"Your Prince will have full access to the maps tomorrow," Antoni’s amber eyes found mine as he spoke. "It's not often I'm proven wrong, but I must say it's a pleasant surprise."
My shoulder lifted, finger tracing the rim of the tankard now clutched in my hands. “Perhaps Captain Delmar wasn't entirely wrong when he spoke of my stubbornness."
"Perhaps not."
Everyone settled into comfortable conversation after that, a new air of ease surrounding the group. I leaned back on my palms as I listened to Kairen animatedly ask the group questions about life at sea, now that they would deign to respond to him.
My head tilted back to take in the stars far overhead as they shone, twinkling with their own mirth and I craned my sore neck from side to side.
I felt Roan lean in close. “Do you want me to wake Rena? She could heal you."
Patting his leg, I shook my head. “Let her sleep, she'll only be ill if she wakes. She can heal me when we get back on land and she has her strength once more."
His eyes roamed over what I was sure was some nasty bruising on my face. “Aren't you in pain?"
A mischievous, but small smile lifted the corners of my lips. “A little pain never killed anyone."
“A glutton for pain, little menace? I'm shocked."
His deadpan expression suggested he was anything but shocked, and I couldn't fight the laugh that bubbled up, even as pain sharp as a blade cut through my ribs.
"Soli's wrath, do you two need to get a room?" Bran's curse had my cheeks warming as I shot him a glare, but when my eyes met his I frowned. His posture was playful, his tone too, but I saw the warning in his stare. The fear that lingered there beneath the surface.
I was playing with fire befriending the Kinslayer.
And eventually I'd get burned.
ChapterTwenty Two
Port of Arisha was a small, dilapidated city. The streets were dust-covered and barren, but I could see what it must have been in its prime, before the outbreak of The Fever had stolen the merchants and traders that had once docked at its port. It was a sprawling mass of twisting sand streets and towering palm trees, little houses and buildings of every color—from vibrant reds and blues to soft pastels of yellow and green—lined the pathways. The peeling paint and eerie stillness sang a mournful cry of waving neighbors and shrill laughter that once must have sung through the heated air.
"Is it just me," Bran hesitated as he leaned in close, "or does this place give you the jitters?"
A frown pulled at his lips as he gazed out with me, the ship rocking softly upon the waves as it was steered toward a dock. The wood was half rotted, sharp splinters casting shadows across the water. Like pointed fingertips beckoning us closer.
I shook my head, eyes distant. “It feels disconsolate."
"Aye, this city was once filled with life and cheer." Antoni had approached my other side, his hands reaching for the rope that would tiethe ship to the dock. “Long before that nasty illness stole its beauty. It's a goddess-damned shame what has become of it now."
“You speak as if you had seen what it once was—was the first outbreak not a century ago?"
He gave a small smile, a wistful sadness shadowing the edges of his expression. “My grandmother was born here, she used to tell many stories of the place she had grown up loving.”
"May her soul rest in the Kingdom of the Goddess," I murmured, my voice laced with apology. But Antoni merely laughed as he tossed Bran another rope with instructions to tie it into one of the knots they had taught him.
"I offered your companion a place on my ship should he ever wish to leave behind the Capital." Antoni's voice was low, mirth dancing across his tongue. “Should you ever find yourself wishing for a life other than the one you have, the offer is also extended."
I leaned against the siding, my mouth curving into a sly smirk. "I thought not everyone was suited to a life at sea?"
"Aye, but you little feral thing," the nickname was said mockingly, a hint of humor in it, "you would do well on the sea. You may have taken some concoction to rid yourself of the bruises, but I know the pain does not heal till the light kisses your skin. You have worked through it and done it gracefully." He threw a glance over his shoulder to where Taven was steering the ship. "And it was rather nice to see that one have his arse handed to him."
He wasn't wrong, I had taken a potion to fade the bruises that marred my skin, but the pain still resided beneath the surface. Still I had been helping work the ship just as everyone else had. Rena would heal me first thing after a restful sleep on land, but until then my body would continue it’s aching.
"Will your crew be staying in town?" They had begun to grow on me after my fight with Taven. I only wished I hadn't needed to get pummeled by a man twice my size for them to warm to our group.
Antoni shook his head. "We have business to attend to in Calmier, before we sail the southern tip of Tavari to meet you on the eastern coast." He hesitated, weighing his next words. “Be careful in the desert, for you do not wish to encounter the creatures that roam there."
Before I could ask him exactly what creatures he was speaking of, Kairen was pulling his attention away to discuss the finer details of where they would be meeting to pick us up for our journey north.
