Vengeance Throne (The Callistra Chronicles #2)

TWELVE

PART EIGHT — FOREIGNER

Pasiphae of Eo belongs nowhere.

Chapter Twelve

"Can this thing go any slower?" Seth complained. "I swear we're not moving."

Pasiphae cast him an unamused glance from the floor of the boat, where she was lying. She was clutching her stomach too, though she made it out to look worse than it really was. Seth was fuelling the boat with his magic, and since it was such a small use of energy, Pasiphae didn't feel pain, but rather a dull stomachache.

That didn't stop her from reclining back dramatically and letting out the occasional groan. They were a day into the journey, and if she was honest, she could barely feel the twinge at her core anymore, she just wanted to irritate Seth.

"It's your fault we have to use this vessel," Pasiphae said, squinting up against the bright glare of the afternoon sun. "If you had chained down the submarine you arrived in, it wouldn't have drifted out to sea."

As a result, their journey from Medeis to Airesi would take three days instead of the single day-trip that a faery vessel could manage.

Seth glared at her. "Excuse me if I was a little preoccupied trying to find you before my mother declared her war on the world."

Pasiphae laughed, kicking her foot out so it nudged his. "I jest. When do you think we'll cross into eternal day?"

Though Seth tried his best, he failed in his attempts at appearing angry. A grin broke through.

"We might get one more night," he answered, looking up. "The months of the midnight sun are starting to end so we have to be bit farther up the globe to experience it."

"I do hope your windows have shades," Pasiphae said with a grimace.

When she was met with silence, she elevated her neck slightly, looking at Seth curiously.

"What?" she asked, spotting his incredulous expression.

He shook his head. "I'm horrified by the technology you have in Medeis, is all. I'm being serious—I'm importing over a thousand lightbulbs to each sector free of charge once I'm on the throne."

"Wow," Pasiphae droned, "that's so kind of you. I'm sure those lightbulbs will have great use without electrical wiring in the houses."

"A thousand sets of electrical wiring, too, then," Seth added. "Happy?"

"Very," Pasiphae said, even though he would have enough trouble distributing the royal treasury to feed his people first.

Seth sighed then, leaning back and giving up on his bid to make the boat go any faster. He squinted out into the waters, where at the furthest point, the horizon almost seemed curved, the only indication from the ground that Callistra was truly a globe and not flat land.

"I hope Psyche knows to meet us at the docks," Seth muttered, half to himself. "I told her to check every day."

"She has been cruising along to the docks every day since you've been gone?" Pasiphae asked, leaning onto her elbow.

Seth made a flippant noise, ducking down then to start rummaging through the supply bags.

"Don't look at me like that," he scoffed. "Psyche and Charlize are employed to be my guards—they don't have any other jobs save from waiting for my return."

Pasiphae sort of missed the two faery guards. Charlize had been easy to like, with her bright approach to any task—whether it be dish-washing or chasing down a spy. Psyche, meanwhile, had been extremely prickly and referred to Pasiphae only as witch, but the faery had endeared herself to Pasiphae despite it all.