Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Vali?” Ranan calls as I submerge again, only to come up coughing once more. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I reassure him between gasps for air. “Worry about yourself!”
I go under again and he growls with frustration, moving to my side and tearing at the dress tangling my legs. I’m too tired to protest as he rips it free from my legs. It helps, but only a little. At this point my limbs feel like painful knots and every breath hurts. My hair is in my face, salt water stings my eyes, and that gods-damned flotilla still looks as if it’s the size of my thumbnail.
I might be drowning. Just a bit. But Ranan’s tired, too. I just have to manage.
Something brushes under my foot and I yelp, swallowing a mouthful of water as I do.
I go under, thinking a shark is surely going to eat me. Under the surface is so peaceful, though, and for a moment I stop paddling and moving just to drift. Drifting is so very nice…
Dimly, I’m aware that I’m hauled to the surface again and someone slaps my back, hard. I cough up water, and hear the sound of Ranan arguing with another man, who seems to be yelling right in my ear. I can’t focus. I’m too tired, and I just want to go back under the cold waves and drift a bit more. But I have to keep swimming. I try to paddle again, only for a hand to push my arm back to my side.
“Stop your windmilling, lass. I have you now.” The hand moves up to my chin, tipping it toward the sun and keeping me above the water.
I sag against my savior and listen to muffled, waterlogged conversations between him and Ranan. No words register, just the newcomer’s warm, friendly voice and Ranan’s sharper one.
Then I’m hauled bodily into the air and the world tilts around me. I’m flung on my back on a hard surface and squint up at the sun for a moment before hands are pressed on my abdomen and push, hard.
I immediately vomit saltwater.
Someone turns me on my side as I puke, and I stare at delicate feet with a sparkling bracelet around one ankle. A woman’s feet. When I roll onto my back again, I see there are multiple people standing over me with looks of concern on their faces. They all have the head sails like Ranan, four strong arms, and the same greenish cast to their skin.
That’s how I meet Ranan’s family—upon my back, covered in vomit, half drowned and naked.
Lord Vor has taught me so much humility this day.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
RANAN
The healer’s home is a crowded one.
Daidu’s tent is usually full of jars with cork stoppers—each containing fermented brews made from seaweed, various fish guts, and Vor knows what else—all for use with his healing. There is a small padded bed tucked amidst the jars, and a second padded bed for those that require healing. That alone is enough to fill his domain, but on this day, my tall mother hovers over the healer, frowning down upon him as he works on my leg.
And at my side, Vali is fast asleep, her hand clutching tightly to mine even unconscious.
After we were rescued from the water by my uncle Dorran and his mate Balo, I insisted that the healer examine my Valessa first. My wound is old, and she took in a lot of water in her valiant attempt to swim at my side. Now that she has been deemed well enough, she remains with me, but she is so fatigued that she has passed out.
My poor wife. I reach over and brush a lock of still-wet hair from her brow. Ever since I have been injured, she has not gotten a moment’s rest. Vali just burrows closer to my side, her breathing steady.
“What bit you?” Daidu asks, leaning in close to get a good look at my leg. “Doesn’t seem like a shark. The bite is too deep.”
“Sea dragon. One has settled near my grotto.”
Daidu clucks his tongue, reaching behind him to get fresh towels while examining my wound. “Bad luck, there.”
“Aye. I’ll set up elsewhere. Akara is still too wild to return to the flotilla.” And I am not sure what Vali would think of being here permanently. She loved the grotto and didn’t seem to mind that it was isolated, but she hasn’t seemed particularly excited about meeting the rest of my people. Perhaps she’s shy.
My mother paces while Daidu pokes and prods my leg. She finally loses her patience and leans over both of us, getting in my face.
“What is the meaning of all this, my son?” My mother keeps her tone low and even so she does not wake my slumbering wife. Her expression is full of emotion, though. Her mouth is pulled down into an angry frown and her eyes are full of concern as she watches Daidu poke and prod at my wounded leg.