Into the Wind (23 page)

“I… I….” Odhrán saw the bodies of battered and bloodied men in his mind’s eye. He staggered backward, his hands over his mouth. Gods, had he killed them all?

Luka’s smiled grew broader still as he sauntered over to Odhrán and took his chin between his forefinger and his thumb. “You’ve grown more powerful, my beautiful Odhrán. I know you want me. I know you want to please me. Together, you and I can take this kingdom. We can have everything we want.”

“No!” Odhrán shouted as he pushed Luka away.

Luka stumbled backward but appeared unconcerned with Odhrán’s outburst. “Stop being a child,” he chastised. “You always were such a sensitive sort. When will you realize your body is your tool?”

“No. I don’t want… I can’t bear it again,” Odhrán whimpered as tears streamed down his cheeks.

“You can and you will. Come back to me. I promise I’ll take care of you. Treat you like the delicate flower you wish to be.”

“You lie!” Odhrán stepped away from Luka and waved his hand. Ice shot like blades from his fingers, pinning Luka against the wall of the study by his shoulders and arms. Blood spread from where the ice pierced Luka’s body, slowly turning his white tunic crimson.

Odhrán recoiled in shock, then stared at his hand. How had he done this? He wouldn’t hurt Luka.
His
Luka.

“Gods,” he gasped as he shivered in horror. “I never meant. I’m so sorry I—”

“I should have left you to die on the beach.” Luka’s expression was as cold as the ice that held him captive. “You deserve far worse than being the king’s plaything. I should have fucked you on the square for everyone to watch, then let them take turns using you until you cried for mercy. Until you bled like the animal you are.”

With each word, the temperature in the room dropped and the ice that immobilized Luka grew and spread until it covered his arms and chest. Odhrán imagined the ice working its way into Luka’s skin toward his heart. Luka’s eyes widened in what Odhrán would later recognize as fear. Luka’s cheeks paled, then turned nearly white. His lips were blue and his body shook from the cold.

“You truly are a monster.” The words were spoken in a whisper, but they cut Odhrán as though Luka had plunged a steel dagger into his breast.

Odhrán watched, unable to move, as if he too were frozen. He’d once had a heart that had beat for Luka alone. Now he felt nothing but pain and rage. “No…,” he said as Luka gasped, then took his last breath. “
You
are… you
all
are.”

Twenty-One

T
AREN
CAME
back to himself with a shudder and a gasp, the feel of the water on his body comforting, reassuring him it had only been a vision. He ached for Odhrán, felt the guilt that still inhabited his heart nearly a thousand years later, understood both his anger and his remorse.

Odhrán floated nearby—Taren sensed his curiosity as well as his self-loathing and disgust.
Could you not read my mind?

“No.”
Odhrán’s expression was unreadable once more, but the waves of his emotions buffeted Taren.
“I experienced the vision along with you, but I could not sense your thoughts. Only now do I sense the turmoil of your emotions.”

And I yours
,
Taren countered, knowing Odhrán would sense his hesitation as he made sense of what he’d just seen.
No wonder you hate us all—Ea and human alike.

Odhrán’s expression was hard, but Taren knew it now for the lie it was: the cold glare was nothing but the bulwarks of a castle, built to fortify and protect Odhrán’s heart.

“The night Luka sold me to the king,”
Odhrán said in an undertone,
“I transformed eight times.”
He breathed in a long, slow breath, then continued,
“Each time, a different man. Each time they took my body and my dignity. I had chosen to share my body before, but they took the choice from me. I was chained like a dog where all could see me. They would use me when the king desired it. Sometimes he’d fuck me too.

“One night, after the king and some of his courtiers had taken turns using me, they left me chained to the floor. I awoke the next morning and realized one of my arms was free. I had dreamed I was a young boy again and my hand had slipped from my mother’s grasp.”

Odhrán sighed and shook his head.
“I am not sorry you know the truth, although I’m not sure I should have burdened you with it.”

They are cruel, terrible people,
Taren said as he trembled with anger.
Not a single one of them showed you kindness.

Odhrán smiled sadly.
“I have lived a long time, Taren. I’ve had much time to think about my life as a slave.”
Odhrán shook his head.
“I knew very few of the people who lived in the city or even in Astenya. I never went back there. Even with everything they did to me, I cannot say all of the people who inhabit the land are as cruel.”

You forgive them, after how they treated you?
Taren found this hard to believe.

“They are long dead. There is no one left from that time left to forgive. But if you speak of their memory, or perhaps more directly, of my heart? Then yes, I suppose I have forgiven them. I no longer despise them.”

Why did you show me?
Taren asked.
Why would you—?
But he didn’t need to finish his question. He felt it now. Understood it.

“I don’t think you are Treande,”
Odhrán said.

But he was someone important to you. Someone you cared for.

“My only friend.”

Taren wished he could hide the pity and sadness he felt at hearing this, but he knew Odhrán had read his thoughts.

“You have no need to be ashamed of your feelings,”
Odhrán said with a ghost of a smile.
“Once, I may have needed pity. Now, I have a home.”

Taren thought of Ian. More than his home—his heart, his soul. Wasn’t love more than just a home?

“I’m quite happy with my lot,”
Odhrán said.
“With few exceptions, love is an illusion. A thirst no earthly drink can quench. I have no need for it.”
He gestured toward the island, and they began to swim.

Odhrán’s words didn’t surprise Taren—he’d expected Odhrán to say as much—but the fact that Odhrán seemed to believe it did.
You believe this
,
he said, even though he knew it was wrong of him to challenge Odhrán.

