Unsinkable

Red World

Everything was cold once again, as if the sun had died and left the little lonely people to fend for themselves in the darkness. The air hung with crystals of ice, poised to fall upon them and destroy all that was living about them. Winter herself had once again become a girl of ice and frosted fingertips, unable to move as she stared at the man she despised.

Though it had been mere hours since she's seen him, it felt like years— for in the time since their departure Winter had experienced lifetimes of happiness. But it all seemed to melt away, even as Jacin squeezed her hand. For how could she feel him when she was numb?

"Aimery," Kai choked out, startling Winter. But of course Kai could always be counted on to stand up for others, even as he lay shattered upon the ground. He stood on her other side, though she had forgotten that he was there. Actually, she had been transported into a world that was just her and Aimery Park— a world where only the wretched resided. "Aimery, I think it would be for the best if you were to leave."

"Don't tell me what to do, Prince," Aimery snarled, his black eyes glinting with a sort of malice that Winter had never before seen. "You and your pompous father think they can just tell everyone what to do. And you know what? I'm done playing nice."

"She doesn't care for you, Aimery," Kai said, and Winter was grateful for his words. For they were the truth, even if she couldn't find the courage to say them on her own. "Stop the humiliation here. Let go. We have bigger things to worry about at the moment."

"Just because your whore of a wife left her fiancé for you doesn't mean I'm going to let mine do the same," Aimery hissed, his hands curling with restrained violence. "I will not be made to look a fool."

Within an instant Kai was moving forward, his cheeks flaming and eyes ablaze. But before he could take two steps, Jacin yanked him back, slinging an arm around Kai as he struggled tooth and nail to get to Winter's despised fiancé.

Aimery let out a malicious laugh, his lips twisting up in a wicked grin as he watched Kai fight his captor. Winter had always known Aimery to be a man of cowardice and cruelty, but never towards one such as Kai, who, despite his kindness, had power of his own. It was almost dangerous to watch as Aimery descended to belittling those of his same status.

He looked around mockingly, his eyes mapping Winter, then the two other men, though it was clear that this search was only for show. "Oh dear, I must have struck a nerve. Has lovely Selene left you already? Guys like you never learn. If she's willing to leave one, she's willing to leave you as well. That's just the way those whores are."

Kai shouted a string of profanities colorful enough to make a sailor blush, though Aimery only laughed.

"Oh dear," Aimery tutted. "Anger is not a good color on you, my friend."

"Shove it, Aimery," Jacin growled, speaking for the first time. His arms were still tight around Kai's shoulders, though the other man's anger seemed to be wilting fast into devastation.

"Oh, the American Hobo speaks," Aimery cajoled, taking a step forward. "And I thought all you were good for was painting pretty things."

"Aimery," Winter hissed, snapping out of her world filled with ice and cold. She was needed here— there was no time for her to get lost in her fear and abandon those who depended upon her. "What do you want?"

"Only your safety, my snowflake," Aimery sneered. He extended a hand toward Winter. "I wish to see you safely upon a lifeboat. Not everyone is going to get off this ship alive, you know."

Winter's stomach churned with terror as she thought of all that Aimery would do to get his way. As much as she hated to admit it, Aimery scared Winter in a way that only monsters terrified the young. He was as creepy as a creature under one's bed and, but more frightening in the fact that he was in no way fictitious. He would do all in his power to assure himself that Winter was his, even if her very heart screamed at his approach.