“He’s killing her!” Elaina turned to Alessa, and then back to Jaimin. “Stop it!”
“Let him finish,” Alessa said.
“Are you both mad?” Elaina cried. “This is wrong!”
A familiar white glow began to form around Jaimin’s hand. It quickly spread, saturating the girl’s limp body.
The girl opened her eyes, took in an extraordinarily deep breath, and looked up at the morning sky with a glorious smile on her face. The white light faded.
Elaina shook her head in disbelief.
“What’s your name?” Jaimin asked the girl.
“Jewel,” she said.
“General,” Jaimin said, “have Jewel brought onto my ship.” General Jorge nodded to his men, who led her away.
“Uh…uh…how…how did you know Jewel wasn’t going to die?” Elaina asked. “How did you know the divine spirit wanted her to live?”
“I just knew,” he said. “I wouldn’t have pushed it that far if I wasn’t sure.”
“I can’t believe I just watched you murder someone.”
“She’s going to be fine,” Jaimin said.
“I know, but…” said Elaina. Just then, she noticed two more soldiers approaching, dragging the second assassin: an older girl, who looked to be unconscious. Both the girl and the soldiers were scratched and bloodied. The soldiers let her body fall to the dock.
“This one’s dead,” one of the soldiers told the General. “Broke her neck in the scuffle with us.”
Jaimin knelt to repair the girl’s body, but the divine light wouldn’t flow. Elaina knelt and tried as well, with no success.
“Who broke her neck in the scuffle?” General Jorge asked.
“I did, sir,” said the other soldier. He was cradling his arm and looked to be in serious pain. “Wasn’t aiming to. It just happened.”
“Well done, soldier,” said the general. “Looks like you need fixing up.”
Jaimin stood, and said, “Please, let me see it. Hold still.” Without a second thought, he tuned out and repaired the soldier’s broken arm and two broken ribs.
When he awoke from his mending trance, Jaimin was so sleepy his knees gave out, and Alessa caught him. “See you in a while, kid,” Alessa whispered in his ear, and Jaimin fell fast asleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Eight hours later, Jaimin awoke in the captain’s bed on the Sentinel.
Elaina lay asleep, on her back, right next to him.
He lifted up their shared blanket and peered beneath. A thin satin nightgown spilled over the curves of Elaina’s body. Her chest rose and fell with slow breaths. He felt her warm arm against his side.
Jaimin was in his nightclothes. His body felt clean, as if someone had bathed him while he was out.
Letting the blanket settle, Jaimin took in a deep, slow breath. Is this real? he asked himself. Was Elaina really back?
He turned and leaned in toward her ear. Her hair gave off the fragrance of a sweet Celmarean flower Jaimin recognized from the palace. He kissed her ear and she stirred. “Mmm,” she said, wiggling.
He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers, and then guided them down her neck, over her breast and down her belly, and he continued down her leg as far as his hand would extend. He felt it when the chill of pleasure ran up her back.
She rolled, pushed him backward onto his back, and climbed on top of him, lowering her face to his, with her loose hair spilling down, creating a darkened space where their faces were close. Elaina’s eyes were open now, and they gleamed with the fire of passion for Jaimin and for life, just the way he remembered. He reached around her hips and held her body tightly to his.
It felt like her absence had just been some horrible dream that he’d finally awakened from. He wanted so much to believe that Elaina was indestructible—that she would be this wonderful forever.
She kissed him gently.
“I’m sorry I left you,” Elaina said. “I’m back now. Alessa told me the whole story while you were sleeping.”
“Just never leave again.”
“I won’t,” she said, flashing an irresistible smile.
She engaged him in another kiss. Everything about the kiss was reassuringly familiar—it felt just like the ones they had shared so many times before.
Catching her breath, Elaina slowly slid off of Jaimin and lay back down on her side. She began to caress his body with her hand, trying not to tease him too much.
“Do you remember what happened?” Jaimin asked her. “You were hit by an arrow.”