He feared he’d overstepped the fragile bonds of their fledgling relationship, but Odhrán’s warm smile set his mind at ease.
“I know you mean well, Taren. But you also know I speak the truth when I tell you I am far happier alone.”

Come with me.
The idea struck Taren with particular force, and as always, he spoke before he’d considered his words.

“With you?”
Odhrán paused, using his tail to maintain his position in spite of the strong current.

To the
Phantom
.

“My men will escort—”
Odhrán began.

Give Ian and his crew a chance to prove you wrong. That’s all I ask.

Odhrán chuckled.

What’s so amusing?

“Only that I wonder if, before he lost Owyn, Treande was as impetuous as you are.”

An interesting question, which led Taren to wonder yet again just how much of Treande inhabited his mind and body. He shrugged off the thought and forced a smile.
Since I’m impetuous
, he said in an effort to change the topic,
then I shall ask you again. Will you come with me? Meet Ian and his crew?

Odhrán considered this for a moment and Taren felt his hesitation. His fear.
“I’ll do better than that,”
he finally said, his lips curving upward as he spoke.
“I will take you there.”

Take me?

“Aboard my ship, the
Chimera
.”

Taren stared at Odhrán, too surprised to speak.
Your ship?

“Aye. She’s nearly as ancient as I, but she’s soundly built and fast too.”
Pride glimmered brightly in Odhrán’s eyes as he said this.

But you’ve been on the island for centuries
,
Taren said.
How is this possible?

“My men have sailed her. James,”
Odhrán said as a smile danced over his face,
“is quite adept at pretending to be me, as you well know. And before him, his father.”

Then the stories?

“Of the ‘cruel pirate Odhrán’?”
Odhrán swam around him as if buoyed by the topic.
“A lie. My men have only killed to protect themselves. From time to time they will steal another ship’s bounty, but never legitimate cargo.”

Pirate spoils?

“Aye. But we obtain most of the supplies my cave-dwelling men require through honest transactions with the locals. They sell the lighted crystals I enchant,”
Odhrán explained.

Do you plan to reveal yourself, then? Show them your true form?

“My human form,”
Odhrán said.
“Aye. High time too.”

But your secret—

“I no longer need to keep that particular secret. I never hid to protect myself. I only hid to protect the stone. Regardless of whether you change my mind about the Ea, I no longer have a reason to remain apart from the world.”
Now Odhrán smiled openly.
“Besides, much as I love to swim in the open sea, there are few things I love more than to be upon it.”
He gestured Taren toward the island.
“Come, Taren. We have much to do to ready my ship. It’s been far too long since she sailed.”

“T
HE
P
HANTOM
is under repair on Cera, not far from the port city,” Odhrán told Taren as they boarded the
Chimera
the next morning. “She is surrounded by enchantments in a secluded cove. No doubt your captain fears the humans will seek to destroy her and her crew while she is vulnerable.”

“You… you knew that the attacking ship was human?” Taren shouldn’t be surprised. These islands were Odhrán’s stronghold, and a battle just offshore wouldn’t have escaped his attention. Still, Odhrán clearly knew far more about the
Phantom
’s precarious situation than he’d expected.

Odhrán laughed, the sound bright and melodic. “Of course. How do you think you ended up on the beach?”

“You? You pulled me from the water?” Taren struggled to remember but still recalled nothing.

“You were unconscious. As badly injured as you were, you might have drowned.”

“Thank you for coming to my rescue.” Taren inclined his head. “I remember watching the battle, hoping the wind might favor our ship.” Even now he recalled the wind shifting direction, and shivered with pleasure as a gust lifted his hair from his neck. He focused his attention once more on Odhrán and noticed the corners of his mouth turn slightly upward.

“What do you find so amusing?” Taren asked, as always unafraid to speak his mind.

Odhrán ignored Taren’s question and pointed to Taren’s necklace. “I still haven’t been paid.”

“I doubt it would do Brynn any good.” Taren chuckled, knowing Odhrán had said this in jest. “It’s worth little to anyone but me.”

“I know it may seem strange, but it reminds me of Astenya,” Odhrán said with a wistful expression. “The country is quite beautiful.”

“The Eastern Lands?” Taren fingered the necklace and considered this. Had his parents traveled there before they died?

“Aye. Nowhere else can you find shells like those. Where did you come by it?”

“My mother left it with Laxley the rigger when she left me in his care. He gave it to me only recently. Perhaps my father found it in a marketplace and gave it to her. I’m glad she left it with me.” Taren smiled. “But I do owe Brynn payment. He did well in finding you.”

Odhrán’s laughter reminded Taren of the sound of the tiny bells from the vision of Odhrán’s past. “I’m sure Brynn will exact a price at some point in the future. He’s a wily one, that boy.” Odhrán winked before turning and shouting, “Time to set sail, James! We haven’t all day.”

“Aye, sir!” James stood tall and proud. Taren guessed he was anxious to show Odhrán how well he’d kept his ship for him. “It’s a pleasure to have you aboard, Captain.”

Taren found it hard not to admire the
Chimera
. Though slightly smaller than the
Sea Witch
or the
Phantom
, she was sleek and built of wood lovingly polished so that she shone in the sunlight. The wood had a slightly reddish cast to it, with hints of purple and orange. Taren caressed the foremast, marveling at the smooth surface, drawn to it like he’d been drawn to some of the reefs Ian had shown him. A beautiful thing. Vibrant. Almost alive.

“Wythene wood,” Odhrán told him with a note of obvious pride in his voice. “From the Eastern Lands. Quite rare. The trees are only found in the high mountains near the northern coast.”