Ash Princess(Ash Princess Trilogy #1)(54)
When I emerge back onto the deck, the sail is fully open and S?ren is at the helm, his back to me. When he hears me approach, he turns around and immediately laughs at the sight of me.
My cheeks warm. “It was the best I could do,” I say, tugging uncomfortably at the too-big shirt and making sure the trousers haven’t fallen too far down over my hips.
“No, it isn’t that,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s just…strange to see you in my clothes.”
“Not as strange as it feels,” I point out, glancing down at the trousers. I don’t think I could ever get used to wearing men’s clothes.
His laughter subsides. “You still look beautiful,” he tells me, making the heat in my cheeks double. “If you’d like, you can go back in the cabin, where it’s a little warmer.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “I don’t mean any offense, S?ren, but I’ve never seen a room as messy as your cabin,” I tease.
Now he’s the one blushing.
“Besides,” I continue, turning my face up to take in the open sky, “I like it up here.”
When I glance back at him, he’s watching me with a peculiar expression that sets my stomach fluttering. “Do you need help?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “That’s the beauty of W?s. She doesn’t need a crew, just me,” he says before tossing me a box of matches. Small as it is, it’s the most dangerous thing I’ve been trusted with under such little supervision. I can’t even use a steak knife when I eat alone in my rooms, though I don’t know who they think I’ll try to kill. Hoa? Or maybe they’re worried I’ll try to kill myself.
“Can you light that lantern?” he asks, nodding at the one set up on the blanket.
I tell him I can, though I’m not sure that’s the truth. I’ve seen other people light matches, but I’ve never done it myself. My first attempts are clumsy; I snap a couple of sticks before one finally sparks and frightens me so much I nearly drop it. I just manage to light the wick before it burns my fingers.
“W?s,” I echo when it’s lit. I stretch out next to the lantern and lie down on my back, staring up at the black velvet sky above, studded with thousands of diamonds. There’s a chill in the air, but it’s just enough to dull an otherwise warm evening. “You named your ship after the goddess of cats?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We still have about an hour and a half,” I remind him, propping myself up on my elbows and watching as he adjusts the angle of the sail to catch the wind. His white shirt ripples and lifts in the breeze to show the hard muscles of his stomach. I try not to stare, but he catches my look and smiles.
“Fair enough. Give me one minute.” He trims the sail once more and ensures we’re heading in the right direction, then goes down to the cabin to change.
While he’s gone, I lie down flat and stare up at the stars overhead. For the first time in a decade, I’m alone. I’m out of the palace, with the sky stretching out around me and fresh air in my lungs. It’s feeling I never want to forget.
A few minutes later, S?ren comes back and sits next to me, closer than I think he would dare if we were anywhere else. I sit up and lean back on my hands. There’s still an inch between us, but even that space feels like the air in the second before lightning strikes.
“So. W?s,” I prompt.
His ears turn red. “My father gave it to me for my seventh birthday, but it was barely more than a hull then. It’s tradition for a boy to build his own first ship. It took four years before she was seaworthy, and another two before she was anything to be proud of. Now she’s the fastest ship in the harbor.”
“Impressive,” I say, smoothing my hand over the polished wooden deck at the edge of the blanket. “But what does that have to do with cats?”
His fingers pick at a pill in the wool. “The docks are overrun with them, as I’m sure you’ve seen. Of course, the more experienced sailors knew to scatter orange peels on their decks to keep the cats off the boats, but no one thought to tell me that. I suppose they thought it was funny to see an arrogant prinzling step onto his embarrassment of a ship only to find dozens of cats lying in wait. What was worse, the cats took a liking to me. A few of them would follow me around the dock like ducklings trailing after their mother. The men started to call me W?skin.”
Child of W?s. Hardly the most ferocious of nicknames. I give a snort of laughter and try to hide it before I realize S?ren is laughing as well. I don’t think I’ve heard him laugh before, but something’s changed in him since we left the palace. He’s softer, more open here.
I wish he weren’t, because it makes him easy to like.
He shakes his head and smiles. It’s the first time I’ve seen him really smile, unguarded, and it sends all thoughts of plots and murder out of my head completely for an instant. For an instant, I let myself wonder what this would be like if I were just a girl having a secret rendezvous with a boy she might like. It’s a dangerous path for my thoughts to walk, but if I’m going to get him to fall in love with me, he needs to believe I care about him, too. So I can let myself, just for tonight, believe it’s that simple.
“It was a well-earned nickname, I’ll admit,” he says, cheeks reddening. “And I’d taken a liking to the little beasts. They weren’t bothering anyone. The ship was just warm and smelled like fish.” He shrugs. He tries to keep the story light, but there’s a darkness in his eyes that won’t lift.