32. Chapter Thirty-Two

Kalia smiled as she reached into the crate of potatoes, chopping each before scooping the pieces into the large pot. Doc was busy stirring. The galley was hot and humid, thanks to the kindling flame and the rising steam that filled the room. She bit her lower lip as she worked, keeping her head down so as not to attract the attention of Elodie, Shirin, or Reshef.

After Rahmi left the storage berth, it hadn"t taken long to prepare for the day. She snuck across the hallway toward the shared room, which was, thankfully, empty when she entered it. A quick wash-up in the basin of fresh water and a clean pair of clothes were all she needed before she bustled down to the galley.

"Kalia wasn"t in her bed this morning," Elodie said in a singsong voice, lifting her eyes to level Kalia with a playful stare.

"I wonder where she could have been," Shirin responded flatly, though the smirk on her face while she kneaded the dough under the heels of her palms said otherwise. "There isn"t a chance she was with…the captain?"

Elodie gasped, and Doc jumped at its sudden sharpness. He turned to glare at her over his shoulder, though he kept the wooden spoon rotating around the pot. "She does have that aura about her," she said passively, returning to the pile of carrots she dutifully peeled and chopped. "A satisfied one, don"t you think?"

Shirin barked a laugh at Elodie, shaking her head. Reshef"s eyes glimmered as he leaned back to pluck an apple from the crate nearest Doc, who took the spoon out of the pot long enough to whack Reshef in the wrist with it. "I think we all know she was with the captain," Reshef continued as the apple thumped back into place. He glowered at Doc"s back. "I think we also know what he sounds like when he—"

"Reshef," Kalia snapped, though the arcing irritation that had once been there didn"t even simmer. She laughed instead, pursing her lips into a tight line. "Have some decency."

Reshef stood from his seat around the table, bending down to whisper into Kalia"s ear as he passed. "Then find a further room next time." He snagged along the furthest counters, ripping the closed lid off a crate in the far corner. He removed an apple and took a subsequent bite before the galley cook could remove his spoon from the pot again. Reshef merely shrugged at Doc"s snarl. "He must have a magical cock from the way you were praying to the gods last night."

Elodie choked as Shirin let out an uncharacteristic squeal. Doc"s back stiffened, but he said nothing, keeping his stare pinned on the bubbling stew before him.

Kalia didn"t bother to be coy about it, though she spotted Elodie"s burning cheeks as she spun around in her chair. Kalia placed her forearm on the headrest, resting her chin on the back of her hand. "Sounds a bit like jealousy. Is your face turning green? Has Alaric not made you see the gods yet?"

Reshef"s smirk deepened. "We both know I don"t kiss and tell." He threw a hand to his chest, letting it rest dramatically over his heart. "That is private, you naughty girl."

Kalia laughed again while she turned to pick up the knife, returning to the half-chopped potato in front of her. "Take that into consideration the next time you decide to—" She didn"t get to finish. The door to the galley swung open, knocking heavily against the wall behind it.

Elodie shrieked as Shirin jumped, and Doc"s wooden spoon flung from his hand to land with a clatter near Reshef"s feet. But Kalia wasn"t paying attention to any of that. No, her gaze had shifted to the doorway, where Rahmi"s wide frame was taking up the threshold.

And he looked downright murderous.

Kalia opened her mouth to speak, but Rahmi had already crossed the galley, his boots striking the deck in loud thwacks. Before Kalia could say anything, Rahmi removed the dagger from his belt, pressing the tip of the blade against her throat.

"Captain!" Elodie cried out, standing from her seat so abruptly that the table shifted, sending a few potatoes onto the floor.

Rahmi ignored her, never removing Kalia from his line of sight. "What are you?" he growled, leaning so close to her face that she could see her reflection in his pupils. He leered, nostrils flared wide. Kalia tried to push him away, but he tightened his hold on her head. "What are you?" he repeated, shaking her a bit.

"Captain, you"re scaring—"

"Hush, Elodie." Rahmi"s voice was sharp, and while he usually apologized when he spoke to her in any unfriendly way, he didn"t even bother sending her a side-long sweep.

