I raised an eyebrow at her. “The ocean?”
She nodded. “It’s too big, too vast. Too much unknown both out there and down there.” She pointed to the horizon, then to the waves. “So much undrinkable water. And I don’t know how to swim.”
Patting her arm, I smiled. “Don’t worry. We had big glacial lakes around my home. I can swim well enough to save us both.”I lowered my voice to whisper, “And if that doesn’t work, Vox will fish us out.”
“Relying on the Heir to the First Line to save me is not as reassuring as you think it is.”
I gave her an understanding nod. My Vox was the man who loved the stars and me in equal measures, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a reputation of his own. I couldn’t blame Acacia for being wary, when she’d never seen the softer side of him.
Someone from the Eleventh Line threw up over the side of the ship’s rail, and Acacia sighed. “It’s fortunate I brought a supply of ginger tablets.” She strode off toward them, already fishing the tablets from a pouch she had fastened around her waist.
Hayle slid up beside me, wrapping his big body around mine. He kissed behind my ear, and I could hear Ephily making a gagging noise.
Glaring over at her, I was going to say something, but Acacia beat me to it. “Do you need a ginger tablet, Ephily? Or perhaps some kind of lubricant to pull your head out of your ass?”
I snorted out a laugh, and Ephily hissed, “Shut your fucking mouth, dirt dweller, and remember your place. Just becausesomeof us have decided to slum it”—her eyes slid to Hayle—“doesn’t mean you get to talk back.”
Hayle’s warning growl made all the hairs on my arms stand up. “You better rememberyourplace, Ephily Ingmire, before I remind you in a way you won’t find pleasant.” His voice was rough and dark, sounding far more beast than man in that moment.
I stepped further into his body, a reassurance to him that I was okay, and also because I liked to bask in his strength when he was like this. Something inside knew that nothing could hurt me when I was in Hayle’s arms.
Lierick came to stand beside us, his arms resting lazily on the deck rail too. “Ephily wasn’t so picky about slumming it when she offered to blow me behind the training ring yesterday,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, despite the wind blowing off the waves and the pretense he was speaking only to me and Hayle. “I told her that I didn’t fuck desperate.”
Soft laughter spread around the boat, and Ephily’s cheeks went bright red. She made a choked little noise, then turned and fled below deck. I kind of felt bad, despite the fact she deserved it.
“How much longer are we stuck on this boat?” I asked.
Lierick gave me a soft look. “Another hour or so. We’re almost there. In a few minutes, you should be able to see West Ebrus in the distance.”
His arms tightening around my waist, Hayle looked over my head at Lierick. “You seem to know a lot about the seafaring around Boemouthe for someone who’s never been here before.” He kept his words low and light.
Lierick just looked out into the expanse of blue. “Who said I’d never been here before?”
Had the Second Line just been sailing around, bending minds and hiding in plain sight for longer than we could’ve ever thought?
Silence settled over us, and I stared at the horizon until I saw land once more. I was ready to be back on solid ground.
Fourteen
Lierick
Despite what I’d insinuated to Hayle, I’d never actually stepped foot in Eaglehoth, or on dry land in any part of West Ebrus. Every time we interacted with a crowd, there was a chance of being noticed, of raising suspicion, so our scouts tended to stick to the Alutian Sea, and our spies were embedded in the populated cities.
Eaglehoth was not what I was expecting. Unlike my home in Ozryn, it was small, almost built into the forest itself. Although I could count at least six lookout towers hidden in the trees, the people seemed happy and friendly. The houses were all small, single-story stone buildings, craggy but with a vegetable garden in front of each one, and from what I saw, not one had the same crop as its neighbor.
Vox eyed the town with a neutral expression, and now he’d found atalthat protected against my abilities, I wasn’t even able to dive into his mind to find out what he was thinking.
Was he disgusted by the modesty of Eaglehoth? The streets were only compacted dirt, rather than cobblestones, and there were no marble buildings that reached into the skies. If he found the place distasteful, you’d never know it by his face.
On the other hand, Avalon was ridiculously easy to read, even without my abilities. Her eyes were wide and filled with awe as she took in the flocks of miniature eagles—which Eaglehoth derived its name from—flying overhead, while the rows of wooden carts selling wares in the town square filled our surroundings with colors and scents. The smells of cooking meats, curing fish, and hearty stews permeated the air, and pieces of silk flapped in the sea breeze on long pieces of string strung between two poles.
Eaglehoth had managed to muster quite the faire in the short amount of time between Hayle’s grand idea and today. I was impressed. There must have been a hundred or more people milling around the square, and the atmosphere was jovial.
A pang of homesickness settled in my chest. I missed my family, my people, and the cold weather. It was sweatier than the back side of my balls after riding all day down here.
Iker groaned. “How do people survive when it’s this… moist all the time?”
Laughing, I slapped him on the back. Proxius had allowed him to accompany the Boellium War College conscripts—to make sure none of us absconded, I guess. Proxius had also come, but I had a feeling he’d be doing far more reconnaissance and ass-kissing than corralling conscripts.
