Page 32 of Witchsea

I wince. “Between you and me, he really wants to be alone. He feels like the gods are talking to him.” I nod. “He’s been really sick. Privately, you know, he has been a bit itchy down there and covered in welts. I think he caught something on one of the islands, and he is hoping the spa might heal his cock before it falls off. It’s really horrendous looking.”

She pales, they all do. “I’ll go and pray for him immediately. We’ll make sure everyone leaves him alone.” She goes to walk away.

“Good, that’s a really good idea, but I’ll have the fruit basket.” I smile at her—and to myself—as she hands it over, and I tuck it under my arm. I walk back to the boat, chucking all his clothes in it with my bags before sitting on the sand with my lunch sorted, still smiling to myself.

The fruit is all delicious as I rest in the sunlight for a good hour before I hear noise. I turn around, hearing cheering coming from the market. My jaw drops as I see Ren walking naked through the market, with only a big leaf covering his cock. He walks through the entire town with hundreds of people cheering at his back, and he does not care one bit.

I’d die of embarrassment, but Ren? There’s a smug smile on his face as he walks right up to me. “If you wanted to see me naked for longer, you only had to ask.” Before I can tell him to fuck himself, he climbs into the boat, throwing the leaf away. I climb back into the boat when he is dressed, with the arrogant prick laughing like this has been the best day for him. He just won whatever that was, and for some insane reason, I almost want to smile.

Chapter

Fifteen

Ahand is shaking my shoulder, and I look up to see my father’s best friend standing over me, his red hair glowing in the firelight. Ardeshir continues to shake my shoulder. “You need to wake up now. Please, I don’t have much time, and I need to tell you this. Come, put your cloak on and meet me outside.”

“What is going on, Uncle?” I yawn, sitting up. Ardeshir is in black, a thick dark cloak wrapped around him. I look over at Rowe sleeping as Ardeshir begins to walk away to the door. “I can’t leave him here on his own. Where’s my mother? Where’s father… Why are you here? Don’t you work at night in the royal kitchens?”

I always like listening to his stories about the food they have there, how different it is. He walks back, placing his hands on my shoulders and looking me in the eye. “Listen to me. Your father told you to always trust me, right?” I nod. “Then don’t wake Rowe, and come outside. We don’t have much time.”

Frowning to myself, I climb out of the warm bed into the chilly room and put my boots on before my feet touch the cold floor. I tie my cloak over my night clothes before going out into the bitter cold, shutting the door in the hut and locking Rowe in. I’m not meant to leave him alone…and it feels wrong to. Ardeshir is hidden in the shadows of the side of the hut, only stepping out onto the icy planks of the Stilts to come to my side. “Where are my parents?”

He looks at me sympathetically as he takes my hand and leads me down the Stilts towards the pathway to the docks. He stops right before the docks, turning to place his hands on my shoulders again and leaning down to my height. “Your parents were brave and smart.”

“Were?” I whisper, my heart stopping in my chest. No, no, no, no.

“They were brave and smart, and I’m really sorry, kid, but they’re gone now. You’re going to be alone, and I’m so, so fucking sorry.” He bows his head as I break down. I scream and kick him. I hit his chest, and he grabs me, holding me to his body even as I keep going until my arms are weak, until there is nothing left in me to fight. I sob as he continues. “I can’t stay here anymore. They’re looking for me next, and I wanted to be with you when you found out. If I could take you with me, I would. But Rowe won’t go far on a ship, and I know you won’t leave without him. When the time comes when that boy’s gone⁠—”

“He’s not gone!” I shove at him, but he holds me tight. “How could you say that about Rowe!?”

“When he’s gone,” he continues, like I said nothing at all, “come to Havenward and ask for me, okay? Use my name.” He kisses me on the forehead, and he holds me for a long moment. “I’m so sorry, kid. I wanted them to have a long life with you, but I can only offer you this moment to pay your respects to your parents. You won’t get their bodies or soul, but you can be here in their last moments. This world is cruel, and this moment…it’s my lesson to you. I wanted to watch you grow up happy and free, but this fucking world is a thief. It’s a witch thief, and there is nothing we can do about it.” He lets me go, and he walks away. “Don’t look up, kid.”

