The Crown of Spheres

߷ C H A P T E R - N I N E ߷

☁︎︎ C H A P T E R - N I N E ☁︎︎

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"What were you thinking?" Privi asked as I was bundled up next to the open fire place in the dining room, tired servants placing steaming mugs of tea on part of the table closest to us. I was wrapped in a thick sheets wool blanket, every part of my soaked but at least I wasn't shivering now. Privi was perched on a stool to my left, wrapped up herself to shield herself from the cold.

Apparently the sound of the guards shouting for me to step away from the edge had woken her, and by the time she'd gotten there Atlas had already pulled me back from the edge just as a wave had crashed into the side of the ship, drenching us both in the midst of this raging storm.

"Will her highness be wanting something to eat?" One of them asked Nahm quietly who was stood behind me. I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head as I stared into the flames, my chest aching. What was that dream about? I had gone to sleep in my cabin with Whim curled up on the pillow beside my head, and woken up seconds after apparently being pulled back from walking into the ocean.

"Nynia?" Privi prompted. Nahm murmured to the servant that I wouldn't be requiring anything else.

"I was dreaming," I murmured, taking a much needed deep breath and straightening my back. "The last thing I remember was falling asleep in the cabin,"

"So you were sleep walking," Nahm murmured and I nodded, but kept my gaze on the crackling fire as it warmed me. "I thought you grew out of that,"

"Evidently not, Nahm," I replied in a quiet voice, my tone sharp. He sighed and moved around me, coming to crouch beside me to my right.

"Nyn... you could've drowned," he murmured, worry in his eyes and etched into the lines of his brows. "If Atlas hadn't of been there..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence. Tears stung my eyes, but not because I'd narrowly missed meeting a watery grave, but because my thoughts had quietly wondered if that would've been such a bad thing.

"How did he get there so fast when the upper deck is usually crawling with guards?" Privi questioned, holding her mug with both hands as her warmed blanket draped over her head like a hood.

"It's the middle of the night," Nahm replied, "Most were probably sleeping,"

I noticed how he didn't answer her wonderings about Atlas, but as soon s that thought popped into my head, I pushed it away. A weighted tiredness made my shoulders ache and I sighed heavily, wanting nothing more than to head back to bed.

Thunder raged with the storm outside, swaying the ship still and making the wood creak around us. I noticed Privi's heavy swallows and could do nothing but sympathise, even I was starting to feel a bit sick.

Heavy footsteps sounded moments before the dining room door swung open from the hall that lead down to the cabins, and a messy haired Calder strode in. For a foolish moment I let myself expect that he'd at least ask if I was okay since word had probably spread by now, but when he lifted his hand I realised why he'd come to find me. "Your stupid fucking fox was found in the food supplies again," he spat, throwing her to me as Privi and Nahm stared at him in disbelief. "I told you if you didn't find it a cage I'd throw it overboard, you're lucky I was feeling generous tonight," He spat, drenched from head to toe with rain water.

"Nynia was nearly thrown overboard," Nahm said, everything about him was tense as he stood up. "And that's the first thing you want to say?"

Calder turned to him as I clutched Whim close and wrapped her in part of my blanket. "Well, she's alive, isn't she? Her fox eating up the rest of our supplies and taking a piss in our drink matters more in this moment, don't you think?" He replied with an edge in his voice, "Get back downstairs," he then ordered me, his voice lowering. He didn't so much as look at me for more than a second before he walked out the room again, his shoulders tense.