Page 32 of Voices in the Stars
I nodded along, acting like I knew where these places where or what they meant as we stepped onto the dock. Our steps echoed against the wood as we made our way to the end of it. I leaned over the edge, glancing both ways. A salty breeze greeted me.
“There’s no boat,” I pointed out.
Atlas just nodded before sitting down. His arms were braced behind him, legs dangling over the edge. The water lapped at the bottoms of them as his face was turned up toward the night sky.
Day was bound to break soon. The colors were changing on the horizon. I stifled a yawn as sleep tugged at me. It was easy to fight off while we were moving, but the day was catching up to me quickly. I sat down, leaning against one of the large posts. I was tempted to let sleep lull me away, but I was having a hard time tearing my gaze away from the man next to me. So little about him made sense. He showed kindness to the woman in the shop before beating her husband. Almost killed me yet saved me from the Fae. It was hard to fight off the idea that somewhere buried deep down inside him, he cared a small bit about what happened to me. Whether that was because of wherever he was dragging me to or something else was another question. As if sensing my thoughts, he spoke up.
“That was very stupid of you earlier,” he commented again, “taking on a Fae like that.”
I rolled my eyes before looking up at the sky as well. Thousands of stars were illuminated above us still. I lowered myself onto the cool dock next to him.
“I didn’t take on anything. I got myself stuck in a trap. Because I thought you left me to die.” There wasn’t any anger in my voice thistime. I felt too exhausted to start fighting over this again. We were both alive. That’s all that mattered now.
“I wouldn’t have done that.”
“Why not?” I asked, questioning his motives. This was the first time he had wanted to keep me alive. That he had fought for me instead of just fighting me.
There was a lull in our conversation. Beating waves hammered against the wood underneath us. Somewhere to the side of us, birds were calling to each other. My head sagged to the side as my eyelids slipped closed. I almost missed Atlas shifting to sit closer.
“You remind me of someone” was all he said.
I tried to fight my eyes open once again, to ask him who that someone was. My entire body was fighting my wishes. There was a tug at my side, making me slump over. My head came to rest against soft leathers. Warmth seeped into my side as the scent of Atlas flooded me. Something brushed the hair off my forehead.
“What was that thing?” My words were mumbled as the question fought against my tired mind. I was over only knowing the names of all of these creatures that wanted me dead.
“Fae. The forest used to be filled with those creatures until people stopped traveling through them so much. So, the creatures started eating each other, and ones like the Fae started getting killed off.” His voice was a soft rumble above me. The vibrations of his words tried to lull me to sleep.
“How?” I fought against the urge though my words were almost nonsensical mumbles. “They seemed untouchable.”
“They hunt by confusing their prey. Their words are whispered into others minds as the Fae manipulate how the world works. This makes going against something like the Kabora almost impossible since their minds are linked together. Kabora simply work together to find what is true and what the Fae is lying about.”
“Where they talking to you, too?”
His chin rubbed against the top of my head in a nod.
“What were they saying?”
My question was met with the sound of his hammering heartbeat against my ear and the crashing of waves underneath us.
“That I went the wrong way.” I could barely hear his hushed words. “You were being dragged off somewhere behind me meeting your end.”
My mouth opened and shut several times. Questions raced around my mind faster than I could grasp them.
“How did you fight them off?” I threw out the first question my tired mind could cling to.
“Training mostly. All I needed was to keep following your footsteps and I would eventually find you.” My head slid further across his chest as Atlas’ arm wrapped around me. His hand was warm as it grabbed onto my side, fingers digging in like he was worried I would vanish. “Every instinct I had screamed at me to turn around every step I took. That losing you would hurt more than I was prepared for.”
I tried to sit up, to look at Atlas after his confession. His fingers dug harder into my side, keeping me sitting next to him. I needed to say something, but I was at a loss for what? This wasn’t the same man who had first stolen me away in Klyn’s house, but I wasn’t sure if his actions since then were forgivable. Yes, he saved my life with the Fae, but he also threatened to be the one to kill me. My mind demanded more than his pretty words even as they made my heart clench.
“Sleep, witch,” he whispered against the top of my head, saving me from finding a way to respond.
His words acted like a trigger, shutting out the world as his rapid heartbeat lulled my mind into silence.
The world swayed around me.My back rested against soft fabrics, a scratchy blanket was wrapped around my front. With a groan, I finally opened my eyes.
I was alone. The room was dark. There were faint rays of light that came from swaying lanterns. They were bright enough to light up what was directly around them, but that was it. The ceiling dropped enough that it looked like even I was at risk of bumping my head against it.
Hanging beds filled the room. They were attached to two wooden poles, three on each one. The bottom scraped against the floor while the other two dangled above. Glancing over the edge, I was in the middle bed.
