Page 18 of Ship of Shadows
His eyes closed for a brief second as he swallowed—he must’ve been in immense pain. He breathed out slowly, thencracked his neck and opened his eyes. We were close enough that I could see the yellow flecks in that dark brown, and I remembered the way the colors of his eyes would shift in the morning light. How I’d wake up and roll my naked body on top of him, staring into his eyes, watching them change to a brighter color that reminded me of the leaves in Elwen when colder weather blew in.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this, love.” He shot me a wicked grin.
My mother stiffened beside me, and I glared at him.
“You will address my daughter as Your Majesty,” my mother said, voice hard and cold.
“Oh, but I like ‘love’ so much better.”
“Can you control him?” my mother whispered to me.
I wanted to dive into the ocean and let it swallow me whole. This man had no shame. Something I used to love about him, but in this moment, it made me want to throttle him.
“It’s time,” said the priestess, business as usual.
All the feeling left my body, and I inhaled a shaky breath while Bastian looked like he was out for a stroll along the beach. Maybe the sickness had addled his mind more than I’d realized. Last night, he’d made it sound like he had short spells where he was confused, but maybe he was confused all of the time. Like right now. When the idiot was smiling and calling me “love” like he wasn’t about to get drowned in the sea. The very sea that he feared.
Leoni shoved Bastian forward, and I could smell that familiar scent of sea and sandalwood that he carried wherever he went, could practically taste the sea salt on his skin. I curled my fingers into my palms, summoning my magic. In just a few short seconds, the sea would rise and snatch Bastian away, pulling him to its depths and keeping him there for eternity.
I could do this. I had to do this. I stuck out an arm over the water. Slowly, I lifted my arm, commanding a tall wave to rise over us. I imagined what I wanted it to do, and it formed into a hand. A few in the crowd gasped, probably those from other courts who had never seen an execution done in the water court. Many of my people might never have seen something like this either. All the courts agreed we would do our best to only use our magic for good, never to kill or injure unless it was absolutely necessary. We didn’t do executions very often, hadn’t needed to since everyone in Arathia was so obsessed with keeping the peace, so afraid of the spirits and their wrath should we misuse the powers they granted us.
Bastian leaned over and whispered, “Meet me at the northern shore, at our place.”
So I was right. He was out of his mind. Maybe it was better this way.
I closed my hand into a fist, and the water dipped down and grabbed Bastian. His cocky smile faltered, eyes flashing with stark fear as it yanked him from the dock and straight into the sea. And just like that, he was gone. I used all of my strength to keep myself from crumpling.
My mother’s shoulders slumped in relief while the crowd broke out in a cheer.
I was going to be sick. I stared in shock, but Bastian had already disappeared from view through the clear waters; the only evidence that he was ever here were the little bubbles popping up on the ocean’s surface.
“Well, I’m glad we took care of that,” my mother said, voice brisk, like we’d just checked something off our to-do list. “We can carry on with your coronation later today and pretend like this entire incident never happened.”
I was so tired of sweeping things away. It felt like that was everyone’s plan on this spirits-damned continent. Smile andpretend everything was okay, and then it might be. Except that’s not how it worked. It wasn’t living in reality. Maybe if we’d reached out to the other courts sooner, they might have helped us get our boys back. Get Mal and Lochlan back. Maybe my father never would have left if we’d just asked for help.
Thoughts bounced through my mind, so scattered after what I’d just done.
Everyone began heading back toward the castle, shuffling in the sand and kicking it up behind them as they moved toward the stairs that shot up through the rocks.
The priestess strode away, and my mother stopped by my side and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You did good, daughter. Now we can put the past behind us and look toward the future.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes from the water, from where Bastian’s head had sunk below the surface. It didn’t make sense how much I loathed him for what he’d done yet how much I was already grieving the loss of him. I hated these warring emotions inside of me. My mother’s hand slipped away and the dock creaked as she walked back toward the castle.
“Princess Gabrielle?” a voice said, but it felt far away, distant.
The water was so still now. He was really gone.
“Is she okay?” another voice said.
“Does it look like she’s okay?” the first voice snapped.
I peered closer to the water, walking to the edge of the dock.
“Well, you’re snappy.”
“And you’re annoying. Who are you, by the way?”
Did I see something down there? A flash of black hair, pale skin?
