Page 11 of A Trial of Two Worlds
“I should what?” I stared at him with an emptiness in my gaze that forced him to pause.
Fjorda cleared his throat before shifting his stance against the wheel. “I know your pain, Champion,” he said in a whisper. His wild eyes gleamed with a sense of understanding. “Nothing can be done to help alleviate the sorrow you’re carrying in your heart.”
Daxton. In the solitude of our voyage, my mind constantly circled back to him.
“The high prince is strong enough to survive this. He’s already—”
“I know he is,” I said in a pained voice. “I don’t need a lecture about how strong my mate is. I know the odds he has faced. I know what he has struggled to fight against all these years.”
“We all know,” Fjorda replied. “The guilt you carry doesn’t rest solely in your heart. It weighs on yourvery soul. In that, we are more alike than you might realize. Our pains share a common thread.”
I scoffed and gazed upon the never-ending sea. “My soul feels—”
“Torn, like it’s missing a piece you never realized was ever gone.” Fjorda’s words struck a chord. “The mate bond,” he added, adjusting the wheel before stepping away and fronting me along the railing. “It’s a gift, but also a curse.”
“You speak from experience?”
“I do,” he replied.
I was surprised to learn this about Fjorda. Carefully, I watched the sea captain, anxiously waiting to see if he would share more.
“My mate,” Fjorda spoke slowly, as if the mere mention of her was like a knife to his gut. “She was as wild as the sea herself.”
“What happened to her?”
“The wilt.”
He didn’t need to say any more.
“She became a—”
“Yes,” he answered, hanging his head.
I knew from the grave look on his face that his mate was turned into a fallen, a nalusa falaya. A creature at the mercy of the wilt’s poisonous magic that turned the infected host into something living, yet not alive.
“She’s not gone, just…lost,” Fjorda said. “I wander in this life waiting to find her again, living close to the wild sea that always reminds me of her.”
I longed to offer the captain some form of comfort, but I held back. I didn’t know if we would find her amongst the fallen, or if I was able to bring her back. Using my powers to heal Nyssa had almost killed me.
“You believe you’ll see her again?” I asked.
“I believe I’ll forever seek to find her, and whether it be in this life or the next, I’ll be with her again. I’ve had time to make my peace with this.” He tapped the center of his chest. “The bond brings you together, but your heart, your love, is the true bridge between your souls.”
“You sound like Idris,” I answered.
“Because she also knows from experience.” The winds began to dance, swirling with the presence of wild magic nearing. “Are you ready to put your theory of crossing the veil to the test?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good,” Fjorda replied, pushing from the railing and returning to his post at the helm. “In that case, as captain of this ship, I’m ordering you to rest and for you to head to your barracks.”
“What?” I drawled, arching my brow.
“The dark circles under your eyes and the growling pit in your stomach over these past two days on the sea do not go unnoticed. You’ve been pacing relentlessly with no food, barely stopping to accept a ladle of water from my crew. Torturing yourself will not alleviatehispain.”
“I’m not—”
“Correct. You’re notanymore,” Fjorda challenged. “It’s enough. You’ll need your strength in the trial to come. Withering away into nothing will not help our cause.”
