World Weaver (The Devany Miller Series Book 4) (31 page)

Her arms lowered slowly, her tear-reddened eyes on me. “It’s not the same thing.”

“It’s exactly the same thing,” I said, dropping my hand and the magic with it. “You had no right to make decisions for my daughter. You had no right to take her from me, no more right than I have to take your soul. What you did was wrong, Arsinua. And I want you to stay here until you figure that out.” I walked away from her, ignoring her calls after me.

As I walked, I flicked out the lights. Somewhere I heard Jax scream for someone to help him. Arsinua’s voice joined his, begging. Their cries echoed in the dark and I left them behind to deal with the darkness on their own.

I found Nex upstairs and asked him to keep my prisoners fed.

“I will procure assistance in doing this,” he said, wiggling his head. “No arms.”

“Right. You’re a good egg, Nex.” If an egg had tentacles.

“I hope that you will soon have your daughter in your arms.”

I nodded. “Nex?”

“Yes?”

“Do you miss Quorra?” The sharp-toothed mermaid had been his particular friend for a while.

He pondered my question for a moment, then said, “You know, I do not miss her. She was a novelty I will never regret, but I do not need companionship of that sort. She had a tendency toward being too suffocating.”

We both paused, thinking about Quorra’s rather large assets that contributed to the suffocating part of her nature. “If you get lonely, you’ll tell me, won’t you?”

He nodded. “As you wish. I find I’m quite content helping Vasili with his experiments. His science is intellectually stimulating.”

I pursed my lips. “Don’t let him set fire to the world or something, will you? He was dabbling with fungus that would take over Earth. I’d rather not wake up to an apocalypse of his making.”

Nex grinned a fang-studded smile. “I will make it my duty to keep an eye on his dealings, you have my word.”

“Thanks. You know, of all the people I’ve met on this crazy journey, you’re one of the few I feel I can trust. Why is that?”

He bobbed closer, his pale grey skin translucent. “Perhaps it’s because we found friendship.”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “Yeah, we did.”

***

Krosh and I spent the rest of our time waiting together in the small hotel room, making sorties to get food and harrying those who ran the pits. We managed to shut down two operations and I dropped the owners of the slave-fighters in the Wastes with a firm twang on the Spider Queen’s web. We didn’t get them all, of course. More rats would take the place of the ones we took out of commission and they would burrow farther underground with their horror, but at least we made a dent in their fun.

At night I cried and Krosh held me. I wondered how long it would take him to tire of me. I was tired of me and I wished with more frequency I didn’t have my soul. The pain was almost unbearable and lurked in my neck and chest muscles until I was obsessively wondering when my heart would stop. Could people die from stress? From heartbreak?

The next morning, there was a knock on our door and on the other side was Mal. Danger oozed off him, enough that I took a couple steps away from him. His head cocked. “You can feel my magic?”

“You’re oozing.”

He made a vague noise, and I wasn’t sure if he was disagreeing or not. “Oozing?” he finally asked.

“Sorry,” I said. It had been the first word to come to my head.

“It’s time to set sail. Zephyrinia said we should be able to leave within the hour.”

All thoughts of his weirdness flew away on raven wings. “Really? Krosh! Let’s go.” I danced from foot to foot while he finished up in the washroom, nerves about what we would find and Mal’s presence making me antsy.

We followed Mal to the bay where the L
ady Free
was docked. The ship’s gas bag swelled high above the masts, held in place by a shitload of rope. Sailors scurried to and fro, climbing, descending. The sharp smell of sea air hit my nose as I boarded her. Mal led us to mid-deck, where Zephyrinia worked, calling out orders and spurring on her crew. When she saw us, she smiled. “Excellent. We can cast off. Darby!”

A teen came running, his shirt hanging loose on his frame. He skidded to a stop in front of us, his bare feet sliding on the smooth waxed wood of the deck. “Aye, Captain?”

