Veils of Storm

35. Fate's Plans

Cage had known that drinking wouldn't make his problems go away, but he had never anticipated it would cause other, much bigger ones.

He'd needed to reprieve from the pain, to forget for just a few moments how badly he'd failed his brother and his kingdom. How he'd failed Kat. The fear in her eyes the night they'd returned had killed him.

He'd seen it before, when she was trapped in the castle, before she knew who he was, before she fell in love with him. Fear of the beast and the man he was now after he'd chosen to let it out. It could no longer be blamed on a curse.

He was a monster. A monster who still had so much to do but wanted to forget that for just a few days. At least until Trix hid his rum and he was forced to sober up and face the hangover from the seventh circle of hell.

It wasn't completely gone. His head still throbbed. But what had happened felt like a bucket of ice-cold water dropped over his head.

Jinx was singed. Trix was barely clinging on to life. Kat was responsible, and Jazz wanted her off the ship.

"Understandable, I'd probably do the same, but you can't leave us in the middle of the ocean," he said to Jazz the moment Kat disappeared inside.

"Again, you don't have to go."

Yes, he did, and Jazz was a dick for pretending not to understand this. "You know I wouldn't leave her side even if we weren't bound by magic, don't you?"

"I honestly don't give two shits, Kale."

The use of his real name had Cage flinching. "We'll stay out of your way until we reach the nearest port, and you can drop us off there."

Jazz snarled and indicated his crew. "Don't you care?"

Cage's heart stung and it came with a newly potent throb to his temples. "Of course I care. They're my friends. And speaking of which, we should get them inside instead of arguing over their bodies."

Jazz seemed rattled by the idea, and Cage then realized that their captain was panicking. A silent truce was reached while Jazz picked Jinx up, and Cage grabbed Trix, and they headed for the chamber next to the stateroom, which served as infirmary. The moment Cage left Trix on one of the cots, he stepped back, feeling as if everything was spiraling out of control. What had he missed? What could have happened to leave Trix like this?

Jinx moaned in pain as Jazz lay her down.

"It's okay, love," he whispered. "You'll be fine."

She only whimpered as an answer, and Cage felt like throwing up. What was wrong with him? How could he have let it get this far? On some level, he knew it was his fault. He hadn't been paying proper attention to Kat, had left her to her own devices for too long, even when he sensed that something was wrong. But he'd naively trusted that she'd share her fears with him, anything that gave her pause. She hadn't. Either that, or this was as much of a surprise to her as it was for everyone else.

He needed to get to her, but he was also aware that he couldn't leave things as they were. There was damage control in order.

This could've been avoided if he could only face his failures. But he never could. It was what put him in this position in the first place.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Jazz just growled in return, not taking his eyes of Jinx, holding her hands.

It wasn't helping. It did nothing for her burns. But Cage could understand his panic, he'd felt it before, when he'd almost killed Kat. And just like then, he knew there was just one way to fix this.