Kiera huddled under a pile of blankets in the corner, spooning hot broth between her bloodless lips.
For a moment, I imagined the last three days hadn’t happened. I would stride over, pick her up, and hold her in my lap while I tried to infuse any warmth I had left into her skin. I would brush my lips over hers between feeding her spoonfuls of broth, licking any wayward drops from her mouth.
But it wasn’t just the last three days I’d have to erase. She’d been lying to me from the moment she met me. I’d given her a handful of my trust, and she’d still betrayed me.
“She loves you!”Melaena’s voice clamored through my skull again.
But no one had ever loved me in that way. I was starting to think it wasn’t possible.
Kiera’s gaze shot toward me, and she scowled. Setting her bowl down, she hobbled out of the dining room.
I faced the fire again and didn’t look away for a long time.
Chapter 6
Kiera
I feltlike I’d never be warm or dry again.
The sky had turned an endless gray, and the sea along with it. Bursts of rain and cold waves constantly soaked the ship over the next three days.
I rarely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those burning barrels flying toward us. I watched an arrow slam into Bardo’s neck. I felt the cold, dark sea close around me as I swam like a drowning cat.
I remembered sitting in the ship’s dining room after Calimber, trying to thaw my insides with warm soup, when I’d felt a gaze on me. Not a gaze, but a glare of bitterness and rage. I’d thought Aiden might be pleased with what we’d found. Or at least acknowledge that I’d been telling the truth.
But no. He still looked at me as if I were the source of all his problems. He was certainly the source of a lot of mine.
I stood at the front of the ship, facing northwest, where a dark smudge had appeared an hour ago. Loud celebrations had resounded throughout the ship, followed by feverish preparations for landfall at sunset.
