Page 63 of A Storm in Every Heart
“No,” Jett corrects. “I mean skin and hair colors. Did they look like me?” He gestures at his own dark hair and golden skin. “Or darker like Kastian?”
The soldier shakes his head. “Mostly white with brown or blonde hair. Without the Solistinian clothing, I would have assumed they were from Vernallis.”
“Not from Thermia?” I clarify. “Their population is mostly fair-haired and pale too.”
He shakes his head. “No, Thermians are usually tall. These men were average.”
Jett and I exchange glances. He shakes his head, clearly not understanding this any more than I do.
At the moment, I don’t really care who these pirates were, just where they are and if they have Odessa.
Obviously thinking along the same lines, Jett bends down to the soldier’s eye level. “Did you see Lady Odessa?”
He nods. “She gave me her horse. The emissary from Hydratta was with her.”
“He’s dead,” I grunt.
The soldier looks alarmed. “I didn’t see her after that. I think I got knocked out.”
I let out a breath. He clearly lost consciousness and probably only survived because whoever hit him thought he was dead.
Jett stands straight again and catches my gaze, jerking his head to the side like he wants to talk privately. We walk a few feet from the man and drop our voices so he can’t hear.
“I think he’s confused,” I growl.
“Me too,” Jett agrees, “I think it’s odd that he would think they were from Solistine based on their clothes, unless it was really obvious. It’s not like the entire kingdomdresses exclusively in yellow and orange. That sounds almost intentional.”
I nod and have to swallow a growl of frustration. I agree with him, but that brings us no closer to finding Odessa.
“Let’s assume for a minute that they took her,” Jett muses.
The growl I’ve been holding back bubbles up from my throat, and Jett looks at me with alarm. “Easy. I’m just saying, let’s assume for a minute that this was all about kidnapping Odessa, and that’s why the emissary was dead but her compartment wasn’t ransacked.”
Deep breath in…
Deep breath out…
I force myself to remain calm enough to speak. “I just said the other day that she’s at risk of abduction. If I were going to try to get Daemon to pay a ransom, I’d choose Odessa.”
“Not Alix?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, because then he’d fucking murder whoever did it and anyone else in a ten-mile radius. If they kidnapped Odessa, then he’d still do everything possible to get her back, but there’s a slight chance the kidnappers would survive.”
A very,veryslight chance.
Practically none at all, because I would fucking kill them myself.
“Agreed,” Jett says thoughtfully. “I think we should go to the harbor. It’s the only lead that makes sense, and if that soldier heard them talking about getting back on a ship.”
I nod tightly. I don’t feel good about the plan, but I don’t think I’ll feel good about anything until I know exactly where Odessa is. At least this plan feels like doing something. If I don’t do something soon, I’m going to explode.
“Our horses are over there,” I say, walking back over to the soldier. “Can you ride?”
The man looks up at me and tries to sit up straighter. “Give me a minute, but yeah, probably.”
“Take the horses and go back to the estate. Tell Daemon what happened.”
“Kas, we need the horses if we’re going to get to the harbor,” Jett says.
