Page 93 of Storms of Allegiance

It took all my self-control to fight my desire to spend the rest of the afternoon and all the next day at Nik’s side. But I had to stay up on deck, visible to Grey in case he came looking for me. I couldn’t risk his discovering Nik at this point.

If I found it hard to leave, Nik found it even harder to let me go. But even he acknowledged the danger.

“He’s sure of me, ridiculously sure.” I shook my head. “But I still can’t take the risk.”

“He underestimates you.”

“He must.” My words grew more heated. “But does he really think I’m so stupid that he can tell me about mesmerizing, and I won’t question everything he’s ever told me? I’ve even been using my wall constantly the last few days.”

I knew Grey did still believe I was mesmerized, though, because he’d already refreshed his original lies several times since we’d come aboard. I’d become almost used to the horrible process. It didn’t matter what he lied to me about. I recognized the feeling of having been mesmerized and knew how to drive his power out of my mind.

“We know where his confidence is coming from now.” Nik sounded disgusted. “But I suppose it’s working to our advantage in this instance. It must be hard to shake a lifetime of certainty that your words will be believed. After all, you’re the first person he’s ever told the truth to. But he isn’t totally foolish. I notice he waited to tell you about mesmerizing until he had you in the middle of the ocean. From his perspective, if his plan goes awry, there’s nowhere for you to run. He’s probably trusting that if you show any signs of rebellion, he can find a way to mesmerize you again.”

I shivered at the thought, even though I knew it was impossible. Now that I knew the feeling, he would never be able to fool me for long.

I still flinched when Grey called my name on the fourth day, however. But I managed to pin a smile in place before I turned around, and I made no protest about returning to his cabin yet again. I had grown to hate the wooden box, but I kept those emotions from my face and considered each word I uttered carefully.

“We’ll arrive at the island not long past dawn tomorrow,” he told me, successfully taking my mind off everything else.

“Already?” I didn’t care how glad I sounded. Sailing wasn’t for me.

He chuckled. “I’m rather anxious to arrive myself. But I need to prepare you before we go ashore.”

“Do you expect trouble when we arrive?” I asked, afraid of how he might want me to get involved.

“No, no,” he assured me with a forced air, although I could read the words were mostly truth. “I just need to give you a warning. It’s different in my case because I’m family, but it might be dangerous if they learn you’re also a powerful healing mage and know how to mesmerize. From what my mother reported, her family are obsessed with strength—to the extent that they don’t even allow any cross-influencing on the island. But all that strength is carefully controlled. To keep you safe, I’m going to tell them you have an elements affinity. But, of course, you won’t be able to use elements power, so it would be best to give them the impression you’re weak.”

I considered his words. “But aren’t they healers themselves? How will you be able to lie about my affinity?”

His lips stretched, revealing his teeth. “Very carefully.”

I wanted to protest, but there was nothing I could think of to say. He had framed his suggestion as keeping me safe, and there had been no hint of a lie about his words of caution. If being a healer would put me in danger from the islanders, then it was in my interest to fall in with Grey’s plan. Especially since I couldn’t let him know I was aware he had a bigger scheme underway.

I would just have to wait and see what request he made of me next.

“Make sure you sleep well tonight.”

He still seemed overly pleased, which made me jumpy. But there was nothing I could do except agree and leave his presence as quickly as possible.

Given the tight confines of the cabin, Phoenix had been sleeping on deck, leaving me alone in my hammock. I wished desperately for his company or for Ember’s warm, furry body curled at my side. Instead I had to make do with the sleeping sounds of women all around me as I lay and wondered what would happen to us all in the morning.

There was no time to sneak down to Nik after I rose. I could only trust his reassurances that he would find his own way off the ship. At least Phoenix was able to join me, taking up his usual perch on my shoulder.

Those of us not involved in guiding the ship gathered together on deck at first light. Already the island was looming before us, larger than I’d imagined and rising to a single, tree covered peak, the dark green a welcome relief from the blue all around us.

Our ship cut smoothly through the still waters, with no sign of rocks at this end of our journey. We approached not a sandy beach as I’d imagined, but a dock that reminded me of the one in Eldrida. A row of buildings lined the waterfront, although there would be no trade ships sailing in and out of this town.

From the look of the small vessels and fishing nets, there were plenty of fishermen, however, which had to explain the existence of the dock. Murmured conversations were taking place all around me, but no one attempted to include me in their exclamations and excited imaginings. Three days shut up with Grey in his cabin working on experiments the rest of them didn’t understand had done nothing to soften the underlying antagonism from the beginning of the trip.

“It’s more beautiful than I imagined,” someone breathed beside me, and I turned gratefully to smile my agreement at Ida. It was nice to be included by someone.

“That tree covered mountain is like a feast for the eyes after nothing but ocean.”

She laughed. “You didn’t take to life onboard, then? Personally, I found the ocean peaceful.” She lapsed into silence, as if remembering the past hurts that made the emptiness of the ocean so appealing in comparison.

I had no time to say anything supportive since various shouts were rising around us. Some came from among us as those with elements power worked together to maneuver the ship to the end of the long dock. But others came from ashore. Despite the early hour, some people were already up and about on the dock, and all of them had stopped to gape at our arrival.

One of the onlookers set off running, disappearing down a street that looked much like the ones I had seen in Ostaria, Caltor, and Eldrida. In fact, from what I could see, only the natural setting distinguished this island settlement from any city or large town in Tartora.

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