Alabaster Cities (Kings and Thieves Book #2)

Chapter 15

**sorry if the last chapter got a little dark. Maybe this one can make up for it :) more notes at bottom!! **

Needless to say, they spent the night on The Merchant.

They didn't board the ship until late; the guards kept them a bit longer for questioning.

Everything was so disorganized; Ari had no idea who was in charge, but he took advantage of the general confusion to slip away with his friends at about midnight. No one spoke to them as they left; the palace guests watching them with something like fear.

Not that it was the point, but Ari doubted anyone would want to speak to them about the case after this.

"You don't have to stay with me, you know," Lyla said now, sniffling. The four of them were in her room on the ship; Ari had told Inez to give them privacy. Aveline sat on Lyla's bed, gently stroking her hair.

Jamie didn't seem shaken; only her usual stoic self. Ari could see her dark outline sitting in the corner of the room, steadily flicking a pocketknife in and out of its case. Ready for a fight. He suddenly wondered if she was frightened and wished he could comfort her, wished he had anything to give.

"It's best we stay together," Aveline whispered. "Try to get some sleep."

"I can't." Ari thought Lyla was crying, but he couldn't tell; she was so quiet, her head buried into her pillow as if it could protect her. "I keep seeing their faces in my head. Them, and that poor man from the village." she shivered. "He was in so much pain. Why wouldn't he stop screaming?"

"He was hallucinating." Aveline sighed; a deep breath that stirred the pale locks on Lyla's head. "It's best not to think about it."

"He's going to die, isn't he?"

No one responded.

Jamie stood up abruptly. Ari couldn't see her face in the dark, but the outline of her hands curled into fists at her sides as she exited the room.

Aveline nodded at him. "Go after her."

Ari climbed to his feet. Aveline's voice subsided into a murmur while she spoke to Lyla, and the door swung shut behind him as he left.

"Jamie."

He almost wasn't sure if she could hear him over the wind, but her figure- leaning out on the railing as she looked over the ocean; tensed.

"Are you alright?"

Jamie slowly turned around. Her hands caressed her arms as if to ward off a chill.

The air between them felt charged, rigid. Like two wolves circling each other before a fight.
"Are you?" She countered.

God. Why would she ask that? Why the hell did that matter? She was always raising questions she knew he didn't want to answer; poking at him like a child with a stick.

Ari stared at her, felt her gaze right back, hard enough to see right through him. The breeze pulled a hazel thread of hair from its tie and wound it across her cheek. Ari stepped forward, raised his hand as if to brush the strand away, and then dropped it. Jamie's eyes widened.

What did that mean, when someone made you feel so vulnerable and exposed that you were aware of every breath clawing at your throat?

Jamie broke the spell first. Lowering her eyes, her throat bobbed as she swallowed and backed away from him. She started down the opposite stairwell, towards her room, and Ari let her.

He softly closed the door behind him as he entered back into Lyla's room.

"You've seen death before," Aveline was saying, trying to comfort her.