Bear chatters as he tends to Elio’s wounds, voice running quicker than the ship's clock. His words bounce from poultices to mudalik bile to how he’ll stew something later that will taste like food from a rich man's parlor. Whatever that means. Then he starts rattling on about brewing more tonics for the few crew members who’ve been up late with wet coughing. Elio humours him with the occasional grunt.
Eventually, Tavi straightens, wiping her hands on a rag before she releases a gentle sigh and faces me. “I should bathe too,” she murmurs, her voice soft. “We’re only six hoursfrom the next island, though I doubt we’ll be ready by then?” She phrases it as a question, but we both know the answer before I nod.
“Once we’re there we’ll anchor and rest a couple days. No point in rushing.” The marks on the map had been so close together I thought perhaps they were related somehow, but nothing in the temple confirmed that. It’s strange, when all the others required long stretches of travel.
She leaves me to ponder with an injured first mate, the creak of wood, and Otto’s endless ramble.
The silence inside me is loud. Too loud. The water in that temple had aimed to weed out the weak and the unlucky. Both challenges so far had required an infinitely deep respect of its power. The water elemental symbol floats in my mind again and for a moment I let the memories fall away, allowing myself to simply be the boy who lost his mother, who clings to the impossible hope he might find her, before I force myself back into the captain I’m supposed to be.
I step forwards, peering over Otto’s shoulder. “You have everything you need?”
“Yes, Cap.” Bear finishes wrapping Elio’s leg. “Just need to keep it clean.”
Placing a hand on his head, I ruffle his hair. “Good. Then make sure dinner is a feast tonight. A full one. Tonight, we remember the lost, but we also celebrate the living.”
Otto’s pearly white grin reaches all the way to his ears. “Aye, Cap.”
My gaze moves to Elio. “Have we heardfrom Killian?”
He nods, and I don’t know whether to feel relieved or concerned. I’ve been hunting Ivor’s ship for so long that knowing its whereabouts on a regular basis gives me mixed feelings. He’s like a specter, the thought of him haunting me. There’s no way he can threaten us from so far away, but I’m uneasy all the same. I can only imagine the peace I’ll feel once the sea scum is finally off my ocean.
“It arrived two days ago, but we were at the temple. The note said, ‘Ivor’s ship cut north past the Isles. Sails patched but holding. His crew looked mean enough, but half were drunk off their own rum. Less scary than a bull shark scenting blood. Idiots.’his words,” Elio says with a lopsided smile.
I huff, shaking my head. “They’re further than I thought they would be, but until all of this is over, I’m glad for the distance.”
I turn to leave when boots scuff behind me.
“Rune,” Elio gently calls, pushing himself off the bench to follow me. “Reid had a point earlier. We nearly died today.”
My gaze flicks to Bear, who’s already busy prepping vegetables, before I return it to Elio. The words sting because they’re true. With a sigh, I fold my arms across my chest. “So, as my second in charge, what would you suggest I do?”
His lips purse. “The crew . . . they need a morale boost. A break.”
I nod in agreement. “They’ll have one. Dinner tonight will lift their spirits, and I’ll announce that no one is coming with me onto the next island. I won’t risk them again.”
He stiffens. “Rune that’s not what Imeant—”
I cut him off, steel in my voice, though it’s for myself as much as him. “I have to do this, Elio. I can’t rest until I know. But no one else will bear the burden.”
His jaw works, but when he speaks it’s softer, almost pleading. “She wouldn’t want you to die.”
The words cleave something raw inside me. Elio gives me the same look my sister Serene did the day I left the kingdom and took to the high seas. No one understood mother like I did. No one saw the pain in her eyes every time she talked of the world beyond our castle walls, like she feared she’d never see it again.
What kind of son would I be if I let this chance go? A cowardly one . . . that’s what. And I refuse to be like my father. Ignoring everything and everyone in hopes that one day the pain of losing her will go away. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try.
I look to the floor, scuffing one of my boots on the wood. “Well then, I guess I’d better live.”
I KISSED YOU.DOESN’T MEAN I WANT TO BED YOU
22
ODELIA
The shed drakeling scale I’d managed to find on the island had surprised me when I’d gone to wash. In all the chaos, I’d completely forgotten I’d slipped it in my pocket. It’s iridescent in the light, glittering like a precious jewel. I tuck both it and the leaf together on the nightstand, admiring them. I’d had a small collection of land things ever since I was a child, despite my father trying to break the habit on more than one occasion. Being here, knowing none would arrive to condemn me for it, it seems the instinct can’t be helped. I adjust the scale again, watching it catch the light before moving to the washroom and scrubbing my skin raw. Whatever enchantment the ship had that allowed for running water must have cost a fortune.
I almost ignore my hunger and fall into bed, but the smell of Otto’s cooking draws me right back to the second deck, where I hide near a corner barrel as others move hammocks and pull out the makeshift tables. Every bone in my body aches. My eyes are unfocused, ignoring the sideways looks and the haunted expression some of the others share, whenSoraya appears as if from nowhere and smacks her palm down on the barrel top.
“Mind if I join you?” she says, gracefully sitting before I have the presence of mind to answer. Behind her, some begin to line up at the galley door. She twists her neck to follow my gaze. “I always wait till they’re done. Otto cooks as he serves, so even if you’re one of the last, it’s still hot.”