“Alessa told me, but I don’t remember that,” she said. “I must have been instantly killed.”
“But you do remember healing your father?”
“Yes—that much I do.”
“And, after that, what do you remember?” he asked.
“After that I was…underwater. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I took a deep breath, and salt water filled my lungs. I panicked and tried to draw air from the water like Alessa had taught me, but with my lungs already flooded it didn’t work. I was drowning, and that’s…when the light appeared. Fortunately, I didn’t suffer for long.”
“You don’t remember visiting the spirit world before you awoke?” Jaimin asked. “You didn’t go anywhere during those days in between the funeral and today?”
“Not that I remember.”
“Hmm.”
“Jem, my love, you must have been suffering the whole time I was gone,” she said. “When you attacked Jewel, I felt how much pain you had stored up inside.”
“None of that matters now,” Jaimin said.
“Well, yes it does,” Elaina said. “You still have all those awful memories of losing me.”
“I will heal,” he said.
She leaned over him and kissed him again. “Soon, very soon, I’m going to marry you,” she said.
“I’ll go get the captain—he can marry us right now,” Jaimin said.
“Oh, how exciting! No, I still want the ceremony to happen a certain way,” she said. “It will take some planning. But I promise you, it will be soon. And then we’ll belong to each other, body and soul, in the eyes of all the world.”
Jewel was escorted to the mess for her own meal after the rest of the crew’s supper had been cleared away. As Jewel was savoring her fish soup, Jaimin, Elaina and Nastasha entered and sat across the table from her.
“Hi Jewel,” Jaimin said.
“Your Highness,” Jewel replied, with a cheeky smirk.
“I’m sure you know Elaina and Nastasha.”
“Yes, I’ve spied on Nastasha quite frequently lately. And I spent a bit of time with the lovely Elaina before I dumped her in the sea. My apologies for that, Your Majesty. I couldn’t imagine you would ever awaken.”
Elaina looked down, unsure of what to say. Jewel took another sip from her soup spoon.
“Tell them what you think of me now,” Jaimin told Jewel.
“You know…” Jewel said with a wider smile now.
“Yes, I know. But everyone else needs to understand how my healing affected you. Can you describe how it felt?”
“Well,” she said, setting her spoon in her bowl and picking up her bread roll. “You know those days when everything is working out your way? You feel tall. You feel strong. Like you can do anything.”
“Like your soul is unrestrained?” Jaimin suggested.
“Ah, yeah. That’s a good way to put it,” Jewel said. She examined her roll to figure out the best place to take the first bite from it. “I went from the worst pain and fear I’ve ever felt to the best I’ve ever felt—both thanks to you.”
“Was it worth the pain?” Jaimin said.
She looked at him like he was strange, and then took a generous bite from her bread, chewing it slowly like it was the best thing she had ever tasted. Eventually she said, “Why are you asking me these things? You know, because you and I are…”
“You’re what?” Nastasha asked Jaimin.
“Connected,
” Elaina said. “Their souls are bound. Just like mine is bound to yours and to all those others I’ve healed.”
“Yeah,” Jewel said. “For as long as I live, I’m sure I’ll do anything Prince Jaimin asks. But I don’t feel like a slave.”
Nastasha remembered the time Elaina had healed her, and she wondered if she would do anything Elaina asked. She did feel a deep affection for Elaina, and she had to admit she would find it hard to ever go against Elaina’s wishes.
“Did she live?” Jaimin asked.
“Who?” Jewel asked.
“The girl who was with you in Arra the night you shot me,” he said.
Jewel paused before answering much longer than most people would have. “No, she didn’t live,” she said. “She was my sister.”
“I’m sorry you lost her,” Jaimin said.
“Don’t be,” Jewel said. “It was her or you. She wanted to follow the new orders and kill you. I wanted to seek your help. Her arrow would have hit you in the face if I hadn’t knocked her arm.”