“Take these folks to my cabin, ensure they are comfortable.”

“Aye, aye.” He gestured and attempted to lead us away.

I didn’t follow the eager young man. “I don’t want to sit around cabin waiting.”

She arched a brow. “You’ll be in the way on deck. We’re going to be flying fast and hard and my crew will need every bit of their attention focused on the task at hand. My ship, my rules. Take them or leave them.”

There wasn’t any room for compromise in her words or her gaze. I gave in. “Right. Thanks.” I turned to the kid, who didn’t look surprised at all that his captain won that round. “Lead the way.”

He took us to a smaller cabin set off to the side of Zeph’s. There wasn’t room for a table, only a bed, a chest at the foot, and a wooden wardrobe against one wall. There were windows, but they looked out over the side of the
Lady Free
and I couldn’t see any of the action even when I pressed my cheek to the glass.

I paced from the windows to the door and back again, then sat on the bed, defeated. “I feel so useless.”

Krosh tipped my head up and kissed me. His touch lit me on fire, despite my worry, despite my anxiety. I pushed at him once, to fret about the door and who might come in on us, and he assuaged that by leaving me to lock it. Then he pulled me to my feet and kissed me again, filling my senses with his touch rather than my fears for my daughter.

He pressed me up against the wooden wardrobe, his body tight against mine. We made love there, in fumbling fury, his deep, sharp thrusts pushing me into an orgasm that, for one trembling moment, made me forget it all. It lifted me out of the blackness I’d been mired in and though I wouldn’t say it pushed away the pain, it eased it enough I could breathe without hurting.

Panting, I sagged against him, trembling with the last of his thrusts. He shuddered, deep within me, and then placed a warm kiss on my neck. “Thank you,” I said.

“I hate seeing you rip yourself apart.” He brushed his cheek against mine and I sighed at the rough scratch of stubble against my skin and the hot male scent of him.

“I keep digging and digging, trying to find a way out, but I’m making my own grave.”

“This ship is fast. I can feel its magic. And I would guess if you open yourself to it, you’ll find your daughter’s thread of life, still vibrant, still glowing.” He slid himself out of me and we adjusted our clothes. The room smelled of our lovemaking and I went to the window to see if I could let in fresh air.

“I haven’t looked.” I cranked open the window, and briny air wafted in. “I was scared I wouldn’t see it.”

“Do it now.”

“Krosh.”

His eyes glowed warmly. He nodded and I sighed, fighting past the nerves to take a look. Panic rose in me when I searched, but couldn’t find her. And then. “Oh.” I groped for him, leaning into him for support. “She’s alive.” Another kiss, this one instigated by me and maybe even rougher than the previous ones. Fierce. “She’s alive. She’s alive!” And then I cried.

***

We stayed in the cabin for hours, relieved only by a knock on the door to give us information or bring us food. I paced the cabin, my entire body poised and ready for a fight. That afternoon, Zephyrinia herself stopped by, her vest gone, her shirt sleeves rolled up, dirt on her blouse. “No sign of them tonight, but there are only so many routes over the sea. The winds are rough near the coasts, so any captain worth his hat will stick to the air streams over deep water. I will wager we’ll catch sight of them tomorrow around noon. Then the game will truly be on. Are you doing all right?”

“I’m bored out of my mind,” I said. Except for our frenzied lovemaking, Krosh and I really hadn’t had much else to do.

“Tonight we will eat together as a crew. I’ll teach you how to play Drydock and Drifters.” At my blank look, she said, “It’s a card and dice game. We’ll see what kind of brain you have in that head of yours, eh? Sit tight another couple of hours.”

The door snicked shut and I groaned. “Another two hours?”

“I know how to play Drydock and Drifters,” Krosh said, rising from his seat. He crossed to the wardrobe and opened it, searching through the contents.

“What are you doing?”

