Page 33 of Voices in the Stars
I laid back, staring at the swinging material above me. I closed my eyes as I felt myself swinging side to side. I focused on taking deep breaths as I felt myself heating up with nausea. Each movement made my stomach churn. I was incredibly grateful that I had eaten very little the past couple of days.
I gave myself a few more moments of self-pity before swinging my legs over the edge, sliding off the bed—only to crash right onto the hard floor.
My grunt sounded throughout the room as I kneeled on the floor. This was one of the roughest mornings I’d had. Sucking in a sharp breath, I pushed myself up on shaky legs. The upside of all of this was that I was wide awake as I made my way to the only door.
It pulled open, revealing a set of stairs. A bright lightthat appeared at the top made me squint. Everything seemed to make the rolling in my stomach worse. I kept my gaze focused on each wood step as I moved toward the loud voices.
My breath caught as I stood in the open air, sickness momentarily forgotten. I was on a boat. People were moving around me as I walked out onto the deck. Some shot me glares, but I didn’t stop to pay them any attention. Large sails hung overhead, the fabric swooshing with the air, keeping them puffed out. A large smile broke out as my hair whipped around my face.
Water stretched out in every direction. The only sign of land were the faint outlines of mountains in the distance. Even they were far enough I couldn’t make out any details, not even if their peaks were snowy. I turned in a circle, stopping when I saw Atlas.
He stood above me, leaning over a railing near the wheel. He was already staring down at me, fangs on display as he smiled. He half-raised a hand in greeting.
As I went to call up to him, something crashed into the side of the ship. I lost balance, stumbling. Someone reached a hand to grab me, but I pushed them away as I ran toward the nearest railing, emptying the contents of my stomach into the water below.
“You should stay down below.” His voice was gruff as he stood next to me.
I groaned in response, watching the dark water as it sloshed against the sides of the boat. My feet kept trying to slide out from underneath me as the boat rocked.
“Listen, Ezryn already wants nothing to do with you. Do you know how hard it was?—”
His words were cut off by my gagging. There was nothing left in my stomach, but that didn’t stop my body from trying to expel everything.
“Are you okay?” he asked, placing a hand high on my back.
I nodded even as the next wave of nausea hit me. “Never been on a boat.”
His mouth opened and shut several times; his brows furrowed together.
“How did you get on this side of Feycrest?” Atlas questioned.
“Born there” was all I could choke out. I didn’t have the fight to argue his ridiculous question.
“Come here,” he whispered.
I weakly shoved against his hands as they grabbed me. He shook with a laugh as he forced one of my arms to wrap around his back while his arm wrapped around my waist, his free hand grabbing mine.
“Leave me alone,” I mumbled as he led me away from the railing.
I still leaned against his warmth as my legs stumbled with the swaying of the ship. My cheeks started to burn as I felt his muscles flexing against my arm. He was strong. I was certain carrying me would be very easy for him. He was practically doing it now as I was being dragged toward the front of the boat. I focused enough to see we were headed toward a large piece of wood that pointed out above the water.
My heart leapt into my throat as he led me to the edge. I pulled against his hold, but it was useless. He barely even flinched at my attempt. This was it for me. He was going to throw me into the rushing water below us. I opened my mouth, apologies on my tongue ready to come rushing out, only to be choked down by nausea rising up.
I closed my eyes as Atlas grabbed my elbows. I waited for the shove to come. Instead, I was slowly lowered to the floor. My stomach wasn’t any happier about sitting.
“Open your eyes.”
I jumped at the closeness of his voice. His head practically rested on my shoulder. His arm wrapped back around my waist as his fingers spread across my stomach. I hated to admit it, but their warmth was helping with the sick feeling. His legs were on either side of mine while his other hand grabbed an edge of the boat, keeping us steady. I tried twisting to the side to look at him. All I caught was a quick glance of his soft smile before he grabbed my chin, moving my head to look in front of us.
I sucked in a sharp breath as excitement swept through me. I tried to sit up more, but Atlas kept me pulled close against him. His head fully rested against my shoulder now, twisted slightly to avoid his horns. Sunlight danced across the moving waves. It warmed my face, chasing away any lingering chill I had.
This was the closest to true freedom I’d ever had. If I could justforget about what brought me here. Though, sitting like this was doing wonders to help me forget all of it. If I was back home, I would be getting moved into Adrian’s house. My freedoms stripped away while he threw away the key.
There was still a nagging thought in the back of my head. That this was just a false sense of security. Atlas was just using this moment to gain my trust before he decided to kill me in the end. It was clear how quickly his mood could change. Even now, if I said the wrong thing, there was nothing stopping him from pushing me into the water.
I leaned fully back against Atlas now as I closed my eyes again. Selfishly, I wanted to enjoy whatever was happening while it lasted. A salty breeze pushed my hair around our faces. I felt more than heard Atlas softly grunt before moving my hair. I laughed at him. Somewhere birds were calling to each other. I jumped as there was a loud squawk right above us. Leaning forward, I looked up. Atlas’ hand slid from my waist until it was lightly resting on my hip. I could feel his stare as I watched the giant birds as they flew above us.
“Atlas,” a deep voice yelled behind us, “you two need to get away from there!”
