Page 76 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

“Those aren’t waves,” he said.

My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

He kept his lips pressed in a hard line for a moment. “Stay here,” he said. We moved until I was positioned in the corner furthest away from any furniture. “Sit tucked in here, and wait for one of us to come back.”

“I… What⁠—”

“Just wait here.” Bramwell left the room, leaving me in the eerie silence that came after something presumably hit the ship.

I did my best not to let myself spiral, I had no idea how I even felt. With no knowledge of what could have actually made that sound, my brain went everywhere. Another crew of pirates come to pillage the ship?

You’re not going to battle. You’re just… being attacked by a kraken.

Okay, even less helpful.

I spiraled until I could feel the tightness coil in my chest. My lungs felt like they were being bound by wire.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Nothing helped.

I just had to sit in my discomfort, hoping it would end soon. Hoping the crew wouldn’t forget about me. Hoping Shadowhart would save me, if only for the gem.

Chapter 26

Adrian

I’d been held up in my room or on deck for days. Was it a bit cowardly to only go to places I knew Sage wouldn’t be? Maybe, but every time I saw her, my mind wandered to all the things I did to her. All the things I still wanted to do to her. And that would be way overstepping. We were both here for a purpose, and it would never work anyway.

I couldn’t imagine her wanting to stay on this ship forever, and me in the castle? That would be a laugh. It would be easy enough to hook up, get it out of my system, and not think about it again, but something told me that wouldn’t be how that went. And I couldn’t deal with anything messy.

I was halfway through reviewing the recent invoices when a loud thud sounded on the ship. At first, I convinced myself it was a heavy wave, but there was a concerning scraping sound.

I was up and slithering down the hall in minutes, headed towards the top deck. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who heard it, feet pounding the steps as everyone ran to the top deck.

Almost everyone there was looking over the edge, assumably seeing whatever was causing the sound.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Connie was at my side in a moment. “I think we’ve hit a rock,” she said.

“Why was no one on watch?” I asked.

“Torque was keeping watch in the bird’s nest,” Connie said. “Said he didn’t see anything the whole time he was up there.”

I’d heard excuses like that before, but looking down into the water, I couldn’t even see the rock myself.

“We need to steer away from it,” I said.

“Bee is trying,” Connie said, “but it seems we’re stuck in a pretty jagged bit that’s holding us against the rock.”

“Moons,” I cursed.

I left the edge of the ship and started up the steps towards the bow.