“You saved Jaimin’s life?” Elaina asked.
Jewel chose not to answer. She had brought up some larger fish chunks from the bottom of her bowl and was admiring them as they rested in her spoon.
“Why did you shoot my horse after that?” Jaimin asked.
“I was trying to stop you,” Jewel said. “You were getting away. You were my hope. You can’t let hope get away. But you did get away, so I had no choice but to return to my miserable life. I carried my sister’s body home.”
“Why didn’t you refuse your orders in the first place?” Nastasha asked.
Jewel glared at Nastasha like how dare she ask. “Do you know what the punishment is for that?” she asked. “Do you know what happens to those who refuse orders?”
“Torture?” Elaina guessed.
“Worse,” Jewel said. “They’re eaten.”
“Augh! How could someone kill and eat a person?” Elaina said, shuddering.
“Oh, they’re not killed,” Jewel said. “They’re held down, and their friends are forced to eat them alive, starting at the fingers.”
Nastasha felt sick and almost passed out. Jaimin put his arm around her, supporting her. “Have you ever been made to…eat someone?” Nastasha asked Jewel.
Jewel nodded and watched the others digest her response. And then she said: “Many of my friends showed their contempt in ways that got them punished. We tried to come up with little ways of making it easier on them. But we ate them all the same.”
“My heavens,” Nastasha said. “How can you make getting eaten alive easier on someone?”
“Well, we…”
“You don’t have to answer that, Jewel,” Elaina said. “Please, Nastasha, we don’t need to know.”
Jewel slammed her spoon down onto the table, startling everyone else. “Look, none of us enjoyed it. We were all angry. To protest my pathetic life, I chose to have poor aim. It was all I could get away with if I wanted to survive. I must have hidden my true feelings well, because despite my clumsiness they kept giving me more responsibility. Yes, I saved you, prince, and not just then, this morning too. But I finally, finally, finally have what I want now: your help.”
“I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through,” said Elaina.
“Don’t try,” said Jewel.
“Were you ever approached by a man who tried to…unnaturally read or influence your thoughts?” Jaimin asked.
Yet again, Jewel delayed responding, taking another bite of bread while staring Jaimin down the whole time. Nastasha and Elaina were getting used to the girl’s odd communication style. “Are you talking about the tutor?” Jewel replied.
“Yes.”
“I’ve never met him, but I know about him. It’s not like you think. The tutor didn’t play his mind tricks on people that often. We were controlled through fear. But those closest to the grandmaster—yeah, they’re under the tutor’s spell. You can tell.”
“The grandmaster? Is that who gave you your orders?” asked Jaimin.
“Uh huh.”
“Is he a hand taller than me, messy grey hair, one normal eye and one eye a bit…scary?” Jaimin asked.
“That’s him,” she said.
“Do you know where the grandmaster is now?” asked Jaimin.
“I…know where he probably is. In his bunker, northeast of the city. But there’s fifty trained soldiers between him and fresh air. You’d need an army.”
“That’s not a problem. We have three armies,” Jaimin said. “Tell us about this bunker.”
Jewel gave them the location of the bunker, and all the details she knew about its defenses. Nastasha used up five scrolls taking notes. Jewel’s unnaturally long pauses between her statements gave Nastasha plenty of time to transcribe everything. After they had extracted all the knowledge they could from Jewel for the time being, they thanked her, and Nastasha escorted her back to the small room where she was being held under watch.
“What an odd girl,” Elaina said.
“I think she’s brilliant,” Jaimin said. “She just didn’t learn to communicate the same way we do.”
“That’s for sure.”
When Nastasha returned to discuss the next steps, Jaimin and Elaina were staring lovingly at each other, having a conversation in their minds.
“Look,” Nastasha said, “for the benefit of us ‘normals’ can we please discuss this out loud, using words?”
“Sorry,” Elaina said.
“I know where this is leading,” Nastasha said. “Jaimin, you want to ‘kill’ the purple army soldier by soldier, and then ‘heal’ them to gain their loyalty.”
