Chapter 18

Acker snaps the fishing line with his teeth as he continues to set the hooks at the end of the fishing rods. We took turns keeping watch last night. First him, then me, and he woke up hungry. We're both thirsty, but neither of us voice it, knowing it's wasted breath.

The fishing gear is meant for smaller prey on the reefs east and south of Alaha, but that also feels like a needless fact to point out. They're what we have, and we'll catch what we can.

Hopefully.

There's not much wind today, so it's slow going. I keep checking the compass and adjusting the tiller, but it's never by much. I can't stop my eyes from going back to Acker. His arms and chest are on full display, shirt hanging from the boom and drying after an attempt to scrub the putrid blood from it. My eyes track his hands and fingers as they tie a knot. I blame it on sheer boredom and the lack of anything else to stare at.

"Who taught you to fish?"

He bites off the line with an audible snicking of teeth. "My best friend, Hallis, mostly. We'd fish any time we traveled with the army. Freshwater fish. Streams, lakes. Stuff like that."

I realize I know so little about him when he seems to know everything about me. "Is he the friend you followed when he joined? "

"Yeah." He smiles up at me. "Much to my father's dismay."

This garners my interest. "I figured most noblemen would be proud to know their sons wanted to serve."

"He'd have preferred I spent my teenage years under his wing, gaining political notoriety with the court."

"And your mom?"

He furrows his brow, struggling to get the reel to set on the pole just right. "She died when I was twelve."

"I'm sorry."

He shakes his head, letting me know my apology is unneeded. "My sister mothers me plenty."

I pretend there's something more interesting to look at on the horizon. "And your match?"

"My match?" he repeats, glancing up at me before continuing the task of winding up a reel.

"Yeah. You said they're rare. What's she like?"

"Well," he says, shaking his head with a smile, "she's… stunning ." The way he says it makes it undeniable, like he means it with every fiber of his being.

I can't control my eye roll. "Yeah, I got that with the details about her eyes. Tell me about her . What's she like? What does she do?"

He scratches his chin, about to speak when he notices something over my shoulder, eyes growing round at what he sees. I hear the flapping of wings before I turn in time to see a midnight blue bird land on the stern of the boat.

He squawks, and I gasp, a smile overtaking my face. "How did you find me?"

As soon as the question is out of my mouth, Acker is pulling me back with an arm around my waist.

"Hey!" I kick my feet in protest. "What are you doing?"

He pulls me as far as he can from the bird and shields my body with his, reaching for his dagger. Having seen how lightning fast his reflexes are, I do the only thing I can think of…

I tackle him.

He lands on the deck with an audible oof . "What are you doing?"

"I don't care how hungry you are," I yell. "You're not eating my bird!"

"What?" He looks over his shoulder, not quite meeting my eyes from his position on his stomach. "I'm not going to eat it. I want to kill it."

"So you can eat it!" I keep my body weight securely on his back.

"It's more likely to eat me ."

"You—what?" I look up at the bird, and he's watching us, head tilted to the side with a sense of keen understanding. He scratches his head with a tiny talon, leaving a single feather askew.

Acker groans underneath me. "You do realize I could easily overpower you if I wanted to, right?"

"Promise you won't kill my bird?"

We both watch as the bird spots a wood ant by its feet. He pecks at it, chasing it along the edge of the hull.

Acker rolls his eyes with a groan. "I promise."

I'm slow to rise, and Acker is just as cautious, eyes trained on the bird as it hops across the side of the boat.

"Calm down. He's harmless." I step around him and hold out my hand for the bird to hop onto my wrist. He tucks his head in and rubs it in my palm, begging for scratches.

Acker shifts closer, taking only the tiniest of steps. " And how, may I ask, did you gain an eyun as a pet ?" he says, like the term of endearment hurts him to say.

"He flew through my window. Or fell, more like it. His wing was injured, and I nursed him back to health." He flips over my wrist and dangles. "What's an eyun?"

"They're mythological creatures, birds of prey that can devour men whole without leaving a trace. And I've seen more than enough illustrations to know that that …" He points at the bird. "Is an eyun."

"Curious," I say, eyeing the water around the boat. "Sounds an awful lot like the stories of the giant squid we were told in Alaha."

"There are tales of demon creatures that scoured the earth when the Second Sun burned out."

The bird's talons tighten around my wrist, the only warning I have before he takes flight. Acker ducks as he flies over his head to land on top of the mast.

"Grenadine was a hag to him and the bird never tried to eat her."

"I am definitely a more tempting meal than Grenadine," he says, some of his playfulness returning. He takes one last look at the animal before checking the fishing rods. "What's his name?"

"We weren't allowed pets in Alaha, so I never gave him one. I don't even know if he's a he."

Acker looks at me then the bird. "Well, it looks like he's gotten attached to you regardless."

I think about it for a second, marveling at the bird who flew across an ocean to find me. "Blue," I say. "I like the name Blue."

He taps the lines, checking for tension. "Blue it is."

He smirks, about to say something smart no doubt, when one of the rods across from us begins to curve. He rushes to the other side of the boat and jerks the pole out of its holder, reeling in the spool. I reach for the line and tug, excited by the decent-sized pomper fish that breaks the surface of the water.

We work in tandem to get the fish close enough to the boat for me to lift it out of the water and over the side of the hull. It flops at our feet. Acker pinches it by the mouth and removes the hook, holding it up to show it off, his smile stretching from ear to ear.

A loud screech comes from above. Our heads jerk back in perfect time to miss the bird's—Blue's—incoming talons as he snatches the fish from Acker's grasp in one fell swoop. He lands on the stern and, in the span of a few seconds, stretches his beak open to the point of distorting his entire body, fitting the entire fish into his gaping maw before swallowing it whole.

Acker and I stare at each other in shock, mouths hanging open.

I look back at the bird, afraid to take my eyes off of him. "How did it fit all of it in there?"

He shakes his head, as disbelieving as I am. "Magic." We meet eyes again, and Acker points a finger at me. "Keep it away from me." He swings his finger in the bird's direction. "And keep away from my food."

Blue squawks.

I crouch low in front of him. "You must have been hungry after flying all this way."

He stares back, eyes black as obsidian holding mine.

"I'll make you a deal. We'll portion food for you as long as you don't steal our catches." I narrow my eyes at him, hoping we're at a new understanding. "And you can't eat Acker either," I tack on for good measure.

I don't know if it's possible, but I don't want to take any chances.

He clicks his beak in rapid succession, and I'm going to assume that means he's in agreement.