Page 17 of Stars Above the Never Sea (The Last Faeyte #1)

Chapter ten

Callan

M y jaw tight, I don’t look at Merrick as he hoists himself up the last of the rope and swings his leg over to climb into the nest. His grunt of exertion has my fingers twitching, but I know well enough that he’ll not accept my help, even if I tried to force it on him.

The thought has my fingers curling back into fists. I stay where I am, my back pressed against the mast and one leg hanging through the wooden rails into open air as he edges in my direction.

“Gods above,” he grumbles, settling down next to me. “I forgot how high this was.”

“High enough to be an indicator of my mood.” My words intend lightness, but all that comes out is a snarl. The wind, a welcome cool rush against my face, pulls my words away into the night sky around us. “I’d welcome some space, in case it wasn’t obvious.”

He’s rummaging in the bag slung over his chest, paying my anger no attention. “I brought you some tea.”

“As if my mood weren’t bad enough?” I glare at the sealed container he holds out, but take it anyway, unscrewing the lid and swigging it before I can consider otherwise.

My face twists with revulsion as I fight not to breathe in the scent.

Macra smells more like sewage than sewage does, and it tastes like it too. “That’s disgusting.”

“But it will help.” Sighing, Merrick pulls up his knees and rests his wrists on top of them, looping his hands together. “How is she?”

I take another swig of the macra tea. It almost tastes palatable in comparison to the bitter words that burn the back of my throat. “She assumed that sharing my cabin meant she would also be sharing my bed.”

Merrick, in the process of swigging his own concoction, blanches. Tea sloshes over and onto his hands, the steam curling into the air, but he ignores it. “You didn’t.”

My body stiffens. It takes me a moment to respond. “You know me better than that.”

“I do.” He loosens a breath. “Of course I do.”

Yet he still sounds relieved. “I take it that’s why we had a little… turbulence. Riordan nearly fell over the fire. What happened?”

A thought I’ve been picking over for the last hour. I should go back, go and clean up the rice that I split with the force of my own anger. The gods know that we can’t afford to waste it. But instead, I’m hiding out as far away as I can from the faeyte who found her way onto my damned ship.

I sidestep Merrick’s question. “Petyr will be pleased.”

“Undoubtedly.” Merrick’s voice lowers, as if anyone could overhear us from here. Even Petyr has no way to eavesdrop in the middle of the ocean. “My concern is why he wants a faeyte at all.”

“His reasoning seems simple enough to me.” I lift one shoulder. “A faeyte to fix the Never. To fix Asteria. We can’t carry on like this forever.”

I can’t carry on like this forever.

Silence. Then—

“Your nose is bleeding.”

I take the square that he holds out, wiping it away. “I’ll be fine.”

“Saying it doesn’t make it true. You’ve never carried a load like this.”

“I’ve never found a load I couldn’t carry,” I correct him.

“Everyone has their limits, lad,” Merrick murmurs. “Including you. Drink your tea. Do you think she can do it?”

My lips twitch up as I force another mouthful down my throat.

“I haven’t the faintest idea. Perhaps, although I fail to see how a single faeyte can change anything at all.

Especially one wreathed in copper. She asked if any were left, you know.

She has no idea what she’s walking into.

What she’s going to see . So… no. I don’t think she can fix it. ”

“And that bothers you.”

I hold out my fingers, as if I could trace the air around us by touch alone. “It should bother us all. If the land is worse than when we left, this shipment won’t last longer than a few months, if that. And I have no idea what Petyr is plotting. Now we have a new unknown in… her .”

Draining the rest of my tea, I set the cup down beside me and stare out at the darkness.

A single moon lights the sky above our heads, a handful of stars guiding us toward the Never.

It feels like a pale imitation of the Sea of Stars.

“We’re flying blind in every possible sense.

And she has no reason to help any of us, Merrick.

All she needs to do is stand back and let us die. ”

“Maybe she will. I certainly wouldn’t blame her for it.” Heaviness enters Merrick’s voice, but he tries to mask his tiredness.

I pass him the empty cup. “I’m going to finish this route. Have faith in me.”

“You know I do. But what happens when you stop, Callan? What about the next one? The one after that? You’re not infallible. You know what will happen when we get back.”

There’s nothing I can say in response, not really. “You should get some sleep. It’s late.”

He doesn’t move. “I’ll stay a while longer.”