I whirled to see Theodore striding across the deck in the same black suit he’d worn the night before, though now it was rumpled, its collar undone. His face was etched with purpose, his strides long and sure, as he made for the hatch that led to the lower deck.
Just before he reached it, the ship took another violent tilt, sweeping him off his feet.
One moment, I beheld him; the next, he was gone. “Theo—”
Sailors shouted. The wind screamed. Lachlan had secured his own tether to the ship’s rail and tried to slide across the slanted deck toward where Theodore had disappeared. But I was already halfway there.
Grabbing hold of a snapped length of rigging, I half slid, half crawled past the girth of the large center mast, past the opening of the hatch, when I saw him. Clinging to a length of rope that circled the next mast. I gripped the lattice of the scuttle hatch and slowly inched my way down to him. If he fumbled his grip, he would slide into the angry black water.
“Don’t you dare let go,” I yelled down to him.
He looked up sharply, jaw clamped with strain. “Wasn’t planning to.”
Another strong gust sent the ship slanting even steeper. I tightened my hold on the lattice and did my best to knot the rigging I held around the large cleat that was anchored nearby. “Catch this rope, Theo, or I swear to the Gods, I’ll use a spell to bring you back from the dead so I can kill you myself.”
He smirked up at me, just as the rope he clung to began to slip. He grunted, the toes of his boots scraping over the deck as he scrambled for purchase.
“Theo.” The rigging was secured. I readied it in my hand and threw it toward him.
He caught it in his fist with ease, but the effort made him slip farther down. The rope I’d thrown him ran through his fist, burning his palm as it did, but he held tight. Straining, he climbed up, nearer and nearer, just as the ship began to straighten out. The creaks and moans of the massive vessel were deafening as it righted. I thoughtit would snap in two, but it rolled back safely, laying me on my back, half strewn over the lattice, half across the deck.
My hands shook. The ship teemed with crew racing to fix sails and broken rigging. Theodore’s hand gripped my ankle. He yanked, and I slid across the deck, so we were nearly eye to eye. I stared at him, both of our breaths racing. Sweat dotted his brow, and dark smudges sat beneath his eyes. I liked the gruff start of his dark beard and had to keep myself from reaching up to feel it scratch against my palm.
Even breathless and shaken he managed a tormenting half smile. There was a tease in his voice. “I was coming to find you.”
The ship was relatively steady now, but I felt like I was careening. “Foolish of you.”
“I needed to tell you about a spell I found…” But he trailed off, staring at me with a warm glaze over his eyes, and his lips softly parted.
I scowled. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“How am I looking at you, Imogen?”
“I don’t know. Likethat.All moony.”
“Moony!” He rose to his knees and reached down a hand to help me up. “I’ll refrain from grabbing and kissing you. I’ll do my best to avoid grand proclamations,” he said, sternly. “But if I look at youlike that,trust that it is entirely out of my control.”
We stood too close. The wind still whipped, its perverse gusts pulling our hair this way and that. Another terrible twist moved through me and my stomach knotted over itself.
Lachlan rushed toward us. “Go check on Halla, Theo.” He glowered between Theodore and me. “And if you insist on being out here, tether yourself to the rail and beware the danger ofdistractions.”
Theodore’s jaw clamped tight. His fierce look lingered on me, hitching my breath, before he took a step toward his stateroom,then stopped. His guards had made their way back to their post at the door. “Check on Her Highness,” he shouted at them.
Lachlan fumed. “Dead Gods,” he said under his breath. “She’s not a princess any longer, Theo.”
But Theodore ignored him as he bent to retrieve a stray rope, stepped toward me, and began to knot it around my waist. He held my gaze as he tightened the knot with a tug. Lachlan grumbled as he secured the other end to the rail. “Can’t you control the wind and sea here?” he asked me.
I swiped at the hair that whipped across my face. “I can’t feel a tie to it. It feels like it’s tied to Eusia.”
Theodore’s countenance was grim as he tethered himself to the ship as well. “But so are you.”
Another gust rushed over the deck, rocking the vessel to and fro. I’d been so set on trying to keep Eusia at bay, at keeping a hold on myself, that I’d not even considered riffling through the bond we shared to see what power it might afford me.
I stared down at the water again. Lachlan stood to my one side and Theodore the other. He reached up and pulled back some of the hairs that clung to my cheek. “If you and I had been able to share each other’s power—”
“No,” I said, trying to not be distracted by his attention. He was careful to not touch me as he drew his fingers down the strands he held. “My bond with Eusia doesn’t feel anything like ours did.”
“Because it was forged by magic. But we already know she can access your power through it. It might go both ways, Imogen.”
