Blood of Deception [ON HOLD]

Chapter Thirty Three

It wasn't getting better. Her condition only worsened the minute she set foot into the cabin.

Meiyue sat on what appeared to be like a bed frame. The bare platform was built slightly upraised from the floor, in a rectangular form that she believed was meant to lay the futon mattress upon to sleep. Her cold feet hid between the folds of her dress, sprawled on the tatami mats that covered the floor, gray fabric upon ivory.

The maid assigned to the journey with her had disappeared from the cabin moments after they had settled their things inside, with hands to her stomach as she scrambled out screen-doors with an utmost urgency, and had not returned.

Meiyue summoned everything in her to concentrate on the basic task of inhaling and exhaling, but the vertigo aggravated being on sea. The pair of oil lamps drooping from the ceiling swayed in dizzying rhythms as the boat rocked on audible waves crashing against their procedure. She wasn't sure if the room was dim, adding to the lanterns were two portholes exposing daylight outside, or if her vision was the cause. Her stomach churned unbearably and she was sweating despite the chills that made the hair on her arms stood.

Something acidic surged at the base of her throat. She forced it down, and eyed the clean room for a possible outlet. The cabin was divided into two sections, with the antechamber being at the other side of the door. They had the leisure to stick tapestries of cranes on the wall headers, but an inward bath room seemed worthless of their time.

Fed up with the agonizing space, she dragged herself up to the door. The cabin spun. She stepped past the sunken hearth in the antechamber and finally out to the illuminated corridor. Identical lanterns flashed out to the end of the hall that spread to on both sides, reflecting off the polished walls. The expensive woods of the ship emitted a rich, earthly scent as she randomly trod on the carpet. Nobody was in sight, the silence like velvet. Eventually, she came across a set of stairs, leading upward. Light shed down like beams of hope along with noises of activities being performed on board.

She emerged out from protective shades beneath onto the side of the huge deck. Massive sails stretched on high, sturdy masts on the platform. Ropes of all kinds, some tied, some discarded on connecting beams, entangled the spars in complex knots. Old-looking casks and chests lined the boat's railings, not giving out the slightest hint of what the content might be.

Meiyue went to the railing and doubled over her breakfast. Several of the guards sounded at the forecastle and more were at the helm above operating the ship. The implements on the deck shielded her from sight by a large fraction. She gagged at the sour aftertaste left in her mouth, feeling her insides easing a little, then wiped her lips with a piece of cloth.

Cold, continuous gusts whirled from the east, the direction in which her back was turned to, the direction of home. Her hair flew like panicking wings eager to return. She clutched the coat tightly around her body as she watched the ocean below, but the nips would always find a way to creep past. Heat oozed from her eyes, her nose, her ears, and limbs. She was burning, yet shivering and aching, in and out.

"Your Highness," spoke an imperial guard from behind. "A forthcoming storm is predicted. We advise you to rest below."

Meiyue glanced at the sky, laden with dark clouds gathering. "Give me a moment of air," she pleaded, noticeably weak. "Please." The thought of returning below battered her spinning head.

"We hold the responsibility for your safety," he stated.

"When the storm comes, I will go. I just need a minute to breathe, is that not allowed?" Bile rose to her throat again.

"Of course it is," a deep voice responded.

She turned and saw the imperial prince making his way to them. His hands were tucked behind his back, allowing a full view of his decent frame. Despite being smaller than Yuzhe in size, his solid shoulders nevertheless foreshowed a deadly strength to a likewise dignified face with cutting eyes. As they should be, the two black blades did not separate from his waist.