I felt myself turning hot. A pang of guilt pierced through the fog. How could I think Marjani would hand him over? Cause he was right. I almost had.
“Yes,” the man said, turning back to me. My whole body turned to ice. “You did almost give him up once. Because he had hurt you. And he’s hurt you again, hasn’t he? I can smell it on you.” He buried his nose in my hair and breathed in deep and my whole body crawled with revulsion. “He could stay, you know,” he said. “Sail with you through every ocean in this world, blowing your enemies away with spells and blood magic. Never go back to the Order lair again.” The man gave me a lazy grin. “He just doesn’t want to.”
“And could you give me that?” I shot back. “Naji at my side?”
“I could,” the man said. “But then I wouldn’t be able to take my revenge, would I? Besides, do you really want a man at your side who doesn’t love you?”
I trembled. Behind him, Marjani said, “Ananna, don’t you dare listen to him. He’s spinning a web–”
“Shut up!” The man whirled around and struck Marjani in the stomach. I lunged at him with my sword, which did nothing, and for a moment or two Marjani stared stricken at him, like she couldn’t believe he had hit her. And then she pulled out her pistol and shot him through the heart.
The man roared with laughter. “How many times will you two try to kill me? You know it won’t work–”
Light flowed across the deck of the ship.
It knocked me and Marjani over, stunned us both. Naji, I thought. He came after all–
“Yes,” the man from the Mists said. “He did come. Hello, Naji of the Jadorr’a.”
My whole body turned cold. Marjani grabbed my arm. “Don’t be stupid,” she said, voice slurring a little. “Don’t be–”
I scrambled away from her. Naji was floating above the deck, his body contorted in pain. And the man was laughing.
“Stop it!” I shouted.
The man looked at me. “I knew that would draw him out,” he said. “Putting you in enough danger. Frightening you enough.” He laughed.
“Why didn’t you kill him?” I shouted at Naji, who just screamed and writhed in the air.
“Because even the people of the Mists have charms of our own.” The man smiled at me. Then he walked up to Naji and pulled out his starlight knife. Naji moaned. My heart damn near stopped beating.
Charms of our own.
“Ananna,” Marjani said, her voice faint behind me. “Don’t rush into this.”
The man dug the knife into the left side of Naji’s face. Naji screamed and kicked. Blood splattered across the deck of the ship. Magic surged through me, a rush like the sort you get before battle. Marjani grabbed my hand and pulled me back.
“Think,” she said roughly, her mouth close to my ear. “He has a charm. Something the other one didn’t have.”
“The knife.”
“Yes. But it’s too obvious. Something on the knife.” Marjani jerked her chin toward the man, the man and Naji. More blood splattered across the deck. My stomach lurched. “Look at the hilt. It’s wrapped in enchanted silk. I’ve seen that before.”
“You’ve been to the Mists?”
“Of course not. It’s not Mists magic.” She shoved me forward. Naji’s pain was starting to intrude onto me. It started in my head, but now it was a stinging in my face, a ghost of a wound lining my left cheek. “Get that charm off the hilt.”
I ran toward Naji and the man. I didn’t let myself think about what I was doing. I just ran forward and plunged my hand through the man’s back. A half-second of resistance and then it slipped through as easy as it had the day I punched Echo. The man hardly had time to react when my hand shot out the other side and I grabbed hold of the knife.
Naji gasped and landed with a sickening thump on the deck of the Nadir.
The man whirled around and snarled at me, his teeth like daggers. A pop of a pistol and his chest turned to mist. Marjani. It wasn’t enough to disperse him back to the Mists, but it gave me enough time to see that the hilt of his knife was wrapped in stiff silk that smelled of the sap from the trees of the ice-island. I yanked on the silk, balled it up and tossed it in the sea.
“I beseech your help!” I screamed. “Waters of the ocean! Please accept this gift–”
The man from the Mists growled and snarled again. He looked less and less like a man and more and more like a beast from a temple painting. His eyes glowed with starlight. His skin was gray and pale, the color of mist.
“What are you doing?” he howled.
“Waters of the ocean!” I shouted, tears streaming down my face. “I beseech your help! Take this man away from the Nadir and her crew!”
Naji lifted his head and stared at me. His eyes were so dark they looked like holes in his face. His mouth opened and closed. I could feel him – fear and panic and despair. I pushed it all away.
“Waters of the ocean!” I screamed. “Please!”
A shadow fell over the boat.
For a long terrible moment the entire world seemed to freeze. Then the Nadir tilted backward, and a dark ocean wave rose up against the bright sky, the water throwing off dots of light.
“Hold on!” Marjani screamed. “Knot a rope around yourself! Ananna!”
I didn’t move. The wave wasn’t for me. It wasn’t for anyone human.
A wall of ocean water crashed over the ship. For a minute all I knew was water and salt and light. I couldn’t breathe. When I opened my eyes I saw Naji floating through the murk, his hair streaming out from around his face, his eyes on mine.
I screamed his name. Nothing came out but a stream of golden bubbles.
And then the ocean slipped away.
I slammed down onto the deck. The whole world was lit up in white sunlight. I squeezed my eyes closed and pressed my back against the wood. Crewman shouted and sputtered, their feet pounding against the wood. The sails snapped, the masts creaked.
“Ananna?” It was Marjani. “Ananna, wake up. Are you alright?”
I lifted my head and blinked at her. She was soaked, her hair plastered against her face. Behind her, the crew scrambled and crawled across the deck, rubbing at their heads.
“Where’s Naji?” I asked. “Where’s–”
“Over there…” Marjani pointed. Naji was sprawled across the deck, his chest heaving. “The man from the Mists is gone.” She gave me a short smile. “Didn’t know you could work water-magic?”
I pushed myself up. My head spun. The ship was undamaged from the wave; the masts stood straight and true, the sails fluttered in the breeze. Everything was wet. That was all.
Marjani helped me to my feet. My body ached, but I ignored the pain as I limped over to where Naji lay. I wasn’t sure if it was my pain or Naji’s anyway.
“Ananna,” he said when he saw me.
I knelt beside him and pressed my hand against his forehead. The ocean had washed the blood off his face, but the cut was still there, a dark jagged tear that would add another scar to the lines of his features.
“I saved your life again,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
Naji laughed, though it came out choked and short.
“You didn’t catch the curse again, did you? Cause I’d feel right bad about that.”
Naji shook his head, wet hair flopping over his eyes.
“Good to hear.” I stroked his hair, squeezed the saltwater out of it.
“That was… impressive,” he said.
I shrugged. “Just gotta know what to ask.”
His eyes brightened. For a minute a tightness pinched in my chest. I thought about the man from the Mists smiling for me like he was Naji. But he wasn’t Naji. Because this was Naji’s smile.
“Are they gone for good?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Naji said. “But you scared him worse than I ever could.”
I laughed, heat creeping up into my cheeks.
Naji lifted one trembling hand and tucked it against my face. “Thank you,” he whispered, and then he drew me down for a kiss.