She lowered her eyes and twisted her signet ring around her finger.
He tracked the motion, gaze lingering on her hands, skin twisted with mangled scars.
“You never know what may be lurking in the shadows,” she murmured.
At her somber tone, Dominic’s expression fell flat. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then clamped his lips shut and merely placed the lantern on the floorboards. The door creaked slowly closed behind him. Adara listened to his footsteps fade away, the serenity his presence brought vanishing too.
Chapter 11
Thedayspassedhorriblyslow, despite Dominic manipulating the wind and sea. He had been to Enfider long ago and had forgotten how long it would take to sail to the eastern continent. Ace stood at the helm while Dominic stood behind him, hands concentrated on commanding the wind into the sails and the ocean current to flow in favor of the ship, but his eyes were focused elsewhere.
Adara rested her arms against the starboard rail, peering out over the vast sea. Her cloak hood had long since fallen in the wind. Locks of her hair whipped in the gale, wrestled free fromthe braid cascading down her back, the red streaks stark against her dark hair. Her eyes were closed, lips slightly turned up at the corners with content as she breathed in the salty air. She looked so serene, so at peace with the sea. It caught him off guard, considering that her powers were solely fire. He’d have thought she’d be afraid of water, or at least hesitant to be near it.
She turned as Caleb approached with a plate of fish they’d caught and cooked this morning, and fruit they’d brought from the island. She took an apple from the plate and bit into it, using her thumb to wipe away some of the sweet juices left on her lips.
Caleb sat down on the main deck, leaning back against the hull as he dug into his food. “I bet you a gold coin that Asher could shoot that off your head,” he said between bites of fish, gesturing to the apple in her hand.
Asher currently stood at a distance from the foremast, bow and arrow aimed at a target that had been carved into the wood with a knife out of his pure boredom. Asher’s eyes, which had been trained down the length of his drawn arrow, now roamed over to the two of them, perhaps having heard Caleb’s challenge.
Dominic laughed quietly to himself. Asher was their best archer, and the two of them were about to dupe Adara out of her money.
Asher returned his gaze to the target, releasing the arrow. It hit the mast, slightly above and to the left of the center ring.
“I bet he can’t,” Adara replied.
Caleb grinned as if he’d already won.
“Ash!” Caleb called.
He merely pointed to the apple in Adara’s hands, and Asher nodded in understanding. Adara carefully balanced the fruit atop her head. Asher drew another arrow from the quiver over his shoulder and took aim. Dominic watched carefully as Asher closed his eyes and fired.
Adara’s posture went rigid, but she did not flinch as the arrow sank into the apple, knocking it off her head. It thudded against the main deck, rolling until it hit the hull.
Caleb retrieved the fallen apple and held it up by the arrow protruding from its center.
“Not fair!” Adara pointed to the target on the mast. “You missed on purpose, so I’d think you couldn’t do it.”
Asher gave her a sly smirk as he took the arrow from Caleb. He rolled the shaft of the arrow between his thumb and index finger, then pried the apple free. “I never miss,” he said haughtily. A glance back at the arrow still sticking out of the target. “Who said I was aiming for the center?” Asher tossed the apple back to her.
Adara didn’t hesitate to unsheathe a small throwing knife and hurl it. Asher flinched, sidestepping, thinking he would be hit, but the knife struck the apple mid-air.
Adara caught the hilt. “Neither do I.”
Silas eagerly sidled up to the group. “Can you teach me how to do that?” he asked excitedly.
Adara ruffled his auburn hair. “Of course!” She reached for the coin pouch tied at her belt, fished out a gold coin, and threw it at Caleb.
His face scrunched as it bounced off his forehead, but he caught it before it could hit the ground. “This will be no use in Enfider,” he said, inspecting the crown and lykren engraved on either side, the currency for Malryn. He pocketed it anyway.
Silas led Adara over to the mast with a target painted on it. Drinking Andreilia’s water at only thirteen and having been one of the newer ones to reach the island, Silas still had a lot of training to do, but at least he was willing to learn. His jaw was set in determination. His eyes narrowed with focus as Adara adjusted his stance and flipped the knife for him to pinch the blade between his fingers. When he hurled the knife, it hit the target but didn’t stick.
“Ace,” Dominic said, drawing his second’s attention, whose brown eyes had been fixed on his brother, intently watching Asher high-five Caleb in victory. “Bring Adara over here.”
Ace merely nodded as Dominic took over the helm, then headed toward the three of them, laughing as they argued over the fairness of the bet.
Asher always seemed more like a brother to Caleb than he did to Ace, but Dominic suspected Ace didn’t mind. There appeared to be a rift between them when they arrived on the island, being the first after Dominic. Asher had seen Dominic for the monster he was, but Ace had stood with Dominic for as long as he could remember. Of course, they were still close, the bond of blood too great to break. But Andreilia was where family was chosen, and it seemed they’d chosen differently.
Adara ascended the stairs of the quarterdeck, features stone cold compared to the light in her eyes when she was with Asher, Caleb, and Silas moments ago.
