True to his word, Roq got them on open water within an hour. It was a freeing feeling, sailing away from the mainland. Emmeric’s troubles slipped from his shoulders, and he vowed to leave them on the continent.
He’d been petulant during the latest portion of their journey, training with Iyana but not talking to her. He tried to get through to Talon, but he wasn’t talkative, either. The only person he could talk to was Kaz. They had discussed their ‘arrangement,’ deciding to stay friends without extra benefits. It’d be easier, keep emotions from getting muddled. Emmeric also apologized for staying behind at the library. He had realized he’d hurt his friends by making that selfish choice. While he didn’t regret his extra time with the books, he was sorry he’d been careless and gotten captured. His friends shouldn’t have had to come to his rescue, and it was something he would chastise himself for because now Zane was gone. All direct consequences of his choices.
Hopefully they’d be able to find the amulet quickly, return to the mainland, defeat Uther, save Zane, and everyone would be home in time for solstice. Wasn’t that some wishful thinking? He would let Iyana choose Altair, and Emmeric would walk away from her without looking back. Something panged inside him at the thought of never seeing the infuriating woman again.
It hadn’t taken long for Iyana to lose all her color, turning an impressive shade of green matching the algae on the hull, and begin vomiting over the side of the ship. Altair held her hair back from her face. Between episodes of retching, Iyana had managed to grit out that she could make a potion to help herself, but all her stuff was in their guest cabin. Altair had swept her into his arms and carried her below deck. They didn’t reemerge for several hours. Emmeric tried to keep his mind off of the activities they might do once Iyana cured her sea-sickness.
He didn’t want to imagine Altair touching Iyana’s lithe, tan body, palming her full breasts, kissing her impertinent little mouth. Or Altair coaxing out those sweet little noises Emmeric unfortunately knew she was capable of making. He most definitely didn’t want to think about the star tasting her. Or Iyana returning his touches by caressing or licking Altair’s—
Emmeric shook his head. That was not a healthy road to wander down.
Instead, he sought out Talon, who was standing at the stern of the ship watching the continent shrink until it was swallowed by the ocean. His red waves blew in thewind, tangling together, his eyebrows pinched together. Emmeric hated seeing his larger-than-life best friend reduced to this sad, forlorn person. He rested his arms on the railing and stared as the gray seas and sky passed them by silently.
“Talon, I—” he started.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Talon ran a hand through his hair.
“Tal…I knew you were spending time with Zane, but I hadn’t realized how close the two of you were.”
“Of course you didn’t!” Talon whirled towards Emmeric. “If you would focus on something other than your own shit for once in your godsdamned life, then you would have noticed. Or I would feel like I could confide in you.” Talon’s usually vibrant blue eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, deep purple circles underneath them showing the toll the past few days had on him.
Emmeric frowned, his heart sinking with Talon’s harsh words. “I realize you’re hurting, man, but when has everything been about me? You and I have always been there for each other. And, yeah, there happens to be a fuckton of shit happening in my life at the moment. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying more attention to yours.”
“I committed treason for you!”
“Withme,” Emmeric corrected. “Look, I can’t thank you enough for standing by my side. Rescuing Iyana and then me. And I’m so, so sorry we left Zane behind, but you need to realize we would all be dead if we had gone back out there. At least this way we have a chance.” Guilt gnawed at his conscious, especially seeing how much Zane’s loss had affected his friend.
“I didn’t plan for this, Em,” he said, quieting some, staring out across the endless ocean. “Zane is a different person outside of the castle when he’s away from his father.”
“I know. I actually started liking the bastard.” The corner of Emmeric’s lip curled in the beginnings of a smile, but it died as tears streamed down Talon’s freckled face.
“I love him, Emmeric,” he whispered.
“Oh, Tal.” Emmeric wrapped his friend in a crushing hug. Talon gripped the back of Emmeric’s shirt and cried into his shoulder. Sobs racked his body, and Emmeric held his friend through his grief. In all of their twenty-eight years together, neither of them had admitted to loving a romantic partner. Emmeric believed itwasn’t because they didn’t want to tell the other, but simply because they had never actually loved anyone in such a capacity. He held Tal tighter.
“I love him, and we left him,” Talon said, his voice cracking. “Who knows what Uther is subjecting him to, and welefthim.”
Emmeric pulled Talon back and rested their foreheads together, a firm hand behind Tal’s head to anchor him. “I understand, brother. Really, I do.” He sighed, continuing in a murmur, “I’d be acting the same if it were Iyana.”
“You love her.” It wasn’t a question.
“I do,” Emmeric whispered. He and Talon separated, and he swiped a hand over his face. “But nothing I can do about it. So, we can forget my shit, and I promise we’ll do everything possible to get Zane back, okay?”
Talon nodded, wiping away his tears. With a deep breath, he composed himself. “Thank you,” he mumbled.
Emmeric clapped him on the shoulder. “Now let’s go spar and work out these feelings like men by hitting each other with swords.” Talon even smiled a little, and Emmeric mentally patted himself on the back. He hoped his best friend pulled it together before the Dead Lands. It wasn’t a place to go into with your mind clouded.
It took five days to traverse the Aptua Ocean. One of the gods must have favored them, because they only encountered smooth seas the entire journey. Emmeric had fallen into a routine—a run around the ship at dawn, breakfast, spar with Talon, lunch, train with Iyana, dinner, and then games with Kaz and Talon to round out the evening. Altair and Iyana occasionally joined in the games, but most of the time they were recluses in their cabin. Emmeric was glad his own cabin was nowhere near theirs, so he didn’t hear how they occupied their time.
Kaz was scarily good at poker, and after her first two wins, Talon and Emmeric insisted they no longer played strip poker as they both sat in their undershorts while the shifter remained fully clothed. Soon they had to branch out into othercard games, which she also won, and then Emmeric devised a game of his own invention that would be impossible for her to win, but she demolished them yet again. After that, the games lost their charm, so they would hang out in Emmeric’s room chatting while Kaz braided Talon’s hair. It was the most normal Emmeric had felt in a while.
All too soon, Roq announced they would arrive at the Dead Lands within a couple of hours and to ‘get yer shit ready.’ Emmeric was finishing packing when he heard the anchor splash into the water, and the ship tilted to the side for a moment. When he arrived back on deck, still not mentally prepared to venture into the Dead Lands, there was no land near them at all. The others were still busy readying their belongings.
“I ain’t gonna take me ship any closer than this,” Roq told him. “You lot can take the rowboat the rest of the way, and I want it returned to me, you hear?”
Emmeric readjusted his pack on his shoulder, squinting into the distance. He thought he could seemaybea tiny sliver of land at the edge of the horizon. This should be fun. “Will you wait here for us?”
Roq shook his head. “I don’t know what business you got bein’ here, and I don’t wanna know. I ain’t gonna stick around to find out.”
