Page 168 of A Storm in Every Heart
I glance at Lyra, wondering if she’ll have any issue with that, but she says nothing. Apparently she doesn’t care one bit about her adoptive father…and I can’t say I blame her.
“Alright, that’s settled for now,” I say slowly. “What about Connell?”
“What about him?” Jett asks.
I shrug. Kastian’s mention of our returning in six months just made me realize that he isn’t here. “Well, for one, where is he?”
“Lying down in one of the guest suites,” Lyra answers. “He doesn’t look like he’s feeling too well.”
“Did giving up the ship hurt him?”
Kastian frowns. “It must have. Is he going to live?”
“He’ll be fine,” Jett grumbles. “I’ll handle him.”
I raise my eyebrows, and open my mouth to comment, but Kastian beats me to it. He laughs. “Don’t tell me the pirate is growing on you?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jett grumbles. “But he’s not…horrible. He saved your life.”
“True,” Kastian says, sobering instantly.
“I’ll have our healer take a look at him,” Lyra says. “I think it’s possible that he’s just experiencing how it feels to be mortal for the first time in decades.”
“So does that mean you’re staying here?” I ask Jett.
“Maybe for a little while, but I need to go back to Vernallis and talk to Daemon and Alix as soon as possible. I assumed you’d be going with me?”
“I’m not sure.” I glance sideways at Kastian. “How long before we need to return to the ship?”
“No idea,” Kastian says. “Maybe Connell can tell me after the healer sees him.”
“The only question left is what to do about Hydratta,” Jett says.
All eyes turn to Kastian who takes a step back. “Whatever you’re all thinking, stop. I haven’t thought of this as my kingdom for over a century…and maybe even before that.”
“The people wouldn’t take a change in leadership well even if you did want the throne,” Lyra says flatly with no apology in her voice—as if it’s just a fact. “It’s been far too long since your family was in power and things have moved on.”
“Didn’t you say the people view Magnus as a god?” I ask.
Her nose wrinkles. “Not all of them, but essentially yes. In my opinion it will be too much for them to experience a sudden shift. They won’t bow to Daemon, or whatever your Vernalli king’s name is. They don’t know him and he’s not from here.”
“Just for the sake of argument, Magnus isn’t from Hydratta either,” I remind her. “He’s Thermian.”
“True, but that’s not a bad thing right now. Thermia is the entire reason why an alliance with Vernallis was a good move for Hydratta.”
I press the heels of my hands to my eyes. “I’m too exhausted for a political discussion. I need a bath, and a real dress,” I gesture loosely at my toga-style rags.
Jett snickers, but quiets when Kastian shoots him a look.
“Alright,” Kastian says with finality in his tone. “We don’t need to solve all of the problems on the continent this afternoon. All I want to know is who’s in charge until Daemon and Alix get here and can weigh in?”
“Me,” Lyra says flatly, as if it brokers no argument. “Obviously.”
We all look at her.
“No offense, but we don’t know much about you,” Jett says after a long moment.
“And?” she snaps. “You don’t have to trust me. If anything,youneedmeto trustyou.You’re only in here because I let you be—I found you to save Kastian, I got Odessa out of the tower, I didn’t stop you from torturing my father or tell the guards to seize you the moment you walked through the door.”
