Page 69 of Minor Works of Meda

Awkwardly, chewing on the inside of my cheek, I raised a hand and patted his shoulder. Oraik took a deep breath, seeming to find comfort in my awkward gesture.

“You need fresh air,” I suggested.

“Desperately.” But before I could suggest that we just open the porthole, Oraik headed for the door and grabbed the handle.

It didn’t turn.

“Did she lock us in?” Oraik said. He jiggled the handle harder. “Does she think I’ll try to run away?” His voice sharpened and rose in pitch with each word. The prince pounded his fist against the door.

It had to just be stuck, or stubborn. Ozeri hadn’t treated us like prisoners. With how outnumbered we were, there was no reason for her to fake good intentions before. She could have wrestled us down the stairs if she wanted to.

“Move.” I stepped beside him and reached for the door, then tried it myself.

As I placed my palm against the knob I felt a thrum of heat shoot through it, prickling my skin like cactus thorns. I jumped back and wrung my hand.

“What?” Oraik asked.

“Magic.” I tentatively pressed my fingers to the knob again, felt the sharp jab of pain, and let go. “We’re really locked in. Why?”

“You did just fight two faeries,” Oraik said. His voice was thin, and it looked like he was having trouble breathing. “And won.”

“But that was dumb luck. Breathe.” I pulled the chair out from the desk and pointed. He collapsed into it, and then buried his face in his hands. There wasn’t any magic on him. It was probably just panic. I knew how that felt, to be so overwhelmed.

“She doesn’t know that,” Oraik said. “Oh my Goddess. I don’t want to die. I don’t.”

“You aren’t going to. Kalcedon must be close.” It was well past first light, when he said he’d be arriving at Montay.

“I haven’t even seen Koraica. I haven’t seen anything!”

Strangely, his panic was keeping me calm, as if there was only space for one of us to worry at a time.

“Fairies,” Oraik whispered shrilly. He was looking out the small porthole. Two very large ravens were indeed headed our way, specks forming into dark shapes as they neared.

“Horns.” I ran to the door and pounded on it. “Hello? Can you hear me? They’re headed this way.”

Nobody answered.

“Ship’s turning,” Oraik said.

“They must have spotted the faeries,” I said, but now I was starting to panic, too. Even if the soldier-sailors on this ship were trustworthy; even if Ozeri just wanted to stop Oraik from running away, what would happen if the faeries bested the witches on the deck? The study felt suddenly too cramped, the porthole too small. It didn’t matter that we could never have outrun them. The need to run howled through my bones all the same. Impossibly, the room felt like it was shrinking in on me.

I doubted the nearby Cachian ship would be of any help. By the time they realized there was a battle happening on our deck, it would be too late.

“They’re going to kill me,” Oraik said.

“Quiet.” I could barely keep a hold of my own thoughts. I needed to figure something out, if we were going to survive this.

Faeries headed our way. A Colynes captain willing to lock us in the hold of her ship.

“They’re taking me to Doregall,” he whispered. “To the stone there.”

“We don’t know that.”

He slumped in the chair, face slack and defeated. The energetic prince I’d known had drained from his body, leaving only this deflated lump behind.

“I’m going to die a virgin,” he whispered. “Betrayed by my own father. Of course, he’s only finishing the job.”

“Please, Oraik… just let me think.”

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