It didn’t take him long to find the cards and dice for the game—in the chest at the foot of the bed, not the wardrobe. I rolled my eyes at his lack of respect for the privacy of whomever normally used the room, but he shrugged off my propriety. “If they hadn’t wanted us snooping, they wouldn’t have left us alone so long. And this way, when she comes to get us, you’ll know the game and you won’t be as easy to beat as she figures you’ll be.” He set out the dice and the cards, shuffling, stacking and flipping until everything was laid out the way he wanted it. “Well?”

“Ah hell. Why not.” I sat across from him and listened to him explain the game. It reminded me a bit of Canasta with Yahtzee thrown into the mix, and after a dozen hands I won a round. “Hot damn.”

He laughed and gathered up the cards.

“What are you doing?” I asked, wanting to play another round. He jerked his chin toward the door as someone knocked. “Oh. Hurry up.”

He didn’t, taking his time to put everything back where it was before answering.

“The Captain wanted me to bring you to dinner,” a rough-voiced man said when Krosh opened the door. He sported a wooden leg and a scowl that looked like it might have been perpetually etched onto his face. “Quarter Master Welkin.”

“Kroshtuka.”

“Devany,” I added.

The man grunted and abruptly left, forcing us to hurry after him. We traversed one set of stairs into a room packed full of people around a long wooden table. The conversation didn’t dim when we entered, but people scooted closer together to make room for us at one end of the table.

As soon as we were settled, plates were set in front of us filled from edge to edge with steaming vegetables, meat, and a large brown lump that looked disgusting but smelled like chocolate bread pudding.

I hoped it was chocolate.

Zephyrinia stood and the table did fall silent then. “As you all may know, we are on a special mission. Our two guests, Devany and Kroshtuka, are looking for their daughter. Those bastards on the
Sunset Marauder
bought a child, intending to sell her to the highest bidder. We’re here to save that little girl and reunite her with her parents. To all of you, I raise my glass in thanks for busting your asses to catch up to those criminals. Thank you!”

The table erupted in cheers and everyone picked up the mug or tankard in front of them to drain the contents. I picked up mine and sipped, glad I didn’t chug when the liquid hit my tongue and proceeded to burn a line of hot acid down my throat.

Eyes water, throat seizing, I pushed back my chair and stood. I had to clear my throat twice, not to quiet the crowd, but to get my throat to stop cowering in fear and let me talk. “From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you all for helping us get Bethany back.” I stopped, fighting back the incessant tears. “You don’t know what it means to me. To us.” I found Krosh’s hand with my own. “Thank you.”

There was another toast, this one silent. I raised my own glass and downed the painful liquid, swallowing until my tongue was numb and my stomach aflame.

“We’ll not let your wee girl get hurt,” a woman beside me said, patting me on the back with a work-reddened hand. “That, I think, we all promise, don’t we?”

One by one they did indeed promise. It scared me. What if one of them died saving Bethy? What if they all died? I had so many on my conscience as it was. I had a responsibility to make sure that those who had died hadn’t sacrificed themselves in vain. Had I done enough to honor their deaths? The Wydlings who had died?

“We’ll find your daughter,” Zephyrinia said at last. “We’ll find her and get her back for you, safe and sound.”

Once again, I let myself believe.

TWENTY-FIVE

We went to bed in the same room we’d spent the day in. I didn’t know where the cabin’s owner slept. Perhaps they had another room, or perhaps they slept in a hammock hung from the rigging, swaying with the gentle breeze. That night, neither Krosh nor I could sleep, so we both left the cabin in search of fresh air. Since everything was quiet, I hoped that meant we wouldn’t get yelled at for being in the way.

The night air was sharp and cool, though not cold enough for a coat. I shivered until I remembered I could do magic. I put a bubble around us both to keep our heat in, but let the scent of the sea waft to us. “It’s beautiful,” I whispered. The creek of the ropes and wood competed with the endless rush of water far below us. We peered over the side. “How far up do you think we are?”