“He rescued us, don’t kill him right away,” Poppy breathlessly comments. “But make him pay.”
“Good plan, my friend,” I reply, looking up at Seb behind the wheel, feeling my heart pound with a mixture of good and bad feelings.
He might have saved me here...but he watched me suffer, and I want to know exactly why.
Chapter 5
“Hold on to something, vixen!” Seb shouts as the ship breaks free of the castle, and several bricks fly across the deck, narrowly missing us all. Poppy and Laelia grab hold of the mast, and as I climb to my feet, I see the prisoner tying my uncle to the side of the captain’s room with rope and securing himself. I run as fast as I can down the main deck, knocking barrels out of my way as Seb turns the ship around. Just as I get to the steps, something blasts in the distance, and then Seb drops the ship.
I cling to the stair railing as the entire vessel falls, the whistling of the air and the sounds of Laelia’s screams blocking out any other noise. All the air leaves my lungs as my stomach feels like there are a million butterflies in it, dancing around. The ship crashes harshly into the sea, water spraying up over the sides, and Seb has us all moving impossibly quick seconds later. Feeling dizzy, I shake it off and climb up the steps and stumble to the bannister in front of the wheel, right next to Seb.
“What’s the plan?” I ask him.
Seb doesn’t answer, and I turn to him, seeing him looking right at me. I can see his guilt as plain as day in his eyes. “Seb, we will discuss that later. What is the plan?”
He clears his throat and looks away. “See that water tunnel? It’s mostly unused because it’s dangerous.”
“So no one in their right mind will follow us?” I question as I look over at the swirling tunnel of seawater that is one of the currents. It’s dark inside the centre of it, exactly where we are heading, but I doubt we have much of a choice. Lifting myself onto my tiptoes, I search the sky around us and see a dark cloud in the distance.
“That’s the plan,” he states. “We can jump out of it after a little while and mix in with every other ship in the Otherworld. This ship is hard to trace and looks like so many others. My father can’t check every ship.”
“What dangers should we expect in this tunnel?” I question next, the unsaid question.
Seb pulls the ship closer and closer with every second, the spray of water from the tunnel now grazing my skin. “Creatures lurk in there.”
“Well, that’s not good,” I mutter, holding my hand on my stomach as it stings. I lift my hand to see it’s coated in blood, and Seb snatches it from me.
“How have you not healed?” he asks me, never taking his eyes from where we are going, but all I am hyper-focused on is his hand clamped around my wrist. His skin touching mine. How much I wish he hadn’t betrayed me.
“Why did you betray me?” I ask just as we get to the tunnel. Seb looks down at me as it slowly goes dark around us, the sunlight dimming away.
“My mother warned me that if I interrupted or tried to stop the justice, she would kill my sister, vixen,” he replies, and I feel the shocking truth in every word. “I’ve protected her since she was two and showed her first signs of talking to the spirits. My mother became jealous, as no one but her could control them, and she has never been able to speak to them like Eira. Not only could my sister speak to them, but the spirits also protect and help her without any consequence.”
“Jealousy makes people crueller than they ever want to be,” I sympathize.
He gulps and grits his teeth. “There are cruel people, and there is my mother. She is beyond that now, and I would take Eira away, but she would never let me. So when she took you, she held a knife to Eira’s throat and told me her plan. I made another one even as I agreed to her terms, vixen. I’m sorry.”
Lights on the edges of the ship start automatically turning themselves on as the tunnel sucks all other light away. The bursts of light shine down on us, and I still don’t look away from Seb. “I planned to get you out the second she locked you up for a trial. I had no idea about my father’s involvement, and when he stabbed you... I stood up to run to you, but my mother used the air spirit to send me flying out of the room and knocked me out. The moment I woke up, I hid my sister in the village and came here to get you.”
“You care about me,” I say.
Seb holds his hand out to me. “Like no one else, vixen. I should have never let it go that far, and for that, I am sorry.”
“You didn’t stab me, Seb, but I forgive you for everything you didn’t do,” I reply, taking his hand, knowing he needs me to say this. Seb was protecting his sister and trying to save me at the same time, how could I be mad at him for that? He came here, risking his entire life, to break me out of a castle. I slip the dagger tip under his neck as I step forward, still holding his hand. “But next time things go wrong, we deal with it together and fight for each other right down to the end. I don’t do things in halves, and I need the same from you. If you haven’t figured it out yet, blood doesn’t make family.”
“Family is who you fight for,” he replies, wrapping his other hand around mine, and he softly pushes the tip of the dagger into his neck, cutting him softly. Drops of blood drip out from the cut as he pushes my hand and the dagger down. “Family is who you bleed for, vixen.”
I run my finger over the cut on his neck, wiping the blood away before stepping closer to him. My body presses against his as sea water rains down on us. Seb doesn’t notice it any more than I do as he cups the back of my neck and kisses me. I’ve never been one for romance, but I feel more than a little warm in this moment, I feel it all. Seb’s lips move against mine in a soft and possessive nature, coaxing me deeper into the kiss like a promised story.
Someone clears their throat. I ignore it the first time but not the second as Seb pulls away. I’m not surprised when I turn around to see Laelia with her hands on her hips, soaking wet. “Poppy wants a chat. She is in the captain’s room.”
“Go,” Seb suggests. I kiss his cheek, leaving him at the wheel and jogging past Laelia, down the steps and through the wooden door to the captain’s room. It’s empty in here other than a desk and a small cabin bed, nothing else. A wide window does nothing to make the room less dark, but there are two wall lamps that are on, making it better. Poppy is talking quietly with the prisoner (got to learn his name), and my uncle is resting on the bed.
“Oh, Dae,” Poppy says, noticing me. “We have been so lucky. This is Toth Zalan, and he used to be the royal healer. He says he can treat you both.”
“I will help however I am needed,” Toth agrees. “Persephone tells me you are injured on your stomach.”
Poppy blushes and I frown, wondering what is going on here exactly. No one calls Poppy by her full name except for her parents and occasionally Laelia when she is mad, according to Poppy.
“Yes,” I answer, deciding to trust Poppy on this one.
Toth waves at the desk. “Will you lie down and let me see?”
I hesitate for a second, and Poppy walks over, touching my upper arm. “I trust him.”