Kalia saw red with his tone, and she leaned forward, ignoring the bite of the blade against her neck. "Do not talk to her like that. You have no right—"

"I have every right. I am the captain of this ship," Rahmi growled. "And I"m going to ask you one final fucking time. What. Are. You?"

Worms could have replaced Kalia"s insides with how much they squirmed within her. He knew. Somehow, someway, he knew. "Did Wright Thackeray tell you?" she asked, her jaw clenched so tightly that she felt her teeth grind together. That stupid weasel. She just needed more time.

Rahmi"s gaze searched her own, the corners of his lips downturned. "No, Wright didn"t tell me. He never—" Kalia knew the moment realization struck. "Wright knows, doesn"t he? He knows that you aren"t a djinn."

Kalia felt Elodie and Shirin"s stares bore into her face, and she didn"t need to look at them to verify it. She saw Reshef zip the black stone along the chain hung around his neck from the corner of her eye. His body was tense and coiled as though readying to leap between them at any moment.

"Yes," Kalia whispered. "Wright knows."

She would have taken him screaming at her. Gods, she would have preferred that Rahmi slit her throat with that damn dagger. She would have taken anything over the shocked, deeply hurt look that cut lines on his face. The huff of breath that fluttered her hair. The way his shoulders crumpled as he sagged in on himself. She recognized it and knew exactly what he was feeling at that moment. Betrayal. She had been selfish and narrow-minded, so entirely focused on keeping others from selling her out that she did just that to him.

Elodie let out a soft, barely audible gasp over the stew, which had begun to boil over the pot"s rim. Even Doc was no longer paying attention to it, instead peering over his shoulder at the scene behind him.

"How?" Rahmi asked, his voice hoarse. "When?"

Kalia swallowed thickly. She had never felt smaller. She wished he would cut her throat already. "Since the prison. He knew immediately. He recognized my magic. Rahmi, please—" She reached out to clasp her hand around his taut forearm, but he moved away from her, his back banging against the crates of filleted fish on the counter behind him.

"Do not touch me," Rahmi said, his whole body vibrating with intensity. "You will not touch me again."

Silence filled the room, the stew fizzling as the liquid dripped into the roiling flame below. To his credit, Reshef had managed to pull an innocent look of surprise onto his face, though the guilt-stricken press of his lips marred it. From how Elodie kept darting her gaze over to him, Kalia had a sinking feeling that the woman was slowly putting together his involvement. She wondered how quickly Elodie would take back what she had said the night before. Friends didn"t do this.

"I wanted to tell you," Kalia started again, sending him a pleading stare. She felt the stinging prick of tears behind her eyes, ones that she knew she deserved but didn"t want to fall. "Please, Rahmi, I never wanted to hurt you. Not anymore, not after—" She wanted him to press that blade back to her throat, something that would tell her his unyielding confidence was still intact. It fucking killed her when he didn"t.

His pained expression iced over, replaced by one so cold that she knew she had lost him. "I should have known not to get involved with you. I did know. But I should have known better than to accept the word of a swindler from a brothel."

Kalia"s stomach sank to her feet, and she prayed that the sea would wash through the galley and swallow her whole. The room shuddered as if she had manifested it herself, though Rahmi"s stare remained fixed on hers. Elodie and Shirin glanced at one another, their faces paling.

"Doc."

"Aye, captain?" The galley cook answered immediately, turning on his heels to finally face them. He took a moment to wipe the sweat from his hairline before tucking the handkerchief back into his pocket.

"See to it that our newest prisoner is taken to the brig."

The thought of being returned to the underbelly of the ship seized at her chest in a way that Kalia didn"t expect. At one time, the thought of being locked away would have brought out a fight in her, akin to a feral animal in a cage. Now, she knew that she deserved it and anything else that came with it.

The dull ringing of a bell pierced the room and shouts reverberated from above—shouts that Kalia couldn"t make out, but ones she knew didn"t signify anything good. Boots clattered against the deck above her, the back-and-forth running evident from her spot beneath them.

"All men to the guns!" Alaric"s voice finally shrieked through the chaos. "Fire at the ready, boys!"

Elodie whimpered as Rahmi flew from the galley, not bothering to look back a final time.