“We always have supplies here,” Nash states, sitting down on the blanket to the right of mine. “It’s our haven.” He turns toward me. “Did you get the dagger?”
I slide it from the sheath and hand it to him. He turns it over in his hands and nods before wrapping it in a black cloth and sliding it under his blanket. Huh, a guy that tucks his knife into bed like a baby. It’s totally weird or incredibly sexy. Perhaps both? Sexy weird.
Malachi plonks his ass next to me, leaving Hart to take the blanket opposite mine alongside Theo. Hart passes the parcels around and Nash hands the first one to me. I unwrap the brown paper and find a mini feast of nuts and dried meat. I nibble on the nuts and tear into the meat with my teeth, groaning at the juiciness. How did they manage that with dried meat? It’s witchcraft.
Malachi hands me a flask of water, which I drain. Stabbing and thieving makes a girl thirsty and also sleepy. Now that the rush of danger has passed, I am drowsy. A fog of exhaustion descends upon me, and my eyes keep slipping shut.
“Tired, pretty mouse?” Theo asks as he throws an extra blanket over me. I lean my head on Malachi’s shoulder and stare up at his face.
“I feel weird,” I mutter. Oh wait, that might be the Dranton root.
“What’s wrong with her?” Hart snaps.
I scowl at his frowny face and push my index finger and thumb together. “I may have ingested a tiny amount of Dranton root.”
Hart blinks. “I have no idea how you manage to be such a calamity.”
“It’s a skill,” I mutter as my entire body sinks into Malachi’s side and his arm comes around me. The warmth rolling off him encourages me to give up the fight with consciousness, and I drift into the darkness of the dreamland.
ChapterFourteen
My front is all snuggly and warm, like bathing in the pond when the sun has heated the water. Or after the gaggle of children from Strongfair had been given their first swimming lesson and had released their bladders. In contrast, something cool wraps around my ankle. Its slimy texture makes me shoot up and I come face to face with a sea witch. Her black oily tentacles are snaking out toward my guys as one of them wraps around my leg under my breeches.
I open my mouth to scream, but another tentacle wraps around my head and seals my lips shut. The putrid fishy flavor on my tongue makes me gag. Her mouth stretches into a smile too wide for her face. Her skin is a muted, olive-green shade. “Shush, little one. You want to be deserving of a Stirling knight?” she whispers. The words ricochet through the room, bouncing off the walls.
I squint my eyes and shoot her an icy stare, unable to respond with my mouth full of her tentacles. Ugh, that sounds so wrong. She huffs. “They breathe fire, while you bring nothing but chaos to the realm. I can make you a princess worthy of saving.”
My glare deepens. I don’t need to be a princess to be worthy of saving. She tilts her head, and the snakes that form her hair slither in an invisible breeze. “Just a sliver of your soul. That’s all I ask for a lifetime of riches and an army of knights bowing at your feet.”
Where did this witch wash up from? The sea of regret and despair? I grip the tentacle invading my mouth with my left hand as my right hand inches across the ground under the blanket Nash is sleeping on. My hand closes around the hilt of the dagger and I lash out, severing the tentacle. It slides out of my mouth as the sea witch screeches loud enough to wake the realm from its slumber. Her other tentacles release their grip on the guys.
They shoot up, awake and ready for battle. Kudos to them. I take two turns to make sense of each diurnal and by then I’ve caused at least one disaster.
Nash shoots to his feet, his gaze dropping to the dagger in my hand next to the flopping tentacle. How is it still moving? Is it like a worm thing? Is it going to spawn another sea witch? Ugh, I should have paid more attention in class, but that’s why I have Gwyneth. I flick the tentacle away with the dagger.
“Leave now while you still can, witch, there is nothing for you here,” Nash snaps.
The sea witch curls her lip at me. “I’ll be seeing you again, maiden of Strongfair.” Then she sinks into the water, and bubbles come up all around her. On instinct, my foot shoves the severed tentacle back into the water with her. A ghostly laugh born of wickedness bounces off the walls of the cave and then she disappears from sight.
“Well, that was dramatic,” I utter as I stand.
“What did you do?” Hart snaps.
I wave the dagger around, and they all take a step back, making me roll my eyes. “I saved you. You are welcome.”
Nash edges towards me. “I would never hurt you,” I huff.
“Not intentionally,” Theo says, gazing at the water where the sea witch has sunk from view. As I edge nearer to the water, I can feel the extra chill in the air from the shadow lurking beneath.
“Don’t make me come in there,” I warn, pointing the dagger at the water. I don’t know where I have mustered the confidence, but it seems everything I point this thing at gets injured, so I’m riding my wave of power, given it’s normally me on the sharp end of the realm’s mishaps.
The shadow disappears and I lift my gaze to Hart’s. He blinks at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. “What?” I ask as Nash pries the dagger from my hand. Then they all relax their shoulders.
“I can’t decide if your ability to defend yourself against princes, kings, and witches is a cosmic joke or if you are hiding something,” Hart mutters as he folds his arms.
“The cosmos has no plans for me, even the amused kind,” I tell him. “I’m stumbling my way through each diurnal, hoping the Idols take pity on me and let me survive.”
Malachi grabs my arm and spins me to face him. “Stop underestimating yourself, Daphne.” His fingers grip my chin and he tilts my head towards him. “You are a force to be reckoned with. The cosmos does not have plans because it hasn’t figured out what to do with you. That’s why you create the chaos in your path. Not because you aren’t worth it, but because you are worth everything.”
