5. Jasper

Chapter five

Jasper

W as I expecting us to be friends after fighting the horrifying cloud monster together? No. Was I hoping she wouldn't immediately try to kill me? Yes…though, I'm not sure why. I just thought that the one moment of cooperation could continue, that maybe she wouldn't fight me or ask questions and—

Yeah, that's fucking stupid.

I could just tell her.

But why would she believe me? And then if she did, what if she fucked everything up? What if she tipped him off as soon as we arrive? No, I can't risk it. It's just a few weeks—fuck, probably six weeks, if we survive the next few days. I have to get her to realize that sticking with me is better for her than being on her own. That I'll take care of her.

I look down at Reina nestled against my side and all kinds of strange ideas swim through my thoughts. Like how sweet she looks while sleeping, or that she smells divine, even after days in the slavers' hold.

I wish I didn't have to do this to her.

The best I can do is try to make things easy on us until it's done. And then the princess will likely spend the rest of her days hunting me down for revenge. I wouldn't blame her.

I kneel, letting Reina rest against my legs as I touch the earth. I dig under the fallen leaves until I reach moist dirt. Either it rained recently, or there's fresh water around here somewhere.

We could stop and stay here. The fruit trees around us are plentiful, and coconut water would provide good hydration, but the princess needs to be able to bathe. She's been through a lot, and the least I can do is find her somewhere clean to wash off. I stand and carry on.

Reina jostles in my arms as I walk, and she mumbles something. I stop for a moment and listen, waiting for her to speak again. The rush of the crashing surf echoes distantly over the treetops, and night bugs sing their songs. It would be a beautiful night if not for the throbbing in my recently healed cheek and the little hell-maker clutched in my grasp.

"Can't 'ave me," she grumbles, her eyes winced shut.

She's having nightmares about me. Wonderful.

I sigh and trudge on. Fresh water won't find itself and we're both going to need it soon. There's a lot to be done if we're going to get off this tiny speck of an island and find a new ship. The palm trees grow larger the farther I walk, and more ground foliage gives the promise of richer, volcanic soil.

This island wouldn't be a bad spot.

Maybe when they're free—

"Lees." Reina shifts in my arms.

"I have you. I'm not going to hurt you," I whisper, wondering if she's pleading for me to let her go in her dreams.

"Alyse," Reina groans, and I look down in shock.

Not a plea for herself, but for her sister.

Her lashes sparkle and her bottom lip trembles. A tear carves across her tanned cheek and slips into her golden hair. Bloody memories return to me of the night I took Reina. The third princess was beyond help. With the dragon attack, there's no doubt in my mind she's dead.

"You're safe," I whisper, walking on. "Dream not of the past, princess. It can only bring you pain."

The trees grow denser, and I know I'm getting closer to the water source. Maybe I'm close enough. I drop to one knee and balance Reina against my legs again as I touch the earth. My selkie magic surges through the ground and returns to me in an instant.

Close.

Left.

I grab Reina and turn left. The foliage is so thick I feel like I'm wading through seaweed, but finally, I hear the trickling of water. In my excitement, I don't notice the downward slope of the ground until it's too late.

My boots slip on the mud and I hit the ground hard, my tailbone throbbing. No time to worry about my tailbone, because we're sliding down the side of a hill.

Reina screams.

I scream.

The mud and moss-slick stones give us no purchase as we continue the downward slide toward an open precipice.

"Hold onto me!" I yell, releasing her with one arm so I can do something to slow our descent. I snag flowers and leaves, but nothing will hold our weight. Everything growing on the rocks is weak, the roots not deep enough to stop us.

Reina's legs fall out of my lap and she digs them into the ground, only to retract them a second later with a pained yelp. She loops an arm under her knees to hold her legs up and I spot the gash on her heel. The rocks below the moss are sharp, but the moss itself is too slick.

The precipice is seconds off, and I can't slow us down. My magic is too low for the octopus shift. Even if I could get Reina's binds off fast enough, there's nothing she could do either. She comes to the same realization a half second after me, and our gazes clash.

I lean back, digging my fingers into the slick, sharp rocks as I work to wedge my heels into any crevice, trying to find anything to slow us. But there's nothing. My feet slip and my fingers bleed. There's no stopping this.

I'd gotten so close…

My heart thunders as the black abyss yawns before us. "Oh, fuck!"

"I hate you so fucking mu—aah!" Reina screams.

The sensation of freefall swells inside me like high tide. We leave the slippery cliff's edge behind and plummet into darkness. My fingers burn, but I can think of nothing else to do but clutch Reina closer, protect her, shield her with my body. This is my fault. She shouldn't be going through this.

