“You will share two ships,” Guner continued. “The waters are as dangerous as the island out there, and five vessels will draw too much attention. Set sail north, take the upstream path, and then the gods will guide you. Follow the lights in the sky. You may breach the shore together or separately. It doesn’t matter. The dead will test you either way.”
I wasn’t the only one who crossed my arms at the northern breeze that brought small drops of sea with it, the sound of war drums long gone echoing as it blew past.
“We’ll take the Briggen heir and his iron-bound on our ship,” Darcke declared when Guner was finished.
Ilse shook her head while I scoffed. “Maybe we should discuss this as a group?”
“No.” Darcke was already walking.
Kilia shrugged before he followed.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked Darcke as he passed Envis.
“To my ship.”
“No,” I said slowly. “We’re taking my ship.”
“No.”
“I don’t know what you’ve been drinking,second,” I snarled. “But we are taking my ship.”
Ottoh and Vero—and his third and fourth, who looked like two brothers, both with equally dark braided hair and pale blue eyes—hovered behind me as Darcke spun on his heel. I had to fold my hands tightly behind me when Darcke clapped Kilia on the back, then waved for the Ottoh, Ilse, and the others.
“Go on,” he said. “My heir and I need to settle a dispute.”
A dis?—
“What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed when the others did as he ordered.
His face turned to stone as he crowded me against Envis, one of his hands resting on the hull and the other tapping my temple. “I’m not planning an attack to kill you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I didn’t say you were,” I snapped.
“No, but you thought it, and that’s fucking worse.”
I tilted my head back when he stepped closer, forcing my back against the ship. “How is that?”
“People may think what they wish of me,” he said quietly as his body hovered before mine, too close and too far away at the same time. “I’ve been called every name under the northern sky and accused of horrors that would make a brave man bolt at the mere whisper of them. I’m used to the world’s judgment. But you… I thought you were different. I thought you’d demand the truth before condemning me.”
His disappointment was a physical weight, and I averted my eyes.
Darcke used a finger to liftmy chin.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” he said. “Tell me that you were going to ask me.”
I pressed my palms against Envis, savoring her slow vibration—a soothing rhythm beating its way into my blood. I could hear Darcke’s heart thrum against his ribs, feel the heat from his body—feel his life and feelings and thoughts. His face was so close that it would be so easy to lean in. Completely effortless to risk everything to feel that heart race.
My body tensed like a bowstring, inching closer. He licked his lips, and when my breath shuddered between us, his eyes heated. The air filled with that same need that had consumed us three nights ago.
But as voices broke through the haze, feet finding wooden decks, I curled my fingers.
“I wasn’t going to ask,” I whispered.
“Why?” Darcke demanded.
“Because it doesn’t matter,” I said.
His scoff cracked through my chest. “Because of the bond?”
