Till the End of Time

Chapter 2 - Blood Ties

The weakened boards creaked as Leila wrapped the creamy coloured cloth which had poorly disguised the blackened marks left upon my skin. I reached forward to take one of the medicine bottles to smear some of the ointment on her swelling cuts. Leila moved away and continued to dress my injuries.

I watched the cloaked figure force themselves through the door and gestured for us to follow them. I glared at them darkly, tightening my grip and hurtled the bottle at them. Blood trailed from the shards as it dripped down.

My breath hitched at the crimson that sunk into the wood. My eyes began to unfocus at the sight of it. Sickening and served only as a reminder of what I had done. The person quickly snatched me up by the arm and forced Leila to come with them.

In a hurried motion of limbs, I was thrown into the railing and slammed my head into the beam. Leila was made to stand next to him, the shadows eagerly awaited what was to come. Sitting at the edge of their seat while they waited for the last actresses. Yet it was not someone who had been in the script before.

Their skin sickeningly pale like snow as the strand of hair dangled from their head. They were scared, frightened, and clearly dishevelled by the appearance. Her eyes bounced between Stormhond, the twins and the darkling. She raised her head, defiance in her eyes that seemed to reflect Leila's.

Alina Starkov, my one and only sister, had arrived, yet she had not spared a glance at me. Her gaze fixated on the man who had robbed us of everything. I wasn't sure of what she was truly mad about. She brushed her hand along the silvery antlers chained around her neck.

Behind her, another man whose gashes remained unhealed and festered with all their might, was towed. Alina called out for the man; she cried out as if her life depended on his survival. Something blossomed in my chest akin to happiness and jealousy. Why did I feel like this? I just want someone to lean on. Leila, are you alright?

The Darkling mumbled something I couldn't hear from my spot. I kept a hand on the wooden beams to avoid tumbling down the deck and summoned a gale to topple the man. The ship rolled around with the sudden onslaught of the wind. The heavy ast quaked with the gust as it blew the wooden craft forward. The other squallers aboard rushed to stabilise the ship, worried about the water that had begun to slosh into the ship from the sides.

"Well, you're certainly a troublemaker. We'll have to keep a closer eye on you," The darkling detailed, "Aithera, was it? What's that you have on your wrist?" He chuckled and motioned for someone to shove me closer to him.

"Watch it, you're hanging by a thread there. You may be my brother, but I will prick you to death," Leila hissed angrily. Though currently being held back by one of the grisha was not doing her any favours as they pressed onto her shoulders. With the way Leila had begun to panic and started to wrestle out of their grip, indicated it wasn't going to be a fun time.

"Ivan, Genya, help me... escort these guests down into my cabin," the Darkling scoffed. Genya grabbed my hands and leaned in close to whisper something in my ear. She feigned attempting to tug me down the stairs while I struggled against her.

"Careful, he isn't going to take it kindly into consideration that she's your sister," Genya whispered. I wanted to hiss back that I'd rather see the whole ship drown than treat my own sister any less of what she deserved. I sighed back knowing it would be useless to hold that against her, after all time has seemed to drive a wedge between us.

Genya yanked me back down the stairs from which I had just emerged from, tired already from all the effort of running all over the ship. I dropped my arms and slacked visibly in hers. My feet dragged along the ground and my tattered cloak now collected the dirt and dust built on the planks.