My feet slap against the ground, but push through it. We go under, the water rushing in around us. My magic unfurls instantly, and I sense the space. It's an aquifer. A collection of rainwater that's drained down here over centuries.

Water! I laugh.

Not rocks. Not death.

Fresh water.

Reina's muffled scream draws me from my excitement. I kick off the bottom and swim to the surface.

She gasps deeply when we breach and then begins to thrash. "Let go!"

There's no way she could swim with her hands bound. "You'll drown—"

"NOW!"

I push her out of my arms and watch as she barely treads water. The copper chains are too heavy, preventing her from making the broader strokes she would need to escape—not that she can see the shore in this darkness.

I allow my legs to return to their natural shape and sigh as my body half-shifts. It would be easy to swim closer to her with my fin, but I keep my distance, even though she's not going to make it.

To the right there's a cave that goes under the island. The water follows this path, too, all the way to the sea. Our route out of here, if I can get her moving in the right direction.

Reina curses, spitting up water while she flails.

"Let me help you," I say, inching closer.

"I'd rather die," she snaps.

She uses both hands at the same time to paddle toward the wall, kicking her legs in tandem. She's still barely keeping her head above water. There's nothing for her at the wall. It's covered in slick moss and will offer no holds.

Her head goes under and she thrashes back up only to spit water and gasp.

"You're going to drown, you daft woman," I say, swimming beside her with ease.

"Fuck you," she gurgles.

She reaches the wall and it's as I predicted; it's slick and gives her no purchase.

Her head goes under and she doesn't come back up.

"Nol'Ther help me," I mutter, then dive after her.

She tries to punch me in the face when I get close. Luckily for me, she hasn't done a lot of underwater combat and is far too slow. I loop her arms over my head, holding the chains at my neck, and then swim back to the surface.

"Get off me!" she says with her remaining air when we breach.

" You're on me ," I say, matter-of-factly.

She growls like an animal and wriggles, trying to free her arms to no avail. Her feet bump my tail and suddenly she stills.

Her eyes go wide and she looks down.

"Selkie," she says in quiet reverence.

I hum in confirmation.

Her wide eyes draw back to my face and she whispers, "You're a selkie."

"I am."

She looks down at my tail again, her feet gently rubbing against my soft pelt and hard plates. "Wow…"

"If I'd known it'd be this easy to pacify you, I would've shifted ages ago."

The wonder in her eyes goes hard and cold like the snap of a winter frost. "Why did you steal me?"

"The money," I say. "Do you know how much someone would pay for a powerful princess like you? A wealthy man could become a king."

Her jaw works. "I realize I've only been at court for nineteen years, but you do me a great disservice by thinking I can't spot a lie."

My pulse spikes, but I hide it with a quirk of my brow. "And growing up in the cradle of wealth, you can't possibly imagine what a bounty like you could earn me, or why I'm so willing to take you."

She holds my gaze for a painfully long moment, her blue eyes spearing into mine like tridents. Finally, she lifts her chin, her nostrils flaring. "Are you going to take me to safety then, since you need the money so much?"

My magic surges out from the tip of my tail and a perfect map of the space returns to me, illuminating in my mind's eye. I swish through the water with ease and bring her to the beach under the covering of a volcanic cave. The moss and fungi glow here, creating an enchanting setting. If Reina didn't hate me, this might be romantic.

I shift back to my legs as I carry her to shore.

"Let me down," she demands when we get to the shallows.

I release her chain and she pulls her arms back, then flails out of my grasp and struggles up toward the rocky land. She scoops up handfuls of water as she goes, drinking and washing her face. I don't know what's in this water, and while my gut could probably handle it, I doubt a sheltered princess's could.

"You might get sick—"

"Oh, fuck off," she says, then takes another deep drink.

"Such a mouth on you. Did your mother teach you that?" I ask.

Reina glares at me. "No."

"Then where did you learn to curse like a sailor?"

"None of your concern," she says, then drinks again.

"Your rebellion?" I ask.

She gurgles some curse at me through her mouthful of water. She was truly dehydrated on that ship. I should've checked on her more frequently. I should've kept her with me. Fucking pirate captain and his squid ink rules.

I take a drink from my cupped hands and her eyes snag on my lips—no, my fingers. Her jaw flexes as she schools her expression into something uncaring. "Can you heal?"

My gaze drops to my digits and I suddenly feel the grizzly sight that meets me. Pain surges up my hands to my elbows from my ruined fingers. The flesh is shredded from our panicked descent.

I hiss in a breath and reach for my well of magic, but it's completely drained. I used the last of it on shifting between my half-selkie and man forms.

