Page 32 of Daughter of the Dark Sea
A small smile lifted Kora’s lips, and her head tipped back as the sun set beyond the horizon. She waited until she was met with the dazzling black night. A small laugh escaped her, as the stars twinkled back at her, and she sent a silent prayer to Thanos, and whoever now rested with him.
15
The guards hadn’t bothered shackling Jack to the festering, mouldy walls of Hell’s Pit. He laid on his side, knees clasped to his chest, gormlessly staring at the darkness lingering by the side of his cell with red, tired eyes. Kora studied him. Blood stained the back of his torn white shirt, but there wasn’t a single wound on his freckled back.
Koji the healer had been here. A white bandage encased Jack’s right shoulder, which was no longer hanging limp or disconnected from his lean body. A small platter of bread and dried meat, and a fresh cup of water, had been left for him, along with the lingering scent of disinfectant salve.
Jack’s breaths were slow and shallow, his chest barely moving. Gingery strands fell across his face, which he painstakingly brushed away with a bandaged hand. Blood seeped through the gauze, resulting in a dark, red spot on his palm. Thick, sore welts cuffed his wrists, and she crouched by the iron door of his cell. Luckily, it wasn’t the same rancid one from before.
She placed a large lantern at her side, illuminating more of the pit. Deep scratches marred the walls from previous prisoners, along with short, scored lines, recounting their days captured in the dark abyss.
Gently knocking on the bars of the cell, Kora shifted her weight so that she sat with her legs crossed, scratching her waist to relieve an itch. She’d ordered the guard on duty to have a short break; to mingle with the mourning crowd jovially drinking above.
Jack’s silence was deafening in comparison.
“Jack,” she spoke in hushed tones. “We need to talk.”
He curled tighter into himself.
“Look . . . it’s obvious you were lying before. You know more than you’re letting on about Galen. We arrive at the fortress tomorrow, and after last night, you’ll most likely be hanged.” Kora swallowed. “Speak to me. Tell me what’s going on. I might be able to ensure a better sentence.”
He shuffled an inch further into the darkness.
“Is that what you want? To be hanged? To join Silas in death—”
“Don’t you say his name,” Jack’s voice strained, as if he’d been screaming until his throat turned raw. Slowly, he unfurled with a venomous gaze. “You have no right to say his name.” His eyes were fathomless, and she grimaced at the empty husk of a male before her.
“He attacked Blake and killed Finlay.” The cold captain surged within, consuming her. “You escaped these cells, brutally slaughtered my guards, and hatched a plan to steal from the empire.Silaswould’ve been dead within minutes once his feet touched Aldarian soil.”
The cup of water fizzed, pockets of air bubbling to the surface, and Kora shifted the lantern away from it, suspecting the heat caused it to boil. Her fingers tingled with rage as themassacre replayed in her mind. Raging brown eyes met her cool, calm stare.
“So you thought you’d give him a mercy killing instead?”
“He murdered my friend. It was justice.”
Jack hysterically laughed. “Justice? What justice? That wasn’t justice, it was fuckingrevenge!”
Kora’s blood simmered. There was no wafting breeze down here to cool her temperament, and Hell’s Pit felt as hot as the flames of Finlay’s burning body. Her palms turned clammy as she pushed the thought of Finlay’s lifeless corpse from her mind.
“Justice. For my family . . . for everyone, andeverything.” For everyone she’d lost, and continued to lose to filthy pirates. How dare he insinuate she'd killed him without cause. She’d silenced a murderer, benefitting society with his death.
He frowned. “What—”
“Pirates destroyed my life, and I’ll see to it that every last one ofyouis hunted down.”
Jack stilled, studying her closely with unnerving familiarity. He lingered on the scar peeking through her short hair, and followed the curve round the sculpted smooth planes of her face. She felt exposed and vulnerable, like a raw nerve.
“Is that what they told you?”
Kora avoided looking at his swollen, bruised cheek. An echo of her scar. She’d battered him. Rubbing her fingers together, she collected her thoughts. Jack was trying to divert her, and make her doubt that the empire had saved her . . . whenpirateshad branded her with that malicious scar.Pirateshad shipwrecked her and killed her family, resulting in a child lost in this confusing, degrading world.
“The empire doesn’t lie.” But her voice wavered, uncertainty tainted the edges of her fortified mind.
“You don’t remember,” he observed. “You blindly believe a tyrant.” She bristled at the truth, and her mask clung to herpores, sealing off her emotions. The empire wasn’t tyranny. They were unification, prosperity, and innovation.
The noble houses were richer than ever, raking in profit from the fleet’s voyages. Deals with the continent boosted the economy, allowing imported goods to spread across the land. The empire had devised modern waste systems, creating plumbing, clean drinking water, andwarmbaths.
It wasn’t tyranny, it was thefuture. Yet . . . the lower districts still suffered. Still participated in the trials as their only path to salvation. Kora stole from plunders, spreading thin layers of wealth like a silver blanket over her crew.
