Page 10 of Whispers Beneath the Deep
I took out a needle, threading it, and bent over to pinch his separated pieces of flesh. He jumped, as if my hands tickled him rather than hurt him. I didn’t look up, though. I paid attention to my task, sticking the needle through his skin and I began to sew.
We sat like that in the silence for a moment. I worked methodically to make sure I did it right. When I pressed my fingers to the flesh above the wound and pulled the string back, Elias took in a sharp breath.
Finally, he asked in a quiet voice that I felt deep in my bones, “Where did you learn to do this?”
I didn’t look up from my task. “I’ve had my fair share of scrapes and bruises.” Working at Tides’ Tavern, and near gator breeding grounds resulted in quite a few accidents all around. Plus, through a delirium of pain, I watched the seamstress sew up my own side after my attack. But he didn’t need to know that. We weren’t friends. “And I’ve had to mend and tailor a lot of my own clothing when money was tight.” I almost regretted the words as soon as they came out of my mouth, but shook it off. He already knew the truth about me. Saying this was nothing, besides, sometimes it felt nice to pull that mask off. Even if it was with this criminal who was blackmailing me.
I felt the light touch his fingers against the floating tresses of my hair. I tensed, and then he pushed them back, dropping his hand.
“You’re amazing, little fish. You know that, right?”
My face heated despite myself. “I’m nothing special,” I dismissed.
“It takes a special person to disguise themselves as a stuck up princess for weeks. Though, I still don’t quite understandwhyyou’re doing it.”
I bit my lip. Released it. “Don’t worry about it.”
It was like he didn’t even hear me. “The real princess is either truly sick or gone, that much is quite clear. But what’s in it foryou?”
I bit my tongue and kept sewing. He was baiting me. I knew it. And I wouldn’t fall prey to him. I wouldn’t spill my secrets, giving him more information to blackmail me with. Did he think I wascompletelydaft?
“Did they offer you jewels? Money? Or do you like pretending to be royalty? Maybe you just want an excuse to kiss a pretty prince—ssssttt.” He winced when I stuck the needle hard into his skin. I didn’t like what he was implying. That I was just as shallow as the princess. That’d I’d jump at the chance to be someone else, to live in finery, to be the center of attention.
The truth was, I hated it.
“Sorry,” I whispered, my throat tight with an emotion akin to anger. “I slipped.”
I was sure he glared at me, but I didn’t reply. I resumed my task with faster fingers. The quicker I got through this, the sooner he could leave, go back to pretending to be Princess Odele, and suffer the consequences of my actions today.
When I finished sewing his wound, I sat back and placed the needle and thread into the little shell. I set it aside and stuffed the now-corked bottle of sea wine into the silt.
“Well,” I began. “I suppose you’ll be on your way now...”
Elias chuckled unkindly, and I knew that there was no chance he’d be leaving now. “I think not,” he said. “The whole kingdom is looking for me. And if you haven’t noticed, I’m vulnerable.” He gestured at his wound. “No, I think I’ll stay here for a while.”
Just like that, the one sacred space I had, the one place where I could irrevocably be myself and hide away from the watchful eye of courtiers was snatched from me. “Y—you can’t!” I protested.
He raised a dark, slender eyebrow. “I think I can. You forget I have vital information that could determine your future. What do you think the kingdom will do to an imposter princess? Do you think they’ll be lenient with you? Perhaps they’ll do to you what is done to selects.”
His words had me seeing blood. The swing of an axe. A head rolling. Not Christof’s this time, not one of my friend’s from Lagoona, but mine.
“I thought so.”
I glared at him and his luxuriating way of lying there on the couch. “You’re such a tadpole!” I cursed him.
He smirked. “I never claimed otherwise.”
I scoffed and got up from my seat. It was time I left here. Being in his presence just made my fins stand on edge. I started to turn away, but felt his hand suddenly tighten on my upper arm.
I tensed.
“Wait…” he said quietly.
Turning, I narrowed my eyes at him only to find him wearing a startling expression. He was looking at me with softer eyes, and I wondered if that was a tinge of regret there or maybe it was something deeper. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced with a reticent curve of his lips. Perhaps I’d just mistaken the look for something it wasn’t. For what I wished I could have seen.
“You have to know, little fish, I never would have hurt you.”
I wanted to close my eyes against those words because they were exactly what I needed to hear to forgive him. But words, I’d learned, meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Actions always spoke louder and so far, his had given me insight as to who he really was. Even if a part of me wanted to grab that version of an apology and keep it close. Even if I wanted to smile like I had just the day before. “You certainly fooled me.”
