Vreis nodded. “They carry as much as they can across kingdom lines. Some lords are willing to pay a pretty airgead for certain things that cannot be obtained inside their own court.”
“And they were in Tairngire because they were dropping off smuggled goods. Weren’t they, Vreis?”
He shrugged. “Unless the ice fae alliance doesn’t fall through, the Air Court doesn’t have a trade route with the Empire of Fomor or with any other kingdom within Tir Na Nog. Smugglers are inevitable.”
“They’re criminals,” she hissed, heart hammering. “They could sell me to the highest bidder.”
“They won’t.” He motioned toward the open hatch. “Now climb inside before you get found out. They’re willing to smuggle you. I doubt they’re willing to fight for you.”
With a frustrated harrumph, Eislyn climbed into the hatch and settled onto the rough wooden floor. There was nothing inside but darkness and empty shelves. They had likely cleared out their coffers at the Air Court. Eislyn did not know how to feel about being stolen across the seas by smugglers. She’d heard the tales of them. They often killed for their bounties. Coin was far more important to them than life.
But she supposed she didn’t have much of a choice now. She was on the ship, and the only way off would be jumping the plank.
Vreis shut the lid of the hatch, and the tiny room plunged into a darkness so pure that Eislyn could not even see her own hand as she wiggled it in front of her face. A familiar fear clawed up her throat and tightened sharp fingernails on her heart. Eislyn did not like the darkness. It was like an unseen rope wrapped too tightly around her neck. Dark things lurked in the shadows. They always had.
Her breathing became shallow as she struggled to retain control of her panic. It would be fine. There was nothing to worry about. She was only down in a hatch on a smuggler’s ship. Vreis was on the other side of that door...the door she couldn’t see.
What if he left her down here? What if she never got out?
A low scream of panic built in her throat, desperate to shoot out for all the ship to hear. The darkness pushed closer. It plucked at her skin. It shivered down her spine. She swore she could feel rough fingers slither up her arms and then rest dangerously in the center of her chest, at her hammering heart.
Suddenly, Vreis let out a muffled curse, lifted the lid, and dropped down into the hatch beside her. Light momentarily speared the small space, and Eislyn gasped at the illuminated emptiness. There had been nothing there. It had all been in her mind. The darkness had not been ready to kill her. She’d only imagined it.
Again.
“What are you doing?” Eislyn gasped.
“I recognized their voices. Air Court warriors. They’ll know who I am and that I disappeared along with you.”
Her heartbeat thrummed in her neck. “They’re from theAir Court?”
He nodded. Or at least she thought he nodded. She couldn’t see his face. “When they realize the ship is full of smugglers, they’ll likely let them go. Rumor has it that Aengus was once part of a smuggler’s ring.”
“That would explain where he came from,” she said quietly, hoping her voice did not give away the panic that had almost made her scream bloody murder a second ago.
“Are you all right, princess?” Vreis asked.
She sighed. She should have known he wouldn’t miss a thing. He never did. “I...”
How did she explain it to him? Regardless of how kind he had been to her, he wouldn’t understand. No one did. No one except for Reyna. Even her own father had looked at her as though she were a strange animal he couldn’t quite tame. It was why he’d allowed her to spend so many hours holed up in the library out of his way.
She’d never even told Thane about the depths of her torment.
“Eislyn, I hope you know you can trust me with anything,” he said gently. “If you’re afraid, I won’t judge you.”
“It’s more than being afraid,” she said in a rush of words, plowing forward before she lost the nerve. “I have...terrors, I guess you could call them. Nightmarish thoughts creep into my mind. Sometimes I see things or even hear things. Horrible things. None of it is ever real. I’m just...not quite right. I never have been. Not since I saw...” She ground her teeth together and blinked back the tears.
“Not since you saw your mother die?” His voice was so soft and so gentle that it soothed some of the raw pain away.
She nodded, and then realized he couldn’t see her any better than she could see him. “It traumatized me. I didn’t speak for years, and I barely remember my childhood. Reyna and Glencora were there when it happened, but the Ruin...it didn’t get into their minds the way it did mine. Even when Reyna left court to become a Shieldmaiden, she wasn’t the odd one of the family. It’s always been me.”
“I’ve always liked the odd ones,” Vreis announced with a smile in his voice.
The corners of Eislyn’s lips tipped up. “You don’t want to run away from me then?”
“Never.”
Her heart grew thrice as large.
