Curse Breaker (2)

31

My heart goes into overdrive. I'm deathly afraid of him, too. Because I've felt physical pain. I've hacked at my own ankle and felt a stab wound. But none of those compare to emotional wounds. And Killian left a large one of those across my heart. And yet, the feel of his hand on mine, the way he looks at me...

I take a step back from him. His hand drops away, the cold engulfing me. I force a smile.

"Good," I say, clearing my throat awkwardly. "You should be scared of me."

He watches me closely, eyes dark and serious. A beat of silence passes between us, then another.

Clearing my throat, I gesture over my shoulder. "I should check on Casimir."

He doesn't say anything, simply nods, and turns back around. I shake my head and force myself to move away, trying and failing to shove Killian from my thoughts. The farther I walk, the more frustration rages through my body. I wish more than anything that I could read his mind, hear his true thoughts. Because since the day I met him, Killian was a master manipulator.

I won't allow myself to fall for a trap again. I can't. Because if these are our final days, I can't afford to spend them thinking of somebody who I'm not entirely sure will think of me.

***

The first sight of Torinne arrives as Aren predicted, by mid-afternoon. It looms in the distance, a mound of land undulating for miles across the line of the horizon. The sky, brightened by the mid-afternoon sun, shines a deep blue, not a cloud in sight.

This eases the anxiety in my stomach as we sail closer, even though I know it shouldn't. The cloud has nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with something we can't predict.

It could pass through at any moment, only the immediate shifting of the weather an urgent clue. Unpredictable and unforgiving. A chill crawls down my spine.

When Torinne first appeared on the horizon line, Casimir and I had been the only ones above board to witness it. But slowly, as the shape grew bigger, the crew filtered up the stairs and onto the deck, staring out wordlessly at the country. I wonder how many of them are seeing Torinne for the first time.

It takes less than thirty minutes for the land mass to turn into something more concrete. I can't take my eyes off it. In comparison to the coast of Elel, Torinne has no flattened land that I can see. Only rolling hills that tower high into the sky.

Juem appears beside us at the wooden railing. I drag my eyes from Torinne to glance sideways at him, examining his expression. A conflict of emotions rise to his face. Fear, relief, pain--I can't quite pull them apart. Behind him, Lei and Killian stand on the bow of the ship, backs to me and eyes cast towards the land ahead.

"This is Torinne?" Casimir asks from the other side of me.

"This is Torinne." Juem's tone is as even as I've heard it, his lips pulling into a tight line. He raises a finger, pointing towards the mouth of opening inland. It appears to blend into land right around the corner, blocked by the hill. "Right there, that's Catel fjord."

"What is a fjord?" I ask.

"A long and narrow body of water that leads far inland."

Casimir's eyes glaze over the opening. "Like a river?" He sounds doubtful.

Juem shakes his head. "A river is shallow and freshwater. A fjord is deep, part of the ocean, surrounded by cliffs. The Catol fjord was particularly famous across all of Torinne for its rugged beauty, but now..." he trails off. "Now it sits alone, nobody to gaze upon its beauty."