Page 33 of Witchsea

“How will you touch her when you are already dead?” Ren’s voice is nothing but fury, like a fierce, freezing wave slamming into the side of the ship, and his shadows are vicious.

“Oh, fuck.” They yell as Ren grabs them both by the back of their necks and throws them straight overboard into the sea, where they scream and scream. The screams echo their shouts for help as the sea takes them.

Ren kneels down, picking me up into his arms, his hand clamping against my stomach to stop the bleeding. “What are you doing out here on your own, Map?!”

“Nightmare. Wanted some fresh air. Didn’t think they were going to stab me,” I mutter, holding onto his neck. “I’m dying.”

“No, you are fucking not. Not like this,” he growls. “Hold on, don’t you dare leave me!”

Wyatt comes running up to us, with Chaos at his side. Chaos stands a few steps away, but Wyatt tries to take me from Ren. “Give her to me! Oh gods, Miry⁠—”

Shadows snap up around us like wolves protecting their pack. “Don’t touch her or I’ll fucking kill you. Stay. The. Fuck. Away.”

Wyatt steps back, his hands clenched. Chaos says nothing as Ren takes me below deck, right towards Clark. “We are monsters, murderers. I’m like you now.”

I’m delirious, but I still see him stare down at me. “Don’t look at me like that and don’t say shit like that, either.”

“Like what?” I mutter, the pain threatening to rip me apart.

“Like I’m a villain because I kill people. Everybody I’ve killed has always fucking deserved it. Just like that man. Don’t you dare feel, for even a second, bad about it. If someone had to die, and it was him or you, I’d choose your life again, even if you hate me more for it.” I don’t hate him. I hate myself because I don’t hate him anymore. I don’t have it in me to do anything but struggle to stay conscious as he kicks open Clark’s door and carries me in.

“Noctaris by midnight, what happened?” Clark squeaks, climbing out of his bed as Ren lays me down on the medical bed, still holding my wound.

“She’s bleeding. Does it matter?” Ren growls. “Heal her, Clark!”

“H-hey, don’t be mean to him,” I manage to rasp, but the room is fading, and I partly agree with Ren. I need something to stop the bleeding before I pass out and likely die.

Clark is fast, pouring a potion down my throat and onto my wound before cleaning it with solution and bandaging it with tape. He works on my arm next. I still feel weak, right deep down in my bones as he finishes, pulling a blanket over me and nodding at Ren. “She will be fine in a few days. She can sleep here where I can watch her tonight, and then tomorrow she will be fine to walk back to your room to rest further.”

“Thank you, Clark,” Ren offers, and Clark looks pleased as he smiles. Clark pulls off his blanket from his bed and comes over to put it on me, but Ren catches it from his grip and throws it back. “My bedding only. I don’t want her smelling like another man.” The room is spinning, but I heard that clearly. I close my eyes, needing a moment. “I’ll get her our bedding.”

I feel Ren come up to me, his hand gently resting on my good arm. “Stop trying to leave this world. Stop trying to leave me.”

“I’ll try hard not to die next time,” I whisper back, and a short laugh bursts out but immediately catches in his throat. He takes his hand away, leaving me feeling cold now he isn’t here, and walks out. I must fall asleep because I wake up, it’s bright outside the window, and Clark is nowhere to be seen. I can hear shouting, arguing, and I sit up with a wince. Even though it hurts, curiosity gets the better of me, and I manage to walk to the door, leaning in to hear Chaos and Ren right outside the door.

“What are you doing with her?” Chaos demands. I flatten my ear to the door as quietly as possible. I barely breathe for fear that Chaos will hear me.

“Nothing.” Ren’s single word is a warning, and it sends shivers down my spine.

“Nothing with the girl you keep in your room, follow around, give your food, risked your life for, and only just last night threatened to kill Wyatt for offering to help. You held her to you like she was yours.” Only a fool could misinterpret his sarcasm. “It’s cruel and wrong. Have you forgotten⁠—”

“She’s the map. I’m protecting her and that’s it,” Ren snarls. “I haven’t forgotten a damn thing.”

I don’t know why, but something in my chest hurts at the indifference in his statement.

“She looks like him…the same eyes.” Chaos sounds quiet, not wistful, but like he’s reflecting on some memory, something from the past.

“A coincidence,” Ren smoothly answers.

“I didn’t know we lied to each other about everything now. That only began when she turned up on this ship, and she is going to fucking curse us all when this ends.” Chaos’s heavy footsteps grow fainter down the corridor, and a moment later, a hand smacks into the door. Not a hand, a fist. Ren’s fist. I climb back into the bed, my heart racing as I look up at the ceiling. Why do I feel like there are so many secrets on this ship, and all these secrets they’re keeping are going to get me killed?

Chapter

Sixteen

Istruggle to stand on top of the deck, my feet slipping as the ship battles through the sea. I look at the stairs as Ren stands at the bottom, leaning on the wall like the ship isn’t slamming from side to side in the storm, like he is used to it. He is wearing a hat, and it suits his features, but I’ve never seen him in a hat before. He watches me with cool amusement, something I’ve gotten used to from the captain. “We’re here,” he murmurs, his deep voice carrying over the storm. “I’m going to be real with you, this could destroy my ship.”

“And yet you’re risking it for gold, and you’ve not told me the reason you need the gold in the first place.” I arch an eyebrow.