As if he could read my thoughts, the Stormseeker slid three fingers through the ropes his lieutenant had tied—with an exasperated grumble—around my arms. I wouldn’t be able to throw myself in the water without my captor’s approval.
Mayhap ‘twas for the best. I was too cowardly to kill myself, anyhow.
I sat there, my arms and legs tied uncomfortably, as the moon rose and we approached a rocky shoreline. The sea raiders gave no indication of stopping, though, and as weslid past it, I saw another island in the distance. The orcs called to one another, their good nature clear despite not having taken the time to celebrate their victory today—mayhap they were too well-disciplined for that?
But the longer I sat on that hard bench, the more my muscles protested. ‘Twas far better than lying curled on my side on the deck, aye, but the hours of inactivity were making my legs cramp and my shoulders droop. The fear and tension from earlier slowly faded to a vague sense of doom as the night deepened and my captor ignored me.
I could feel my eyelids drooping.
Then my stomach grumbled loudly and I winced, hoping the orc hadn’t heard it. I was already beaten and captured…I couldn’t stand the humiliation of them hearing my body complaining about it.
I would not ask for food from the Stormseeker, not even if I were starving to death. I could wait until my escape to?—
Thoughts fled my mind when the orc held up a torn piece of bread before my lips. God forgive me, but my mouth watered with each inhale of the fluffy brown scent.
The male was still speaking to his lieutenant, his tone an easy cadence, the topic the list of their stolen goods. The Stormseeker didn’t look at me as he offered me food, and I wasn’t certain if his casualness made it more embarrassing or less.
Cautious, I leaned forward and snatched the bread from his fingers with my teeth, then glanced at him as I chewed. He seemed to ignore me—they were speaking of someone namedIssaand her love of cheese—but I saw the right corner of his lips twitch.
Still not looking, he held up another piece of bread near my mouth and I briefly considered snapping his fingers as well. But the breadhadbeen heavenly—fluffier and better-tasting than what I had managed to learn to make—and I was hungry.
The hours passed, with me cautiously accepting bread and then fresh water from the Stormseeker, who treated the experience casually, as if it were natural. As if I were naught more than a caged pet he needed to care for.
I wasn’t certain I could handle any more uncertainty.
Whatever he had planned for me, I wanted it to be done. If that meant my death, I would steal my father’s knife from the orc’s boot and try to plunge it into his heart, just to hasten things along. Mayhap I would have, too, had I not been bound like a hog.
And then the tone of the orcs’ conversation changed. They were speaking ofhome, peering over their shoulders, and the air…the air shifted. This wasn’t the sea wind I’d become used to, living in the mining village. This was…something else.
I twisted on the bench, looking about, and felt my captor’s grip on the ropes tighten. The Stormseeker’s attention, however, was locked over his men’s heads, at something in the distance.
Slowly he stood, then seemed to suddenly remember me. He glanced down, twitched a brow, and moved to shift me over so he could stand between me and the walls of his longboat, trapping me between him and his giant lieutenant.
I would have cursed, except by nowmyattention was captured by the sight we were approaching. We’d passed more islands, and now rocky outcroppings jutted from the ocean, waves crashing against them. We were headed directly toward a circle of them, and I found myself holding my breath, willing strength to the helmsman.
The longboat’s path was as straight and sure as one of my father’s arrows. We headed toward the circle of stones which rose in the center of the sea…and the silvery mist which collected between them.
I told myself ‘twas just sea mist…and I almost believed the lie.
“Good timing, Auld Garran,” murmured my captor. “Steady now.”
“I dinnae tell ye how to run the clan, laddie,” the helmsman snapped, “and ye dinnae tell me how to domyjob.”
The giant lieutenant chuckled, but I could read the Stormseeker’s concern in the way his knuckles tightened around the wooden rail of his longboat.
I glanced up at the full moon directly above us and realized it had to be midnight. NowonderI was so exhausted.
At my side, the Stormseeker sucked in a breath…and then the boat slipped past the first of the standing stones and we wereinsidethe circle, inside the mist. It felt light, fluffy. If I could have moved my hands, I might have reached up to cup the air, tried to capture it.
It felt…magical.
The orcs gave another two pulls on the oars, the rhythmic sound somehow muted here in the mist…and then we were through, passing between the stones on the opposite side of the circle.
And every single male on the longboat gave a long exhale of relief. Isawit in the slump of the males’ shoulders, the way they chuckled and jostled one another…and I thought that these males weren’t so different from the doomed warriors my father had gathered around himself.
I didn’t understand what was happening, not until the Stormseeker exhaled again and sank beside me on the bench, giving me—for the first time since his dusk laughter—his full attention.
“Ye understand what happened, little wildcat?”
