Using all my strength, I grabbed Stryker under the arms and dragged him out of the rain and onto the little bed in the cabin below. I was exhausted, huffing and puffing as I collapsed beside him.
“You can’t die,” I whispered into his ear. “I’m in love with you.”
Even though I was wet and cold and filled with terror, somehow, in the darkest hours of the night, sleep took me.
* * *
“Ahoy!” someone shouted, and I sat up so fast my head cracked against the ceiling with a loud thud.
I rubbed at the sore spot as I peered over at Stryker beside me, the memories of last night all coming back to me at once. I was dismayed to see that he was as pale as a ghost, his skin waxy-looking. But his chest still rose and fell, so that at least was a good sign.
“Stryker.” I shook him but his head only flopped back and forth. “Stryker.” I tried again.
“Ahoy! Anyone there?” the voice called again.
I made sure the crystal heart was still shoved in my pack and crawled outside into the blinding sun to see a large boat at least four times the size of ours had pulled up alongside us. Over a dozen men stared down at me. I assumed the one wearing a tricorn hat to be the captain.
I was scared, hungry, tired, and not in the mood to be overtaken by pirates.
“If you’re pirates, I will have you know that I carry magic that can make a man go mad and I will use it!” I yelled.
All of the men balked and the captain removed his hat, showcasing a balding head with a small tuft of remaining hair clinging on. “Ma’am, we are humble southern fishermen just seeing if you needed help as your mast seems to have broken in the storm.”
He pointed to the top of our boat and I followed his gaze to see that he was right. One of the masts had snapped.
Well, in that case.
“I need urgent help getting my injured friend to Easteria,” I told the men, knowing instinctively that I shouldn’t tell them who Stryker was. If word got out that a lord was hurt it could end badly for his kingdom.“If you help us I can assure that you will be handsomely compensated.”
The captain nodded. “I was going to offer to tug you to shore for free, but compensation is appreciated if you can afford it.”
It only took a few hours as their boat was large and moved much faster, even towing us. When we got to the small marina, I paid them all the coins left in my pouch.
After thanking the fishermen they sailed off back to the south. The boat dock attendant tied up and anchored our boat and I approached him.
“Do you want a hundred gold coins?” I asked him in a low voice.
His eyebrows hit his hairline. “Of course, but what would I have to do to earn them?”
I told him I was the truth witch, able to ferret out lies if he double-crossed me and asked him if he’d heard of me.
He shook his head with wide, fearful eyes. I then told him that I had an injured Lord Stryker on board and that I needed him to help me get him back to the castle. I also asked him to send a raven for me to Dawn and I told him that if he breathed a word of this to anyone, I could afflict him with madness.
He looked both horrified and intrigued when I finished laying out what was needed of him and the consequences if he double-crossed us, but he quickly obliged. By the end of the day we were back at the castle with a whole host of healers and physicians tending to Stryker and the boat attendant was paid his one hundred gold coins by Stryker’s castle treasurer without question.
Stryker had remained unconscious through the entire journey, which left my stomach in knots. I left his side only once for a few minutes to lock the Shadow Heart away in the same room he’d given me before.When I returned to his side, they still hadn’t been able to rouse him.
“Why isn’t he healing?” I asked the room of nurses, physicians and healers.
Shantel, the nurse who had tended to me before, peered at me in sadness. “A power to heal is in an Ethereum lord’s blood. He’s lost too much. It will take time. He’s in Fate’s hands now.”
* * *
I don’t know what Stryker had conveyed to his staff in the short time we’d been apart, but they treated me as the lady of the castle from the moment I stepped foot back in Easteria. I hardly left Stryker’s side, but when I did they came to me with questions and updates on the kingdom. It was overwhelming, but also … familiar. No matter my current circumstances I was still the Fall princess and had been raised to rule, so I stepped up to the challenge and did my best to keep Stryker’s kingdom stable while he recovered.
I quickly learned to be thankful for the distraction because I became more anxious each day that slipped by when Stryker didn’t wake. They tried to hide it, but I caught the healers’ and physicians’ somber looks when they tended to him. They repeatedly told me to give it time, that their lord was strong and just needed rest to heal, but I knew from their expressions that they were losing hope. He should have woken by now. The thought that he might never wake, or worse, finally succumb to his injuries, was terrifying.
He was my mate. My true love. I wanted more than the few stolen moments we’d had with each other. Now that I’d found him, I wanted, no, I demanded a lifetime with him.
