Page 46 of A Wrecking of Salt and Fire

For a few days it had been this way. The rocking back and forth, the sea flooding over the deck causing many to lose their footing, the constant nausea swirling in Katrin’s stomach.

She’d set sail on many ships, but only the nameless one from her past had ever sailed across rough seas as these. It was not the rolling water below, or the howling wind causing the ship to sway incessantly back and forth, that made her feel like she might hurl her breakfast. It was everything else.

The reminders of her previous captor, his hot, seedy breath, the way his sweaty palms would push her down. The fear that her sister and Kohl had not found a way to delay the Acknowledgement, that someone else now sat on her throne. The idea that she may never return home, that Ander was lying to her when he told her of the threat to her life.

The sun had risen and set five times since the Acknowledgement would have happened. Each night, while Katrin lay wide awake under the blankets in the captain’s quarters, a wave of guilt and horror would wash over her. She couldn’t escape it, the feeling that she had abandoned her people. Even if it was not true. Even if she had not left of her own free will.

When she would eventually drift away into sleep, it was never the sweet embrace she craved. Instead, she had visions of her sister lying lifeless on the ground. Her sparkling blonde hair dulled and crusted with dirt and blood. A shadowed man stood above her with a bloodied sword. She could never make out his face. Only her sister’s. Still. Helpless. Beaten. Just as Katrin had once been. She would try to run to her, try to help, to stop the man that stood there as he crashed his sword into Ember’s skull, but she never could. Her sister just drifted farther and farther away.

Katrin would wake sweaty and thrashing in the bed, blankets tossed from her, chest heaving. The nausea would roll in again causing her to sprint to the bathing chamber. Nothing came up. Nothing ever did. She would just kneel there, coughing nothingness into a black abyss, panting and desperate to be rid of it all. Five nights. Five nights she wished for her old nightmares. Wished to relive her own trauma so she did not see her sister like that one more time.

When she would return to the bed, Mykonos would curl up by her neck, nuzzling her whiskers against Katrin’s clammy skin. She had told Thalia she did not need the creature as company, but each day the seer refused, allowing Mykonos to stay in Katrin’s quarters rather than by her side.

Sometimes Katrin wished the seer would stay to talk, not just her psychí. For so long, Katrin kept her trauma trapped inside, eating away at her very soul. She missed having another person around, someone with whom she could confide in. Someone who would not judge her for the past tragedies she faced. Thalia seemed like that person—not divulging what horrors she herself had faced before coming aboard this ship.

Ander had stayed away since the day of the Acknowledgement when he had explained that her husband-to-be and his father might want her dead. Still, she had been unable to process any of it, more consumed by her visions of Ember than accepting that truth or lie, or whatever it may be.

Sometimes she would catch him staring at her from across the ship as she read, his hair always windswept, rubbing the back of his neck with a pained gaze. When they would lock eyes she would quickly turn away, not giving him the satisfaction of knowing she might have been staring too.

On the sixth morning, when Katrin stepped outside it smelt different. The salty air of the sea had turned sour, a blend of days old fish and sweaty men. Instead of an endless rolling sea, a small isle now lay before them. Its port was lively, with merchant and fishing ships lining the docks. People were selling goods directly from the ships all the way into the village where the market sat.

Katrin heard the stories of Lesathos, how it was ridden with crime and seedy characters, brothels at every corner, ale houses and dens filled with the smoky black drug olerae from the Eastern Plains. But also of its rich spice and textile market. The soft leathers and exquisite silks that the women who were not in the trade of selling their bodies would weave and cut.

She had always wanted to visit to experience the unknown. Her parents always forbade it. Even with her skill in battle, the isle was too dangerous. Too unpredictable. Yet here she was, looking over its coast as The Nostos neared closer and closer to the docks.

“We will only be here for one night.”

Katrin jumped, startled by that deep and brooding voice she had not heard for days. Ander stood next to her in a slim fitting long-sleeved jacket, its color matching that of the midnight sky. He looked at her intently, words dancing on the tip of his tongue. But he never spoke.

“And I’m what—supposed to stay locked in my room so I can’t escape?” Katrin narrowed her eyes at him, but Ander met her gaze. The subtle blue and green swirls of his eyes flickering in the morning sun, tracing every inch of her face.

“How many times do I have to tell you that you are not a prisoner aboard this ship?” His words were sharp as knives. Something had set him off today. Katrin couldn’t imagine what. “Lesathos is not the place for a beautiful woman to wander about, especially a princess.”

Katrin tried not to blush at the fact that he called her a beautiful woman. She knew she was pretty, but most preferred her glowing younger sister to Katrin’s harsher features and demeanor. And Ander, as much as she might loathe him, could have someone far more beautiful than she would ever be. That gut-clenching jealousy hit her once more. It was infuriating. Even more so because she felt like someone as ruined as her did not deserve to be called beautiful.

“So I’m not a prisoner, but I am also not allowed to leave the ship.” Katrin stuck her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. If Ander could have a pissy tone, so could she. It was pathetic, immature even, but she didn’t care.

He sighed, running his hand through his rich black hair. “Please, Starling. You just have to trust me on this.” His lips drew out in a fine line, jaw clenching like stone.

Katrin arched up one brow. “Trust you? Like I’m supposed to trust you on everything else?”

“Yes. Because it’s the truth. Because unlike you think, I have always had your best interest in mind.”

“I’m sure you think that.” A pinched expression grew on her face.

“I have to go dock the ship. Leighton, some of the crew, and I will be going into town to gather supplies for the rest of the journey. Please just stay here. Read your books. Play with that devil cat you seem to like so much.” Mykonos hissed from next to Katrin’s legs. She had not even noticed the light-footed creature creeping up next to them. “Just don’t venture off, you never know what is lurking in the shadows here.”

“Whatever you say, Captain.” Katrin gave a mocking bow. Ander shook his head as he walked back toward the ship’s wheel to bring The Nostos into port.

“You can always spend time with us while the rest of the crew is in town,” a delicate voice said beside her. The small framed seer stood there, now holding a purring Mykonos. Her long white hair, usually pinned back or in a braid, lay stick-straight down her back despite the heavy winds that brought them into port. She had also swapped her usual leathers and tunics for a beautiful deep violet gown that matched her eyes.

Katrin needed to stop being so startled by people sneaking up on her aboard this ship. Especially Thalia, who was as silent as—well, as the white cat she now held when approaching.

“And what exactly do you plan on doing?” Katrin asked softly. She had been eager for the company.

Thalia let out a soft chuckle, “Gossiping of course. It is a lot more fun when I share it with someone other than this ball of fluff.” She ruffled her hand through Mykonos’s fur as the cat’s pupils narrowed and she let out a hiss. “Oh shush! You are such a drama queen.” The cat wiggled loose from her arms, plopping back down between the two of them.

“After the few days I’ve had, I think a little gossip would be nice.” Katrin’s lips tipped up into a smile for the first time in days.

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