“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Then welcome aboard the ship, Lady Reyla. We’re leaving. Find your footing and hold onto your belly, and you might just survive the trip.”
“Where’s the king?”
“He’ll join us tomorrow, during our journey.”
Would he flit to the ship? If so, he might be able to teach me how to master the trick.
That must be why we’d marry by proxy tonight. He needed to lock me into this farce of a marriage before I had second thoughts or found a way to back out, a challenging task while at sea.
The sailors unfurled a big, billowing sail on the front of theship, and it caught the wind, snapping out to claim it. The sloshing motion of the floor picked up speed as the ship gradually turned toward the harbor opening, preparing to take us out to sea.
“What was that magic called, the one you used on the guards?” I shouted to the man’s back as he strode away from me again, aiming for a wooden cabin built between the enormous masts.
He didn’t look back, though he stopped.
“Elemental aegis,” he rasped.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Because it’smine.”
“What does that mean?”
He said nothing, just opened the door on the side of the cabin.
A shrill bark was followed by a splash, and I spun and hurried to the railing, latching onto it. Something small and sleek moved through the water, whimpering as it feverishly swam toward the ship.
The nyxin’s gaze fixed on me.
I sucked in a breath and held it as the creature floundered toward the ship gaining speed and distance from the pier. When I first traveled to Lydel, I flew by dragon. As we soared above the channel, vicious blue fish with long teeth and a determination to eat us flung themselves up from the sea. They’d nearly killed us, and I was sure the same fish swam in this very harbor.
“Faster,” I cried, clinging to the rail. Every second stretchedout my agony as one horrifying possibility after another clawed at my mind.
A fin broke the surface past the nyxin, the beast darting his way.
My heart slammed behind my ribcage, deafening and wild.
Almost paralyzed with fear, I drew power and infused it into my finger. It lit up like a beacon, and I pointed it, shooting the only magic I possessed at the fish in a bolt of flaming lightning. Hitting the creature’s back, it seared across it, gouging and cauterizing at the same time. The beast roared and flipped up out of the water, slamming back down with a huge splash. It sunk beneath the surface, but others shot from below to take its place, darting after the nyxin.
A sickening knot bunched in my belly, forcing bile up my throat to choke me.
The nyxin kept swimming.
As they drew near the poor creature, the fish dove. I could picture their mouths stretching wide, their jagged teeth poised to rip through the tiny beastie so valiantly trying to reach us.
When he got close to the ship, he lunged, snapping his teeth around a rope still dangling down from the side. He swayed and scrambled, trying to climb up the slick wooden surface.
“Pull him up,” I shouted. “Help the little thing.”
Two sailors joined me at the rail and leaned over.
The cloaked man had stopped and watched us from the open doorway, his frown forcing his scar into a feral grimace.
“Yes, pull it up,” one of the sailors said with a snicker. “Cook can stew it for dinner.”
“We’re not eating him,” I snarled, shoving him away from the rail. “The nyxin is mine.”
