Page 55 of The Eye of the Fifth
Painfully reminiscent of the conversations she used to have with Rosary, Kyra said, ‘You’re making stealing sound heroic.’
He looked at her very seriously then, all traces of humour gone. ‘It is, but we don’t do it for the title of hero. We do it because the only island of Loros the king actually gives a fuck about is Blythtrie. The other six are barely surviving but do you think he cares? Of course not. Not as long as trade between them and the capital remains strong. So we let them tear each other apart for the useless, pretty trinkets we steal and as long as they pay well for them, we don’t care.’
Despite her teasing, Kyra had to admit it was admirable. A defiance of a corrupt system.
‘You won’t really stay out here tonight, will you? The cold is bitter,’ he said with a well-timed shiver as he sat up, then nodded at the fursthe young sailor had given her. ‘Even with Jak’s blanket you might freeze to death.’
She sighed, staring up at the comfort of the stars. ‘There are worse ways to die.’
Kawai laughed softly then shook his head. ‘A tad morbid but you could be right. In any case, there are er… parts of me freezing that I don’t want to lose to frostbite. But I won’t take the cabin back. It’s yours when you’re ready.’
Under the twinkling sky above, and the light of the waning moon, she looked at him. At the kindness shining through his eyes that she hoped was pure. Humbled, she said, ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome. Enjoy my bed. See you in the morning,’ he said with a toothy grin before standing, ruffling his hair again and stretching with a wide yawn. Then, with a mischievous glint in his eye, he added, ‘Earth Warden.’
Kyra forced herself to keep his gaze in an attempt to hide her shock.
‘Lucky guess,’ he said with yetanotherwink, then turned away, leaving her lying there a little dumbfounded.
An hour or so later, Kyra begrudgingly pulled the blanket from her body and stood, stuffing it into a ball in her arms to retire to the cabin. Kawai had been right; it was far too cold to stay out on deck. He’d been right about a lot of things, it seemed.
She hoped her silence may have been enough to sway him from hislucky guess.
Nodding to the sailor at the helm, a shy man in his thirties, she made her way across the ship, ready to succumb to the stifling cabin, when a dark figure sat hunched over in the doorway. ‘Kawai?’ she said instinctively.
He stirred, slowly looking up. It was not Kawai.
It wasn’t even a man.
He was fae.
The flickering torchlight illuminated his angular face, bloodied and bruised and framed by waving onyx shoulder length hair, his pointed ears just poking through. Even with the purplish colouring of battered skin on his face, he was beautiful. Besides her own brother, Kyra had never seen another fae male before. This one, even beaten as he was,had been forged by death. Power emanated from every inch of his chiselled form. She dreaded to think how much blood had been spilt by those mighty, ring adorned hands.
He looked right at her with eyes of such unfathomless black, they pierced her soul. Two circular oceans of pure darkness.
Something triggered in her memory, and her gaze subconsciously drifted to his crotch, then snapped back to his face.
She’d seen him once before, but the memory of his naked body made no sense.
‘Earth Warden,’ he said with a slight incline of his head. He gave a dark chuckle. ‘It appears our fates have reversed.’
‘Who are you?’ she demanded, heartbeat quickening. He knew who she was. So much for keeping a low profile. That wastwicein one night.
Should she alert someone to the intrusion? Did Damar know he had a fae stowaway on his ship? Or was he the captain’s prisoner?
But the stranger didn’t answer. The smallest of demure smiles pulled on his lips, and then he was gone.
Disappeared into nothing.
Chapter Sixteen
Darkness Will Prevail
???
Dracyg Dominion, Zarynth.
Gedeon.
