Chains of Fate

Chapter Four

“Don’t.” I raised my hand and looked at him fervently. “It isn’t your fault. I’ve already dealt with the ‘if I had’ notions with myself. What happened has happened.” My fingernails dug into my skin as I thought of Philippa lying on the cold garden path, the blood seeping from her body as she told me to protect Titus and Clarice. As she told me to take hold of my destiny. My next words came out in a whisper as pain suffocated my heart: “There’s nothing we can do to turn back time and get her back. If there were,” I added softly, “I would have already done it.”

The prince next to me didn’t say anything, but from the way his jaw tightened, I could tell I hit a chord. He seemed to make a decision—I saw it in the way his countenance relaxed, as if a great weight were suddenly lifted off of his shoulders. “I will find my father,” he stated abruptly. “For her.”

I closed my eyes against the wind that blew several droplets of saltwater down my cheeks. Saltwater, indeed. “I have no doubt that you will, Titus.”

                                                ————————

“We should reach the port by morning,” the captain explained. “These waters are a bit testy, so we have to tread slowly and be very, very quiet.”

I shivered. The crescent moon and the orange light the lanterns cast created an eerie hue across the entire ship.

“We’ll be snuffing out most of the lanterns,” Captain Patel continued. “So you all go beneath deck and get yourselves some well-deserved sleep.” He produced a grin that reminded me of my father, who I hadn’t seen in two weeks. Where had that man gone off to? And why was I always thinking of him?

“I am so ready for sleep,” Clarice sobbed as she lumbered through the door leading below deck. I rolled my eyes as Lucan and Titus followed her. She had been doing nothing all day except complaining.

I joined the others below deck, but before I could enter my assigned room like they had, Mayra came behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look into her amber eyes. “What is it?”

“Be careful tonight,” she said in a grave tone. “There seems to be something out there. I don’t know what it is, but it is not to be trifled with.”

A chill edged down my spine, creating goosebumps beneath my long-sleeved blouse. “Okay,” I replied, then hesitated. “Is there anything else you want to say to me before we all die?”

The nymph didn’t laugh at my failed attempt at sarcasm. Her eyes narrowed, but all she said was, “Do not take this as a joke, Harbinger.” And with that, she turned down the hall to her room.

I was left alone in the tiny hall. The creaking and groaning of the ship made me bolt inside my room and slam the door. I sank to a sitting position on the other side of the door. In the darkness, I wrapped my arms around myself protectively.

What was that woman trying to do? I was already scared enough as it was! I didn’t need to hear that there were even more monsters out to skin me alive or eat me or—

Stop fretting. You will be fine.

“That’s easy for you to say,” I hissed out loud to Eden. “You’re inside my body. If I die, you just transfer to my father’s body, right?”

I would kill myself before that happened. Besides, she added, he is not related to the Harbinger line. If you die, I die.

I frowned. My mother was an only child, and her relatives died long before I was born. If I was the only one left, then Eden solely depended on me for survival. A thought struck me. “I thought you were immortal, Eden.”