Page 9 of The Malice of Moons and Mages (The Broken Bonds of Magic #1)

Nine

Audra

T he mage’s toe dug into Audra’s thigh. “Get up, fool. I’m guessing you can get us out of here.”

Audra rolled onto her back, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “What?” It was satisfying the way frustration marred his symmetrical features, his long hair dancing around his face.

“I refuse to piss where I sleep.” He clasped his hands behind his back and glared.

She rose on aching legs with a groan. The tightness in her chest came again as he gestured impatiently toward the door.

Audra stuck her head into the hall. Munk’s notorious snoring drifted in the air, combining with other snorts and grunts to create a chorus of mildly violent sailors sleeping like children. Above deck, two exhausted men rested against the masts. The lookout glanced at them from the crow’s nest before replacing the eyeglass to his face and leaning back. She wondered if he slept with it like that.

Audra leaned against the rail, admiring the stars and Raia’s emerald incandescence that glittered through a patchy night sky onto the dark sea. Song, the smaller of the moons, would set in another hour, just before Starling rose to begin the day anew. Silence had another night before it appeared.

She struggled to wake from the worst fatigue she’d experienced in years. That combined with the chest tightness, had her worrying about Ferin despite the knowledge that Auntie Zin would keep her brother safe, and nothing could happen while he remained in her territory. When the mage stepped beside her, his presence charged the surrounding air.

“We need off this boat,” he said, eyes fixed on the horizon.

“We’ll reach Oxton in a few days,” she mumbled. “Once Chon gets a ransom, I’m sure he’ll let you go. I suspect he’s not a killer at heart.”

Song light glistened off his hair, tinted his alabaster skin. His gaze shifted to the moon. A small sigh left his lips. “This ship won’t make it to Oxton.”

She tensed at the assuredness of his tone. He pursed his lips and turned away. Audra gripped his arm, a tingle where her skin met his, and jerked him around. His face was a pale, pretentious mask.

“Why won’t we make it to Oxton, asshole?” Audra hissed.

He leaned close. “That bolt you cut out of me is part tracker. If it had finished its job, it would’ve died happily. That sends a certain energy back to its castor. As it is, it died angry. That also sends energy back to its source. At least one ship will be on us by mid-morning. Afternoon, if we’re lucky.” He licked cracked lips, gazing back at the moon. “You should have left me to the sea.”

He yanked his arm away and stalked back below deck. She followed, relocking the door behind her. He sat in the corner, cross-legged with eyes closed, pouting.

“I apologize for saving you,” Audra said. “In hindsight, it was a terrible mistake, and every foul word from your mouth makes me regret it further. Feel free to go back to drowning.” The barbed triangle still lay in the corner where she’d tossed it. “Why not just throw it overboard? Won’t that solve the problem?”

He snorted, not bothering to look at her. “The tendrils of the spell have filled this ship. Even if the bolt is destroyed the threads will still lead here.”

She chilled. There was something in the way he spoke that rang true. “What about the crew? We should warn them.”

His teeth glinted in a cruel smile. “So they can kill us and offer my corpse to the Moon tribe? I don’t think so.”

Her mouth went dry. The last thing she wanted was to fall into either Moon or Starling tribes’ hands but, if she helped him escape, perhaps there was another option. If she remained aboard and offered his whereabouts to those chasing him, they might spare her and the crew. Or they might kill them all anyway.

One eyebrow arched as he watched her calculating expression. His jaw clenched. “Is there a rowboat, anything, we can take to get away?”

“There’s a dinghy, but we aren’t close enough to land. They’d be on us as soon as Starling broke. And I’m not going anywhere with you.”

His eyes were bottled storms, silver and grey swirling together. Color flushed his cheeks. “You don’t have a choice. Because you saved my life, you’re bound to me?—”

“If you think that I?—”

“—and, as such, we must stay together if we both wish to keep living. Unfortunately, drowning isn’t an option for either of us.”

She must have hit him harder than intended and knocked his sense out. Or perhaps he’d been in the water too long. For him to think that there was something between them, as if she owed him anything but another fist, was preposterous. Audra’s voice was a seething whisper. “You are deranged. You should owe me .”

