Page 32 of Rebel in the Deep

The blush that rises to her tanned cheeks is confirmation enough. She’s even more attractive when she blushes, and if I didn’t have a dozen dangers facing us, I might be tempted to coax her into my cabin and see just how far that blush extends.

I hadn’t realized that I’d already made the decision to seduce her. I’ve always been awful with timing when it comes to these things, but never quite so bad at timing as this. Then again, if we’re sure to die, why not go out in style?

“Not a manipulation, but…” She huffs out a strained laugh. “Okay, you caught me.”

I don’t point out that she’s furious at Bastian and has been since before we saved him. Love is a complicated thing, and it still shines between them with a strength that I swear I can actually see, even when they’re fighting. They’ll figure this out as long as they survive to see the end of it. That should make mejealous, I think. I’m deeply attracted to Siobhan, and I respect her strength and canniness. And Bastian? Well, there was a reason I loved him, and a reason that when he broke my heart, that pain has echoed through every year that I’ve lived since.

I’ll worry about the lack of jealousy later. Right now, I need to keep us all alive. “Just watch over him. Please.”

Her faint smile fades. She nods. “Okay, Nox. I’ll watch over him. I promise.”

Chapter15

Bastian

I’ve been aboard countless shipsover the years, but never one as tightly run as theAudacity. We’re sailing into all but certain death, and the crew hasn’t panicked once. Instead, they move about with fierce expressions and determination in their eyes. It’s a testament to Nox’s leadership skills and the community that they have built that no one panics. Personally,Ifeel like panicking. There’s nothing I can do. I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life, which is saying something, because my sole purpose as the Dacre spare is to exist should something happen to my elder brother. I don’t know what that could be termed if not helpless.

Siobhan sticks close enough to me that there’s no way it’s coincidence. I wipe the salt spray from my face and turn to her as we finish tying off the last set of supplies. “Did someone tell you to babysit me?” Even as I ask the question, I realize there’s only one person on this ship who would dare give Siobhan an order. “Nox did, didn’t they?”

“I would’ve looked after you even if they hadn’t.” With a frustrated grunt, Siobhan twists her hair back and does something to it to keep it out of her face. “I hate this. If we were on land—”

“I know.” I smile but nothing’s funny. “But we’re in Threshold. Land is in short supply. We always knew that our battles would be fought at sea.”

“Don’t be reasonable at me right now. I don’t appreciate it.” Just like she has dozens of times before, she turns to look in the direction of our wake. I can’t see much in the growing darkness, but Siobhan has never had a problem seeing over long distances. “They’re gaining,” she says shortly.

“But how?” I shift a little closer and lower my voice. The last thing I want to do is accidentally insult any of the crew. “We’re moving faster than we have any right to be. The air-users have been filling our sails for days now, and more so since those ships were spotted. Even if they have their own air-users, they shouldn’t be moving faster than we are.”

“I don’t know.” She looks so grim as she says it that I want to hug her. Only the knowledge that she wouldn’t welcome the embrace keeps my feet planted and my hands at my sides. Siobhan shakes her head. “I know most of who they have crewing those ships. They have maybe four air-users between the three ships. This is something else.”

Unfortunately, in Threshold, “something else” often signifies the kind of trouble that people don’t survive. Fuck. “I suspect part of the problem is that our crew has been working themselves to the bone.” Another gust of wind comes from the north, so strong that it pushes me back half a step and Siobhan has to catch my elbow to keep me steady. I glare into the darkness.It’s far too early in the day for that kind of dark. I don’t like what it signifies.

“It’s the storm.” Nox walks up to us, their expression pinched. “Captains who want to keep their ships stay out of these waters at this time of year. Unfortunately, we don’t have that option.”

I can’t help drinking in the sight of them. Soaked to the bone, with their clothing and hair plastered to their body, looking more tired than I’ve ever seen them, Nox is still so devastating that they take my breath away. It’s possible they’re even more attractive like this, because as worried as they are, they’re still in complete control.

I swallow hard. “We’ve dealt with storms before.”

Nox snorts, the sound almost lost in the howling wind. “Normal storms, yes. But these aren’t normal storms. Can’t you taste it on the wind?”

I almost stick my tongue out to see if I can actually taste what they say, but Siobhan speaks before I have a chance to make a fool of myself. “This is going to be a problem.”

“Welcome to my world.” Nox spreads their arms. Even in the midst of crisis, they are still a showman. “I would love to say that the storm will slow down the ships in pursuit, but there’s no guarantee. This territory is fickle.”

I don’t tell them that territory cannot be fickle. As they said, this is Threshold. We all know better. I’ve done plenty of research over the years on all the little quirks and nightmares that our realm has to offer. Even with that knowledge, I’m coming up blank about this so-called magical storm. I frown. “I’ve never read anything about this.”

Nox gives me a look that I can’t quite define. “You’ve beensailing around Threshold for well over a decade at this point. I would assume you’ve learned that not everything can be found in a book.”

“You’re patronizing me and I don’t appreciate it.” I scrub at my face, but it’s a wasted effort. The salt water iseverywhere. “I understand there’s plenty of both good and bad things within Threshold that never make it into books for one reason or another. But that doesn’t negate the fact that if there are ship-killing magical storms in an entire section of the world, someone would’ve written about it by now.”

Nox shrugs. “There are only a handful of islands out here, and most of them are uninhabitable to humanoid beings. Your valued scholars never bothered to come this way once they decided they’d witnessed everything there was to see.”

Siobhan crosses her arms over her chest, her body easily shifting with the shuddering of the ship. “You’re not wrong, but neither is Bastian. This should have been reported.”

Nox rolls their eyes. “You are both too experienced in this world to be so naive. The storms started appearing a few years ago, and anyone who sails close to this route learned quickly to avoid them. There’s no reason they would’ve spoken about that to scholars or even the Council.”

They’re still being patronizing, but at least this argument makes slightly more sense. Most of the books written on Threshold are practically ancient at this point. Some Council long ago invested significant time and effort in mapping all of the permanent islands and shifting ones as well as they could, and cataloging every people, animal, and resource available on said islands. I know that there’s a trio of small islands north and west of our approximate location, but as Nox has said, they’reuninhabitable to anyone who breathes oxygen and likes their gravity to follow the expected rules.

I shift to stare north just as a lightning bolt shatters the sky. It’s a deep purple that makes me shudder. “That’s not—” The boom of thunder drowns out whatever I would’ve finished saying. So loud that it rattles my bones. I shudder. “What the fuck?”

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