"You can't," she says.

I can, but I don't need her knowing otherwise.

She holds her wrists out. "Release my binds and I'll heal you."

I scoff. "You think I'm stupid?"

"Yes," she says, taking a seat on a nearby rock. "I think you'd be stupid trying to go on with your fingers like that."

"I'd be stupid to let you out of your bonds. I know your magic, princess." At least some of it. She can create fire, and heat. I don't want to get burned.

She lifts her chin. "I'm not going to kill you."

I laugh. "Right! And the gods have a palace for me in the afterlife."

Her lips purse in frustration and she looks away. Heavy breaths pant through her nose and she crosses her bound arms. "I can't kill you because then I'll die too," she says, quietly. "And I very much need to live."

"You don't think someone will come looking for you?" I ask, more sarcasm that I intend coming out in my tone.

Her head snaps toward me and she shoots to her feet. "Yes, someone will. And if she finds me, all could be lost."

"So dramatic," I huff.

"Fuck you and your quest for money! I have something real to live for." She clenches her fists and blue fire crawls beneath her skin. "And unfortunately, I haven't been trained for anything except how to be a good, obedient princess.

"How to sit up straight, keep my body beautiful, have good manners at the table, write and speak eloquent Fynish, but nothing of any use . I don't know how to navigate the seas, how to forage or fish, find fresh water, or barter, nor do I have anything to barter with," she exclaims, gesturing to her threadbare clothing.

Her gaze goes hard again. "Where are my clothes and things?"

"If I tried to smuggle you in all your finery, someone would've surely questioned me, or tried to steal you for themselves," I say.

Blood swells in her cheeks and colors the tips of her ears. "You changed my clothes."

It's not a question, so I don't answer.

"Did you violate me?"

"I may be a thief, but I am not a rapist," I say, then scoff. "You're not even my type."

She's quiet for a long time.

"Yes, I changed your clothes. No, I did not look at you or touch you inappropriately while I did."

She sighs, some of it sounding like relief, but mostly annoyance. "Take off my binds so I can heal you."

"No." I bite the corner of my shirt and rip a strip off. The meat of my fingers is visible through the tears in my flesh in some areas. Blood slips down my arm and drips off my elbow. It's a grisly sight.

"I'm incapable of surviving this ordeal alone. I can't even swim," she admits in frustration.

"I noticed."

"Oh, fuck off," she snaps.

I try to clean some of the grit from my wounds in the water. "Despite your lack of real world knowledge, I think you'll still try your chances alone. The binds stay on."

The princess huffs again, and blue pulses beneath her skin, illuminating more of the shallow cave. "I can't read Illyan, or Wolish, or Seterian. I can't speak more than common phrases in any language other than Fynish."

"I don't think it'll stop you from learning." Pain splits up my hand as I wrap my fingers in the less-than-ideal bandage.

"You're not listening to me." She paces, her skin pulsing even brighter. "I don't know how to make a trap, or wield a sword, or even a dagger for that matter! I can't ride a horse or draw a bow. I can't kill you here because I'll be stranded, and the queen will find me. I'm sure we're not far from the wreck."

"We're not," I say.

"See! If I'm going to kill you, it'll be when we get to a reasonably sized settlement."

"That makes me feel warm fuzzies, princess. The answer is still no."

Reina closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She stays that way for many moments as I wrap my hand. Her skin glows a stark, royal blue as her eyes snap open.

"She did this on purpose," she utters.

"Did what on purpose?" I entertain with the question.

Her breaths are coming in shallow pants now, and the blue pulsing beneath her skin grows brighter. "She made me fucking helpless !" She kicks the water, punctuating each word as heat radiates off her body in waves.

"My right cheekbone disagrees," I say, touching the still-tender spot she hit with surprising accuracy for such an unlikely weapon.

"You're so…" She puffs up her chest as she considers her words. It's unbelievably adorable how she tries to make herself look bigger to me, like an octopus warding off a competitor by inflating.

My lip twitches. "So what?"

"So…" She sucks in a deep breath, her skin glowing such a bright blue she competes with the luminescent algae.

I grin. "Where's that eloquent Fynish now, princess?"

She glares at me, the fire under her skin radiating brilliantly in the enclosed space. The water reflects her light against the ceiling and turns the cave walls into rippling oceans of blue light.

It's incredible.

Suddenly, Reina yelps in pain and drops to her hands and knees.

I scowl. "Stop with the theatrics before you explode."

"I can't," she whines as steam lifts from her clothes. An ashy blossom ripples out in a circle on her cheek, making her wince.

Fuck.

She's burning herself from the inside…