Page 78 of A Requiem of Fire and Ice

He shrugs. “Depends on how good the hunt is. But we’re docking soon, so you’d best start preparing.” Prince Reen pushes off from the railing and walks in the opposite direction. “You should shower. It won’t take me long to find you if you smell like that.”

“Fuck you.”

“Wouldn’t that be an interesting turn of events?” he laughs.

The air elemny leaves with Prince Reen, and I am not stupid. They planned this. He wants me to break into a sweat, but also ease my erratic heart. But why?

I enter the room again and eye the bathroom.

If he knew I was in the closet the whole time but didn’t tell me, help a fucking sister out! I could have slept in the fucking bed and eaten food! I wouldn’t have tiptoed around, afraid of getting caught.

Arsehole.

I scrub my skin raw and abuse the lotions and body wash in there because, fuck it. I fucking can. What are they going to do about it?

When I dress in a fresh T-shirt and shorts, we’re docking the Fountain of Silver. There’s no one on the deck, which means Prince Reen’s giving me some privacy to flee before he hunts me down. It gives me more chances against him, knowing where I am headed.

Unless he already fucking knows. And if that’s the case, yeah…Yeah, Plan B sounds the safest.

“Pandora.”

I spin around, clutching the dagger in my hands. An elemny of colour stands behind me. He eyes the blade but doesn’t move to come closer or step away.

“What do you want?”

“Prince Reen told me to let you off. Time starts when your feet touch the ground. He will stay in his room until I tell him ten minutes have passed,” he says.

“Will you tell him which direction I went?”

“Disrupting his hunt can be punishable by death,” he says. “It would be stupid for me to do so.”

I nod. “Okay.”

“My name is Alad, if you were interested in knowing.”

I turn away and glare at the ship, slowing at the pier. “Not really. There’s no interest in knowing someone I will never see again.”

He stays silent. Instead, stairs move from the pressure of air, settling in place from where I stand. When the stairs are secure, I head down them. Wooden flooring creaks under my weight as I step down, and without turning to look, I run down the pier until I’m consumed by elemny. Considering it’s a free city, there’s no process I need to go through to enter. I have enough freedom to go anywhere. But my mind drifts to the postal locker.

I need that passport.

Maya told me there are two postal boxes in the Fountain of Silver. One is by the green building with a floral design, and the other is by the lighthouse in the city centre. I need to go to the one near the green building. If Prince Reen knows my need to go there, he will prioritise it.

I need to monitor the situation before I can proceed.

The Fountain of Silver differs from Oceanview Harbour. Because elemny from the harbour is more heartless and careless, or maybe everyone here has more of a carefree, spiritual nature—music pumps from the record store on the left. Elemny scream in my ear on the other side of me as they wave flyers in their hands and beg for potential buyers. Food trucks line the right side of the street and attract groups of elemny looking to eat.

My stomach grumbles.

How much time do I have? Five minutes.

The guy working at the food truck smiles when he notices me approaching him. I ordered a beef kebab. He gives me the goods in a matter of seconds, and I hand him the money before fleeing. It was worth it, though. My stomach is seconds away from eating itself, and after hanging out in a cupboard for days, I need a meaty meal.

My focus lands on the closest motel near the green building. The electronic doors open, emitting a sing-song sound that immediately alerts the woman behind the counter. A smile, almost always given by receptionists, brightens her features.

“Room for one,” I tell her.

“How many nights?”