He fades into the shadows, into the darkness, and something in me knows that will be the last time I will ever see my uncle. When I turn around, I scream and I scream as I fall to my knees, as I see my parents, what’s left of them…

I wake up with a gasp, sweat covering my body, and my heart is racing. Limi’s glow reminds me I’m on the ship, so does Ren’s scent, and I breathe it in deeply to calm myself. Thunder echoes outside, and rain pelts the window panes, with hard taps that I listen to until my heartbeat slows, until I can breathe without fear. I hate that memory. I hate that it becomes a nightmare to taunt me and pull me from sleep, and I hate that I lost so much that day, not just my parents, but my uncle, too. Odessa asked around Havenward for me, but no one had heard of Ardeshir. He just disappeared that day. Like the sea ate him up and took him from me too. That cursed night needs to die and leave me alone.

I climb out of his bed, needing fresh air and not caring that it’s the middle of the night in a storm. I wrap my cloak around me before pulling on my boots. Limi doesn’t wake or stir, she just stretches out across the end of the bed, looking like the cat who got the milk. I don’t want to wake her and deal with her questions about why I’m a mess, so I quietly leave the room, sliding the doors shut behind me. The ship is still and silent, rocking on the sea.

I miss Sunlin, or at least the sunny weather they had there. It’s been a long week since we left the island, and the sea has not been kind to us. Not many people work at night on the ship, and the skeleton crew are like ghosts whenever I do walk around. I walk up the stairs to the deck, the crescent moon hanging high, decorated by a million stars around it, the silver light so bright from them all. I recognize a few groups of them. I know the stars can tell a story in the patterns some of them create, and they only remind me how much Rowe loves to mark the patterns down. The many nights he got to see the stars were the best medicine for him.

The rain soaks into my skin, into my cloak, and I take it off to just stand in the element for a long moment, letting it calm me. I turn with a smile, only for someone to grab me around the throat and throw me across the deck. I gasp as I land hard on the floor, my head smacking into a pole, and the world spins. My necklace snaps, the locket falling off onto the ground in pieces in front of me. No!

Before I can mourn my loss, the gold of the necklace reflects a silver flash of a sword, and I roll just in time to miss the sword that slides into the wood right where my head was. I look up at the rain-soaked stranger, and he comes at me again with a swiftness I can’t beat, his sword stabs right through my forearm as I move. I cry out as he pulls it back and goes to hit me again.

“Who the hell are you? STOP!”

He pauses, pointing his sword at me. I swear there are ten of him, but that might be my mind…and the hit to the head. The man tugs his hood back, and I recognize him. One of the men who’s been working on the ship. I don’t know his name, but he knows the storm is going to hide the noise of this fight from Chaos, and he must have Ren distracted. There is no one coming to save me, and I will not die at his hand, not when I’ve come this far. “Who sent you? I heard the king wants me alive, not dead.”

His sword glints as he lifts it. “The king is not the only one who wants the map. My master wants you dead before you can bring ruin to the world that is already broken.”

I flip around, kicking his leg out, and I climb to my feet, running right for the stairs. I get to them just as two more hooded men with swords walk up the stairs, and I know they aren’t here to help me. I turn just as he grabs me and throws me straight into the edge of the deck. I duck as he lifts his sword, but he anticipates it this time, slamming a dagger I didn’t see in his other hand straight into my side. I gasp as it goes through my stomach, my eyes widening. He leaves the dagger in. “May the gods bless your journey into the afterlife, as I claim your life as mine.”

I laugh, making his eyebrows rise, and I grab the dagger with my good hand. Shock crawls across his face as he watches me pull the blade out of my stomach with immeasurable pain, and I slam it right into his chest, pushing it up, slamming the dagger home into his heart. “You are mine to claim before Ixchel, and I hope he curses your journey, you fucking asshole!” He gasps, his skin paling like the blood is already drained out of him as he falls backwards, and I collapse right next to his dead body, knowing I’m joining him soon after, even if I want to stay.

I almost forget about the other two until their shadows are hanging over me. “She’s still alive. We need to kill her.”

Like fog, shadows brush across the deck of the ship and climb into the air. I relax for the first time since these men attacked me.

I won’t meet death tonight—my captain is here.