“What did you have in mind, half-breed?”
“A truth for a truth. I’ll ask you a question and you answer it, honestly, and I’ll do the same for you,” I said.
Could I trust him to actually tell the truth? Absolutely not. But maybe I’d get lucky. Maybe he had some honor left in him.
“Your question,” Sol prompted.
“Are you holding Sol, Fin’s sister, prisoner?”
She blinked slowly and watched me carefully.
“I do not hold her prisoner, no,” she said.
Which absolutely told me that either she had escaped, died, or stayed with him in some capacity.
“Your turn,” I said, dreading what awful question he would think up.
“Are you really a virgin?”
Fucking hell. Why was he so obsessed with who I was, or wasn’t, sleeping with?
“Not that it’s any of your business, but if you mean, sexual contact of any kind, then no, I’m not a virgin.”
“You lie,” Sol spat at me. “I can feel the innocence in you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why do you ask if you already know the answer? And like me, you weren’t specific enough. Have I had intercourse with anyone, like his penis in my vagina? Then no. Have I fooled around? Yes.”
“With Fin?” he demanded.
“Sorry, our deal was for one question. Thanks for playing.” I smiled and leaned back on the log, stretching a little. “I see. This isn’t about me at all. Do you have a thing for Fin and you’re jealous?”
Sol surged to her feet, and I could see Esteban beneath the surface now. “I would tear that fairy limb from limb. Especially if he touched you.”
I kept my lips together and watched the outrage play across his features. Then as quickly as he exploded, he settled again, still standing.
“I think we should leave it there for now,” he said.
“I’m not the one in charge of this rodeo. You’re the one who keeps waking me up in the middle of the night. Maybe next time you want to throw a hissy fit about who gets between my thighs, you keep it on the inside like everyone else and let me have my sleep.”
Sol leaned in and hissed in my face. I did the first thing that popped in my head and hissed back. Fuck him and his mind games. I was done with them all.
Then pain flooded my body as did the chill in my bedroom, and the realization that I stared up into the captain’s ghost-like face. He chanted under his breath like he was creating a spell.
“Can I help you?” I squeaked out.
He stopped chanting and looked down at me. “Zoey.”
His voice sounded far away. Like coming from the end of a long tunnel. I had to focus on it and even shutting my eyes to listen stole strength I didn’t have to spare.
“Captain, what do you want? I thought I made myself clear. Right now, I want to lie here and die in peace. No magic, no sendings, nothing in my brain that’s not my own.”
Even as I said it, I could feel the bond bright and shining between Fin and me. I couldn’t see him like I did in my dream, but I felt his steady presence on the other end of the thread that connected us. Healing magic had been flowing down the bond while I slept. Even now, even after walking out on him, Fin wanted to help me.
Was the dream real too? Had I drawn Fin into it, or was it my imagination wanting him there as an anchor?
“Zoey?” The captain said, his voice more urgent this time.
I realized I’d dozed off again and blinked my eyes open to see him still hovering over me, hazy and out of focus.