Page 80 of A Wrecking of Salt and Fire

“Thalia, keep that thing in line or the same goes for her!” Katrin’s voice was lower, coming from deep within her soul. All the nights Mykonos spent curled up next to Katrin as she wept, as she confided in her—in the seer as well—it had just been a ploy for information. To gain Katrin’s trust before they all betrayed her.

She turned back to the captain. “Prince of the Lost Isles, really? Are you or are you not the Prince of Nexos?” The blade pressed harder now as blood trickled down. He refused to say a word. “Answer me!”

He was silent, eyes locking still on hers. But they were not the eyes she remembered from years ago; she knew that man’s face, the hatred that encompassed his whole being, but that didn’t mean Ander did not give the order to take her. She had suppressed and resurfaced those days so many times maybe she had truly forgotten or maybe she had avoided what was right in front of her.

“I am,” he whispered, his throat bobbing against the blade. She could see the words racing in his mind, but she would not let him manipulate her again. Not let him weave stories and illusions into her mind. “You have to understand—”

“Don’t say another word, you traitor! I trusted you! I trusted all of you!”

“Starling, please—I love you. I was going to—”

“Love? Love!” Katrin let out a deep, maddening laugh. “Someone as ruined as you could never love.” This man. This liar. Her betrayer and her ruin. Katrin pushed off him, turning and running her nails along the rail of the ship. Sparks started to fleck off them as the clouds above collected, snuffing each twinkling star above them. Their power drained from the sky into her.

“You will burn for this,” she spat at him as she pushed off the rail and the power of the stars struck the stern of The Nostos like a bolt of lightning, setting it ablaze. “I guess we’ll see what gods favor you now.” Katrin walked back and leaned toward Ander, Alexander, Nik, whatever he called himself. “I take back what I said. I regret all of it. Especially you.”

The rain started pouring once more, but the fire still burned. The blaze grew too big and too fast, fueled by the heavy winds racing by. A low lying fog began creeping in from the distance, snuffing out the view east of the ship.

Kohl ran up, grabbing her hand pulling her back toward the platform that connected them to The Hydra. “We have to go! Now!” For a second she couldn’t move, staring at the three people she had considered her friends—one who she might have considered as more. The crew that stood around them, their faces in a permanent state of shock. But as the fog inched closer, she began to run.

As she ran, Katrin tried to ignore the weight of what was happening. Tried to ignore the feelings she had formed that somehow still lingered. Tried to ignore the gnawing feeling that the only person she could trust was herself.

The Hydra began to sail away, toward the calming seas, toward home. Katrin stood at the stern of the ship, watching as her heart broke. As those she’d called friends disappeared. As the man she started to love burned. As The Nostos began to sink.

Chapter Forty-Three

Katrin

The slow pace of The Hydra sailing back to Alentus was absolute torture. A glass of blood-red wine sloshed back and forth, the stem rolling between Katrin’s fingers. It was her sixth that day. Bottles she had emptied were her only companions these days, stolen from the storage room when she dared to leave her quarters. The bold liquid meeting her lips was the only thing allowing her to fade off into a dreamless sleep. One where her mistakes and regrets were not all consuming.

Still, all the lies haunted her. Why create this fabrication of a threat if it did not exist? If it did exist, then Kohl lied to her. Kohl who never let a false word trail from his lips. Who was she supposed to trust? The man she spent her whole life growing to love? The pirate—prince—who helped her finally open up about her past? Neither?

Kohl tried to visit her those first few days. Knocked on the door, delivered food, spoke through the creaking wood locked shut. “Why did you stay, Aikaterine? Why did you not come back to us?”

Why did it take so long to look for me, she wanted to ask. But she never did. Katrin just clutched her arms around her knees, leaning against the other side of that door, letting the ruby liquid flow down her throat. He always left the food. She barely ate it, just enough that she didn’t hurl the crimson contents of her stomach back up.

Even books weren’t helping. They only reminded her of that day on The Nostos when Ander lingered by the door, his shoulders sagging in defeat. How he left her myths of the Olympi. To comfort her? To confuse her? Her reality melded together.

Slap, slap, slap; the waves crashed against the hull. Darkness seeped in through the small windows on the side of the ship. Not a candle to deter it. She preferred to sit in the shadows. They let her fester in her failures. It would only be moments now. A few more sips. Blanket curled around her waist, eyelids heavy, the room blurred and once again Katrin was asleep.

Salty air danced through the window. Cypress trees, daisies, crisp coastal wind. Home. Katrin was finally home. She rose from the rug where she’d drifted off, stumbling a bit as she found her grounding. Relief swept over Katrin, then resolve, then pure terror. She wasn’t ready to talk to anyone—except perhaps Ember. Even then, she wasn’t sure how to explain everything that happened the last few months. How she eventually willingly stayed away from her responsibilities to the isle, left her sister to fend for herself against King Athanas and his strict values.

Golden rays hit her eyes and Katrin flung her arm across her forehead. It was the first time she stepped outside since boarding The Hydra.

“You’re awake,” a familiar whisper came from behind her.

“Of course I’m awake,” Katrin snapped.

Kohl tried to come over to her, wrap his arms around hers, but she recoiled at the movement. No—she could not be around anyone right now. Especially him. He stepped back a pace, wringing his hands together.

“We docked a few hours ago. I wanted to wait for you to arise on your own. I didn’t want to startle you.” Ebony eyes raked over her. His voice was strained, purple bags puffed under his eyes, wrinkles snaking their way out from them. Kohl’s shoulders dropped forward, his knuckles scraped and bloodied. He looked awful.

Katrin didn’t even respond. She turned on her heels, storming off the ship, down the dock, up the path to the castle, and straight to her room. Ignoring every gasp and clap and gossip filling the halls as she passed. When she locked the door to her chambers, she sunk down on the bed. Her bed, turquoise velvet blankets engulfing her, warming her heart for just one moment. Low light flickered in through the windows, casting shadows on the worn pale wooden floors. The hearth crackled with a fire, counteracting the breeze drifting in through the gossamer curtains.

Silent. Her mind was finally silent.

Rap, rap, rap. Katrin blinked her eyes open to the sound of the faint tapping at her door.

“Katrin?” the faint voice choked through the crack in the wood.

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