“Maybe she can read our minds,” Jaimin teased.
“Maybe I can,” Nastasha said.
“The white light did make allies out of the Destaurian prisoners, and it turned my father into a new man,” said Elaina. “Although, the difference is that the prisoners, and my father, were sick.”
“Well, those twins running around in purple are as sick as they come,” Nastasha said. “They’re eating each other alive.”
“You heard what Jewel said,” said Elaina. “They’re not sick. They’re controlled through fear and conditioning. I bet many of them would be happy to come over to our side if given the chance. Can we justify bringing them close to death just to gain their allegiance, when there may be nothing else wrong with them?”
“If they aren’t brought somehow to our way of thinking, we’re always going to live in fear,” Jaimin said. “It’s our survival or theirs.”
“I just don’t know if that’s what the divine spirit wants,” Elaina said. “Maybe people need to choose to be loyal. Yes, Jewel was healed afterward, but in that moment when her heart was being crushed—surely the panic…the pain… Every single moment exists for all time. Do we want to create a thousand moments like that?”
Nastasha said, “Jewel went through a moment of pain, but now she’s more alive than ever. And with a hundred—two hundred—five hundred skilled warriors like her, maybe we would have the chance for a lasting peace.”
“That look in Jewel’s eyes when you were killing her—the horror,” Elaina said. “I love you, Jem, and I understand your anger, but that look still haunts me. There are lots of people in the world who aren’t going to be loyal to us. Plenty of people who carry around feelings of guilt and confusion from the past. My father was an exception—he was under a spell. But do we now need to kill everyone else and bring them back just to make sure they’re on our side?”
“Not everyone,” Jaimin answered. “Just the purple army.”
Elaina sighed deeply.
Jaimin asked the guards to bring Jewel back.
“Jewel,” Jaimin asked her, “What would you think if we healed the others in your army like I healed you?”
“Do it,” she said.
“Is it worth the suffering? Being brought close to death?” Elaina asked.
“Why are you even asking this? Of course it’s worth it,” J
ewel replied. “I feel stronger than I ever have. How could I not wish the same for my sisters and brothers?”
They had the guards take Jewel away once again.
“What if they are unconscious and they don’t feel the pain?” Nastasha suggested.
Jaimin and Elaina took a turn propelling the ship, which was not such a good idea, as the strangely erotic process of Celmareans working together nearly drove them to a sexual climax several times, which might have flipped the vessel. The first mate had to repeatedly come over to poke them irritatingly to distract them when it seemed like they were about to doom the voyage.
After a while, Jaimin convinced Elaina to head down to bed. He had slept most of the day, so he felt he could continue the effort a bit longer.
But Elaina couldn’t sleep. Alone in bed, she struggled with the morality of Jaimin’s plan.
As dawn broke, Elaina knelt by Nastasha’s bunk and woke her.
“Good morning” Elaina whispered.
“Hi,” Nastasha said, coming around. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I just came to talk.”
“What’s on your mind?” Nastasha asked, fluffing her pillow and sitting up slightly so she could see Elaina better in the poor light.
“I’ve decided to endorse Jaimin’s plan,” Elaina said. “I’ll even help carry it out.”
“Well, that’s great. It’s good to know we’re all together on this,” Nastasha said.
“I’ve been up all night thinking about it. Just—like you said—we need to find a way to knock them out so there’s no pain,” Elaina said.
“I’m sure we can figure out something.”
“How have you been feeling?” Elaina asked. Nastasha knew that Elaina was referring to her pregnancy.
“Yesterday I was a bit dizzy—not sure if that’s just seasickness.”
“Let me know if you need help, or if you ever just want to talk. Although I’m not an expert on babies,” Elaina said.
“Didn’t you help deliver Ia?”
“Yeah,” Elaina said, smiling, “I suppose I did. I can’t imagine two coming out, though.”
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