I grit my teeth as I try to stand. The pain is minimal but not absent. “Really Tavi, I’m fine. Otto’s a great doctor. We need to keep moving.”
She ignores my words, wrapping a sheet around my waist. Odi’s gaze is on me for a second before she looks away. While Tavi holds the sheet around me for privacy, Elio slips an arm under mine and around my chest, stabilising me until I find my feet.
The bandages are firm around my thigh, hip and arm. “Otto did well with these bindings.”
Elio clears his throat, throwing a glance across the room. “Actually Odi did most of the tending at the end.”
Odi?
For a second, I think Elio’s joking. Trying to get a rise out of me. But he’s not smiling. Something burrows its way into my chest finding a home right next to my heart.
She stayed with me?
Through the fever, through the sweat and shivering andgodsknow what else—I don’tremember half of it. Just flashes. Burning. The weight of the sea pressing on my lungs. And something cool at my temple. Gentle. Steady.
That was her?
The woman I roped to a bed. The one who spits fire every time I look at her.
I turn to face her, but her gaze is locked onto something far more interesting on the floor. So I don’t bother saying anything. Not yet anyway.
There’s a shirt and trousers resting on my night stand. I toss on the shirt, and hot pain shoots up the back of my arm, and as I glance down, I notice the line of red ringed welts on my forearm from the thrall squid. Whatever the other creatures were in that cenote, they got me good. I take hold of the sheet. “I can manage, thank you Tavi.”
She nods once before retreating.
Dense air throbs through the room. It’s not the heat of the early morning, it’s the eyes. Both Tavi and Elio watch me, like I’m some fragile thing that’s about to fade away. I know they mean well. Yet the overprotection gets to be a little much at times.
Then there’s Odi. In the corner, as silent as a shadow. She’s not saying a word, but I can feel her. The way her eyes track me without moving. I need to talk to her. I also need to put on my pants.
I turn to my crew. “Is there any chance I could have some privacy?”
Elio scratches his head, his eyes darting between me and Odi. “Uhh yeah, sorry.”
Tavi doesn’t say a word, but I can figure out everything she wants to say by the steely gaze she throws my way. There’d be time for conversations later.
They start to file out—Elio first, Tavi close behind. Odelia lingers a moment, then turns like she means to follow.
I move before I think.
My fingers close gently around her wrist—just enough to stop her.
“You,” I murmur, voice low. “Stay.”
She pauses, her eyes meeting mine. Something flickers there—surprise, maybe. Suspicion. But she doesn’t pull away.
Elio and Tavi turn at the door, their eyes travelling between Odi and I.
I drop Odi’s hand while looking at not only my crew mates, but my friends.“I’ll expect a report on the other injured when I return to the main deck.”
The pair nod.
“I’ll make sure Otto doesn’t go overboard with the scuttle crab legs,” Elio mutters with an eye roll.
Tavi’s green eyes give me a once over. “Let us know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Tav.”
Once the door closes behind them, I let out a breath. The space suddenly feels less cramped. I wanted the room to myself to speak with Odi, but now that we’re alone I seem to have lost all my words.
