I should fear her, I know I should. The general’s warning resounds in my mind, and yet, what price would be too great to be free of this cage? I cannot help the hope that rises within me, matching all the dread I feel at seeing her again.
“Have you come to make another bargain?” I rasp out, unwilling to grasp at hope if she only came to taunt me.
“That depends,” she says, “are you done with the lie, child? Or will you hold it with you forever?”
I huff scornfully. Only briefly considering the riddle of her question.
Focing fea.
“Iamdone with lies,” I say, my voice weak. I stifle a small quiver in my lip, brought on by the deception I’ve held close for far too long.
My honesty came too late and at too great a cost. I stanch the flow of memories, unwilling to consider the lives that may have been lost as my limp body had been dragged from the palace.
“Then a bargain we will have. The lie, for your freedom,” she says.
I want to end the crone, to tell her that her words are as twisted as the deceit that kept me captive to a life built upon lies. But what can I do? As long as Vos still lives, my future is assured, and it is not a future I look forward to living. Just as she had when I was young, the fea sitting before me holds the power to grant me the only thing I truly need.
Why am I worried? Hadn’t I already given her the same? And never for a moment in my life have I regretted that exchange. To remain aboard this ship is death, and if I do remain, that death will be a welcome reprieve when it finally comes.
“It’s a bargain,” I say quietly, swallowing my defeat, still unsure of what I’m giving up.
Ice fills my veins, my heart beating wildly within my chest as I struggle to breathe. It ebbs, and I suck in a deep breath, wincing at the agonizing pain of my side.
“Then it’s done.” The crone’s voice is a whispering echo as she fades into the shadows surrounding her, vanishing, while I remain behind the cool steel bars of my cage.
Moments pass, as the ship continues to pitch from side to side. All alone within my cell, a fire begins to build within me. I want to forfeit myself to haliel. To scream in the faces of the fates and demand that they explain the joke they have made of my life.
I grit my teeth, and with great effort rise enough to grasp at the door of my cage and rattle the bars. It stays firmly latched, and I collapse with a wracking sob. Rage fills me, my ears pounding with the beating of my heart and—
No. Not my heart.
Banishing the fresh tears of my wrath, I listen to the waves of Terr beating upon the belly of the ship in a rhythmic pulse, familiar and sweet. I’m rocked with every sway. Moved in time by the waves, like a child is swayed by her mother as she clings to her breast. Wind like the filling and freeing oflungs bursts in a timing all its own, sweeping across the deck overhead.
Clutching the bars, I struggle to pull myself to my feet, letting my rising senses swaddle me in the strange feeling that is the life of Terr. My eyes linger upon my hands, upon the newness of my own flesh, my fingers gently scouring the unfamiliar shape of my form.
My stomach pits when my fingertips brush the newly pointed tip of my ear. Not formed like that of the feyn, but with the uneven edges of the Vatruke.
The fall of heavy footsteps calls my attention to the door across from me. Shadows beckoning, I back into the dark corner of my cell, the pulse of Terr consuming me, until we meld together and our pulses beat as one.
Nix ducks into the room, his hesitation evident in each step when he fails to discern me. I sway, lost among the thick drapes of heavy darkness clinging to every corner of the small space. The strength of my legs threatens to give way beneath me.
Too arrogant in his own strength he unlocks the door of my cage, stepping inside. It’s hardly a thought when I travel between the shadows, finding myself behind him. Before I’ve even considered what I’ve done, my quick reflexes slam the cell door shut, locking him inside. He whips around to face me, a slow smile spreading across his face, not at all concerned with being confined.
“There you are,” he says softly, dragging his eyes from the elegant and bloody legs beneath my torn gown to the oddly shaped tips of my ears.
The latter widens his eyes and his smile grows. “I think I prefer you like this,” he admits, his hands grasping the thick steel bars between us. “Much harder to break.”
He tightens his grip and the metal bends, groaning as it concedes to his might.
I don’t think when I bolt out the door. A patrol spots me from the stairwell leading topside and I swear under my breath. I burst into a sprint, hand bracing the wounds at my side as his voice rises above the storm to alert the others.
The ship pitches violently as I make it to the upper deck. I swallow a scream of pain when I slide into the railing, the only thing keeping mefrom the turbulent seas below. Rain pounds the ship, a deafening roar to my newly heightened senses. Lightning illuminates the dark seas in short flickering bursts, allowing me a momentary glimpse of the A’kori vessel in pursuit of the Vatruke.
Relief. For a moment. Until my eyes widen when I see for myself the massive rocks jutting from the shallow reefs ofChai’brukar. White water breaks violently upon itself. Thunder booms even as lightning flickers over the shore of the Braxian coast, the dense forests of the fea swelling with light, only to dim the next moment.
“Valtoura!”
I spin around to face Vos, certain that the only end to this will be paid for with her life or my own.
