Page 15 of Across an Endless Sea

“Because I wanted him to be part of my Guard. I hoped that maybe that all of them would resolve their differences. And also… the Goddess was angry.” Not just angry, furious. She claimed Caed as one of her own. “Even after what happened, she doesn’t believe the way forward is in killing him…”

And, as pissed as I am with him, neither do I. If killing people was going to solve this, surely the war would be over by now.

The Goddess’s warning, about his death turning Prae onto an even darker path, weighs heavily on my mind. The two Fomorians must be close. That’s why Prae came to set Caed free from the palace, and why he took her with him to collect me.

Which means convincing Caed to switch sides might also mean convincing Prae.

I’d rather sit on a hedgehog than make nice with her while Florian is fighting for his life.

Prae’s expression is unreadable as she leans back on her heels. “Interesting.”

I pause, shake my head, then immediately regret the action as it makes the world spin.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demand as soon as the nausea passes.

Prae leans toward me for a second, evaluating my expression. “It means you and I are done with this conversation. I’ll keep to my end of the bargain, though I’m not sure what good it’ll do you…”

Something flashes in her expression as she looks at me, but I’m too deep in my own mental fog to be able to decipher the look. Damn it, if I could just get these cuffs off, I couldthink.

“Princess, your cousin requests you bring the prisoner to the dock.”

The voice echoes from beyond the flap, and Prae sighs. “Just in time. Come on.”

She gives another harsh tug on the rope, which forces me to stagger to my feet. I’m so out of it that I barely notice the tents and people that we pass. My entire focus is on staying upright in the slippery mud as we head towards the towering masts on the other side of the camp.

The docks are full of Fomorians rushing to and fro, carrying things and yelling. The dissonant harmony of their voices, stomping footsteps, and my own harsh breathing grows in volume until my head feels like it’s about to explode.

A ringing starts in my ears as we reach the gangplank, and I quickly realise why.

The ships are made entirely of metal. It’s probably steel, given that it has to travel through the water without rusting, but it may as well be pure iron, because my feet begin to blister only two steps onto the metal boarding ramp.

This time, there’s no holding back my vomit. I whirl, blindly hoping to catch my captor with the spray.

Unfortunately, Prae sees what’s going to happen and grabs a handful of my hair, forcing my head over the side. What little food I ate before being captured goes straight into the river.

“Delightful,” she mutters. “The week’s voyage to Fellgotha is going to be fun for you.”

Without waiting to see if I’m done, she drags me the rest of the way onto the deck. Each step brings fresh hell to my feet, and the mud coating them offers no protection. My only option is to hop from foot to foot in a futile attempt to minimise contact.

Caed is already there, pacing, yelling out orders in Fomorian. Every now and again, he’ll repeat himself in Fae, likely for the benefit of the slaves around us. They’ve wrapped their bodies in thick strips of cloth, mummifying themselves to protect against the iron.

“I want us out on the water in the next ten minutes,” he spits.

He’s found the time to change into clean clothes, and there’s a fresh streak of blue war paint running from the far corner of each of his eyes to his hairline. The effect is annoyingly evocative, giving his already sharp cheekbones a lethal edge as he glances at me. His eyes trace my body, lingering at my hopping feet before flicking back to his cousin. I wait for him to say something—either to mock my predicament or order some kind of reprieve—but he doesn’t.

The look the cousins share barely lasts a second before Prae yanks me along again.

Caed knows walking across the deck hurts me, but he isn’t going to do anything about it.

He yells another order in Fomorian that I can’t understand, but his tone makes it clear he’s either making an announcement or a joke. A cheer rings out in answer, the Fomorians seeming to move a little faster, but Prae doesn’t smile as she leads me across the deck.

The sail above us snaps open like a giant fan above us. Made of bright red fabric stretched tight over metal bones, it glows under the lamplight. Then another falls open behind it, and another behind that.

I curl my toes, trying to ignore the worsening pain in my soles. Briefly, I wonder if crawling would help. Probably not. Then my hands and knees would suffer too.

Prae hands my leash over to her cousin just as a shadow falls over the deck.

“Above!” The cry cuts the air, distracting me a second before a pair of hands clamp under my arms and lift.

---