“Would that were true, believe me. Pay you. Maybe kill you. Those options would be preferable to the situation before us now. We are bonded, and until we get to the Silence monastery, I cannot undo it.” He closed his eyes. “That is how I know that you, Audra Shan, saved me. I feel each of your volatile emotions, the little judgements and assumptions you make. I taste your desperation. It’s exhausting.”

It was Audra’s turn to open her mouth and close it again. She rubbed her sternum, where it tightened again ever since...

“Oh no.” Audra leaned away from him, noticing a slight tug she hadn’t defined before. But no emotions or thoughts came from him, nothing that he’d described. For that, she counted herself lucky. “Listen, I can’t help you. I’ve got to get to Oxton. My family?— ”

“Whatever you need, wherever you were going, doesn’t matter now. We must get to the northern Moon border before the eclipses. Only then can we be separated.”

She gripped the dagger in her pocket. “ You don’t understand. I’m going to Oxton, with or without you.”

He shook his head. “You have no choice.”

She gripped the dagger. He was probably lying, all Moons lied after all. She would injure him enough to put him in his place. Let him know that she wasn’t his servant. Force him to release her. But her hand refused to draw the blade from her pocket, remaining securely sheathed despite her efforts. She winced as another constriction in her chest stole her breath.

“I know your intentions,” he said, cold eyes glittering. “Remove your hand from your pocket.”

Her fingers withdrew, hand trembling against her thigh as she tried to resist. She cursed him, but he didn’t respond. When her anger flared sharply against his control the tightness relaxed. Her hand was her own again. She rubbed her wrist. “Who’s chasing you?”

A shadow darkened his face. “That is none of your concern.”

She spat at his feet. “That’s not how this is going to work, Moonie.”

He glared. “What did you call me?”

“It’s better than asshole.”

“Is it?” He grumbled. “Well, I suppose, if you must call me something, Moon is acceptable.”

“Who are you running from?”

He crossed his arms defiantly. There was an arrogant lift to his chin her fists ached to punch. He probably wasn’t used to being disrespected, and Audra had a natural talent for antagonizing the arrogant.

Her words were a barrage against his haughty manner. “Did you break an engagement? Cheat on someone? You look like the cheating type. Are you a swindler? Abandon a family? You look like that type too. Or is it because you were an ass to the wrong person? Completely feasible given the impression you’ve made so far.”

“Stop your nonsense.” He gave her an exasperated look. “It’s nothing like that. It’s my sister.”

“Your sister wants you dead?” Moon glared until she waved her hand dismissively. “I avoid other people’s family issues at all costs. Mine are complicated enough. If you could cut this thing between us, I’d be grateful.”

“I’ve told you, it’s impossible until we get to the monastery. The monks will help.” His voice sounded confident, but she was doubtful. Westerners never fared well at the hands of other tribes, especially not once they crossed their borders.

“Why not sooner? If your stars are any indication, you’ve got the magic for it. I’ve never heard of thirteen stars.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you know of the Moon tribes?”

“Your people slaughtered half my village fifteen years ago.”

“And you haven’t tried to kill me?”

“Give it time. I’m still considering my options.” She crossed her arms. “The Starling’s killed the other half. I can hate both tribes equally. But I like to think I’m generally a decent judge of character, and you strike me as a true asshole.”

Moon chuckled darkly. “I might be the worst person you’ve encountered in your insignificant life. Unless you’ve met my sister.” He shoved his hair back. “But her bolt siphoned too much of my energy. It’ll take time to build my strength. Cutting a bond is dangerous under the best circumstances, and I have no desire to die yet.”

She bit her lip. “So you have no magic left?”

“Only enough to get us safely away.”

When Traq enlisted with the Starlings several years ago, it had spurned a rift between he and Audra, and he’d acted pleasantly surprised when she found him on Callaway. She’d always had faith that even though their romantic relationship had abruptly ended, Traq’s heart was still Western and his loyalty to their people had not changed. He’d been stationed in Oxton for the last year. If he could get her an audience with some of the stronger Starling mages, they might break the bond between Audra and Moon. The Starlings might even pay for the mage outright. Then she could go her own way, untethered, and finish her task. “What do we do?”

He looked at the golden object in the corner as it exhaled a final thin puff of smoke. “I need my robes.” He brushed the hair from his face again and sighed. “And a hair pin.”