Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Unable to concentrate, I shut the window and made my way to the deck. Crew members ran in all directions as they made ready for the storm. Someone groaned, and I twisted to see behind me. Hadriel clung to the railing, head hung over it, fingers white. There probably wasn’t enough elixir in the world to keep him from feeling the roll and surge of the ship.
A streak of lightning cut across the sky, a flash of incandescent white-blue against the tempestuous shades of gray. I stood as a white-crested wave swelled in front of the ship. As the bow lifted and then plunged down, my nervousness turned into a tingling of fear. I braced my hand on the railing to keep from falling as a deck hand stopped near me.
“We’re going to need you to go below deck,” he yelled over the growing howl of the winds. “Let’s get you secured.”
I didn’t respond to him verbally, still locked inside of myself as I processed my life and the feelings of betrayal against the woman who’d sheltered me.
Who’d used me.
The ship heaved as I turned and passed him, now using the railing to steady myself but unable to keep from looking at the surging, swirling waters. If I fell overboard, I’d be a goner. I knew how to swim, but not well. I wouldn’t be strong enough to keep my head above those rolling waters.
Fear starting to churn now, I veered left as the ship pitched, stumbled right when it crashed down the other way, and worked my way back to my cabin. Weston wasn’t there—he was probably checking in with the captain or making sure his pack was secured against the growing aggression of the storm.
I’d shut him out the past few days—I’d shut everyone out—because I needed time to figure things out. In this moment, though, I really wished he’d been waiting in here for me. I needed his confidence that we’d make it through this. That we weren’t about to be taken by the waves and quickly sink into the depths.
I moved to organize the things I’d left on the table as the wooden world around me shuddered. In the next moment, the boat pitched forward and I nearly cried out. Lightning flashed beyond the windows and thunder growled in the air.
Terror bled through the numb fog of the last few days, gripping me.
I couldn’t stay in here. I couldn’t just sit and wonder if we were about to go down. I’d need to see it. I wanted to watch the wave that crested the sides of the ship and washed us all overboard.
Walking in zigzagging lines, I pushed out of the cabin and headed back for the bow of the ship. Spray slapped my face and a gust of wind buffeted against me.
My mother had made a voyage like this. She’d just been rejected by her lover and thrown out of her home. With little coin and a baby on the way, she’d crossed the ocean to a new and uncertain future. She’d braved just such a situation, but she hadn’t had a powerful alpha who would protect her. She hadn’t had a pack to talk to, or the promise of an animal. She’d been utterly alone. Magicless. Friendless.
She’d been courageous.
Her voice echoed in my mind.
Remember me.
Memories rose like the waves around us—her smiling face, her comforting voice. Reading to me, pretending and playing games with me, trying to give me the best life she could manage under such horrible conditions. She’d sacrificed for me, told me she loved me every day, tried to make me happy.
Granny had done none of those things. She hadn’t done anything a parent would or should do. She’d performed the duties of an employer only.
Tears blending with the rain on my face, I edged closer to the bow of the dramatically pitching ship. Lightning spiderwebbed across the sky. Thunder boomed, making my heart sprint. Monstrous waves rose all around the ship, and men and women shouted and screamed as the captain barked orders. Hadriel was gone, probably seeking shelter.
What shelter? How could one secure themselves amid the power of the raging storm?
How could one secure themselves from the devastation I’d wrought at Granny’s behest?
I felt just as powerless in this storm as I did in my life: I had no choice but to watch it bear down on me, to ride the waves and hope I made it through.
“Aurelia!” Weston’s voice barely cut through the ripping wind and thrashing rain. The ship shuddered before pitching again just as I felt his strong arms wrap around me and pull me close to him. “Baby, what are you doing out here? It’s not safe. Gods, you’re soaked. C’mon.”
I didn’t hear a single quiver of worry in his voice regarding our surroundings, toward the boiling sea or the lightning striking ever closer. He gently but firmly turned me. His strong arm wrapped around my shoulders, grounding me.