“Did he have any idea who might’ve stolen it? Anyone suspicious seen around his kitchen?”
Kora placed two fingers on the rim of Samuel’s stein, lowering it away from his grog-blushed face. Drips of liquid coated his beard and soaked his shirt as his sharp, grey eyes focused.
“Nah, I asked. Some of the pit guards spent a lunch in his kitchen two days ago, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”
The day before the Flint twins escaped Hell’s Pit, and three days after their capture onDemon Sea Siren. She had to find this rat, and fast, before her secrets leaked.
Kora patted Samuel’s shoulder, and he drunkenly staggered to a circle of sailors, ready to sing more sea shanties. She could still hear the jovial melodies as she meandered to the med bay. Pausing before the crooked door, she raised her knuckles.
What if Blakewasthe rat?
He was the only other who had access to the empire’s seal in her quarters. If only they still had the letter, she’d be able to recognise the handwriting. But what would he gain from releasing the twins from their cells? He’d been ready to kill Silas for absconding. It didn’t make sense. If Silas could steal a cleaver knife, then he could steal a wax seal.
Buthow?
Her heart thudded unpleasantly with shame for thinking Blake could be the rat, and she wondered about his condition on the other side of the wooden door as it flew open. Koji appeared through the slanted frame, his brows raised questioningly. His hair was falling out of its top knot, and wild grey strands framed his long, aged face. Kora wrinkled her nose at the waft of disinfectant and herbs permeating the room.
Every Talmon Empire capital vessel contained a med bay, built into the port side above the hull. In their case, as far away from the mouldy, acrid starboard side of Hell’s Pit as possible.
“Can I see him?” She folded her hands serenely in front of her.
He curtly nodded, motioning to enter. Kora silently stepped across the threshold and the overwhelming scent of herbal remedies washed over her, stuffing her nose. Her chest tightened, and she let out a hacked cough, causing Koji to throw her an irked glance.
The room was rectangular—like the pit, but slanted from a kick of wind knocking it when the ship had been built. Several bolted-down beds lined the far wall—enough for eight people, two of which were occupied. One was Blake’s dark form, the other a nameless sailor, his laboured, wet breathing filling the silence. Three brass portholes interspersed the wall above them, and shafts of moonlight beamed through the room.
Chests and cabinets lined the remaining walls, filled with varying bottles and tins of gods-knew-what, with a small desk beside the entrance, covered in scribbled, thick papers. She couldn’t make out the writing under the dim lantern illumination. Large stacks of thick-spined books towered by the desk, all intricately detailed. Some had gold embossed into their covers.Gold.Koji shuffled forward, blocking her view of the curious collection.
“He’s very tired,” he explained. “But he’s healing well. Try not to disturb him too much.” Irritation flashed through Kora and she narrowed her eyes.This damn healer. “He’ll need to sleep soon. Rest is important for recovery,” Koji continued, in his factual manner.
“Then why let me visit at all?” She braced her hands on her hips to give them something to do beside throttling the healer, and scratching the relentless itch on her shoulder.Gods,what if she’d caught fleas from the pirates?
Koji glanced back at the occupied bed in the corner. “Because,” he lowered his voice before meeting her gaze, “he’s been asking for his blue-eyed beauty.”
Red stained Kora’s cheeks as she faltered, sputtering, trying to think of something to tell Koji—that they werenottogether. That they hadn’t promised their selves to each other. That they weren’t each other’severything.
That they hadn’t committed a forbidden act in the eyes of the law.
The healer raised his bony hands, his attempt at comfort causing her to cringe. “I’m not the empire,” he assured. “I go where the coins are.”
Fatigue consumed his seasoned wise face, and he silently trudged out of the med bay, his pointy shoulders hunched. Indeed, healers were notoriously money-driven in the empire, their allegiance leaning towards the wealth they could attain rather than the infirm. They worked wherever they obtained contracts, and Koji had a long-standing one withHell’s Serpent. Whenever they set sail, he had to be onboard.
Once the leaning door shut with a gentle tug, Kora exhaled, forcing the stench of disinfectant and herbs from her nose. Gods, it smelled awful. Like lavender soaked in lethal levels of grog and left in the sun to rot.
She sat on a small, cracked stool by Blake’s narrow cot. A candle burned brightly beside the bed, black wax dripping down into a plain brass holder. Unsurprisingly, the whole room was the same ebony colour as the rest ofHell’s Serpent, and Blake eerily blended into the darkness.
His raven hair hung limp in his ashen face, and a bandage covered his abdomen, rising and falling with strained, shallow breaths. The wound on his arm was stark against his paled skin. Koji had pulled back the white sheets down to his waist, and the scent of disinfectant was so strong, Kora’s eyes watered.
“I think he’s addicted to that salve,” Blake mused, his voice weak as his eyes fluttered open.
“Oh!” Her watering eyes threatened to spill into tears, and she wiped her face before clutching his clammy hand. He squeezed her fingers. As their flesh touched, all her doubts about him faded away, her faith in him solidifying within her heart.
“I was so worried!” Kora’s pulse fluttered at his emerald gleam.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” he joked, wincing as he shifted in the bed.
“Blake . . . I thought you’d died,” she whispered, barely able to sound the words out. A world without him was unimaginable. His eyes softened, and he gently reached up to stroke her hair.
“Hey,” he soothed as Kora’s lip trembled. “You will never lose me,asterya.I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, and beyond.”
