Page 25 of Drift: Willa & Koy

“He’s headed to the Unnamed Sea,” he finished my thought. There was a hollow silence for several seconds before he finally spoke again. This time, it was to Ailee. “Get up to bay one. Tell theFeatherbackto wait.”

Ailee nodded, turning on her heel, and then she was gone.

“What? Why?”

“It’s too dangerous to send a letter. You’re going to Ceros yourself.”

I was struggling to sit up now, gasping as I lowered my damaged foot from the hammock. “What the hell are you talking about?” I ground out.

Koy didn’t meet my eyes. He went to the counter at the back of the post, taking a purse of copper from the shelf and lifting something from one of the hooks on the wall. It took me a moment to realize it was my belt. My dagger was safely fastened in its sheath.

“TheFeatherbackis headed straight there. We’ll pay for passage. West should be there in a week at most, right?”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?”

I couldn’t find the words, my eyes fixing on his as a storm of thoughts swirled in my head. Only last night I’d nearly died, and now the last thing I wanted to do was leave.

“I can’t just go.”

“You need a physician anyway, Willa.”

“But,” I said the useless word again, though I didn’t know what came after it.

Koy draped my jacket over his arm, holding out a hand to help me stand. “You’ll come back,” he said, sifting out the root of this panic that was overtaking me.

A flood of relief filled me, as if I’d just needed one of us to say it out loud. I nodded and he smiled before he pressed his lips to mine. For the first time. He drew in a long, slow breath as he kissed me, making that fire in my chest spill over. It pulled me out to sea.

When his mouth broke from mine, he was still smiling, and the tears were back in my eyes without my permission. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me the way he had last night, careful not to hit my foot as he ducked out the door of the post. Over his shoulder, I scanned the harbor, counting each bay in my head, the way I did every morning.

“Don’t let Ailee work on any ships alone. And don’t take on repairs unless you know we can fix it,” I said, mind racing. “Make sure you take at least half the payment up front.”

“I know.”

“And don’t—”

“Willa, I know,” he said again.

“What’s all this, Koy?” A voice called down from theFeatherbackand I looked up to see the helmsman peering over the railing.

“Passage. She needs a physician,” he called out. “We can pay.”

The helmsman’s mustache twitched. “Well, of course.” He motioned in the air. “Get the sling down there!”

A moment later, the lines were lowering and I was hoisting myself into them. “I have about as good a chance making it there as I do sinking with this rotten ship,” I muttered. “Look after Ailee.”

Koy nodded.

“I mean it,” I said, a quiet desperation surfacing in my voice.

His hand squeezed mine. “I will.”

The ropes creaked as they tightened and he kissed my fingers as the crew lifted me into the air. Then hands were gently pulling me over the railing onto the deck. Beside Koy, Ailee was watching me with wide eyes. I could have sworn I saw her lip quivering.

The sails snapped as the wind caught them and the ship drifted from the dock, slipping into the current. They were all growing smaller by the second. Koy, Ailee, the harbor, the island. A rush of cold dread slowly took shape inside of me, my mind spinning around one single thought.

I was headed back to theMarigold,but for the first time, it didn’t feel like going home.

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