Keel Haul cuts cleanly across the choppy, uneven sea. A storm had brewed and dissipated upon the Western horizon, and we're dealing with the aftermath. The waves are calmer than I would have expected, but to Ferrick, we may as well have been sailing through a tsunami.
His skin had not lessened the green effect, and his pallor had only become sweatier. He has a weak stomach on a good day, yet he's chosen to resist any tonic or herb aboard the ship's supply. Because of his stubborn pride or the fact that he wants to appear more masculine than Bastian, I'm not sure.
He comes to sit beside me by the portside, and I lean my half-eaten chunk of bread and bag of apple slices away from him. "You're not going to vomit, are you?"
"I've already thrown up all that was in my stomach," he groans miserably. "I don't think I could even if I wanted to."
"You look awful. Why don't you lay down?"
"Sitting helps, too."
His skin begins to turn less green, but he still looks ghostly. "Ferrick, you know you get seasick. So, why did you - "
"Merin, you know why." He gives me a sharp look, one that has exhausted all my attempts to convince him to leave. Not that he can, now that we were miles and miles from land, but a girl can dream of a wayward Arida ship crossing our path and delivering him back to where he belongs, can't she?
I chew the apple slice slowly in my mouth, looking down at the rest in the brown paper bag sat in my lap. "Thank you for attempting to rescue my sister. It was incredibly brave of you."
"Of course," he says immediately. "Merin, I - " I know the tone in his voice, the seriousness that comes along with his emotional distress. I attempt to get up, but his one good hand - his only hand for the time being - grips my wrist. "Please, stay. Just for now. I need you to listen."
"Now's not the time," I try, but the incredulity is in his eyes.
"I waited for you," he starts, no matter if I want to hear it or not. "I let you go because you needed to master your fire. You come back on a ship with a bloody pirate, and you expect me not to ask questions?"
"I needed to see what was out there," I tell him honestly, making the decision to lower my guard. Ferrick was many things, but he was also kind. Compassionate. Patient. It hurt me all the more that I had wounded a good person like him. "I got a hold of the magic, but I was still tied down. To you. I didn't have a life unless it was under yours. I couldn't be myself, I had to be your wife. The kingdom's princess." I look up and catch him staring openly. "I wanted to be free. I found that freedom with Bastian."
"With him, that pirate?" Ferrick prickles angrily, casting a glare toward the helm of the ship. "How long - I mean, did you two ever - are you two..." It's almost as if he doesn't want to spit out the question he so desperately wants to ask.
I laugh away the accusation, thinking it absurd. "Bastian is a dear friend and that's all he is," I tell him, trying to quell that burning jealousy. "He taught me to sail, I taught him some manners. We ran into each other at Valuka's port, coincidentally headed to the same island. It was on our way to Kerost that he told me of Kavin's uprising and the dark magic that's stirring, threating our people. I told him I was the princess...and that Amora, the princess who matters, is in terrible danger. I don't know why the stars would grant me a vision like that, but I'm glad they did."
"I'm glad they brought you back to me," Ferrick says quietly. "Now that you're done exploring and after this whole mess is over - "
"But I'm not done," I say defensively. "Ferrick, now that I've tasted freedom, I don't ever want to lose it. I love sailing, I love exploring. I want to fall in love first, I want to choose who I marry."
