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omeone was breathing in my face. With each breath a strand of hair tickled my nose, making me flinch. It didn’t smell all that great, either. My eyes flickered open with some difficulty. The back of my neck pulsed with pain, and my vision went blurry for a few seconds.
Finally focusing, I found myself face-to-face with an unconscious Levent Itzallion.
A little squeak of surprise passed my lips. I tried to scoot away, but found my wrists and legs tied together behind my back.
“Quiet,” whispered Levent sternly, opening his eyes.
Apparently he had only been pretending to sleep. My cheeks flushed, realizing how close his face had been to mine and that he had done nothing to distance it.
“Where are we…?” I wondered aloud, getting no answer from the dragon-kin. He was tied up as well, and sporting a rather nasty wound on his forehead.
The room we were in looked a lot like a storage closet. There was a tiny window in the wall above me, and a lamp dangling from the ceiling illuminated piles of rope and boxes. I watched the lamp with a sickening feeling in my gut. It was swinging back and forth, and I could feel the instability of the room.
We were on a ship.
I sat in silence, listening carefully to the hull creaking against the pounding of the sea. I could just barely hear footsteps on the deck, far above us. It was a large ship, likely built for cargo, and sailed by an equally large crew. Whatever reason these people had for capturing the only two immortals in Bain Port, they must have been powerful – and pretty determined – to bring the dragon-kin to the ground.
Footsteps approached, and the door swung open. I looked up to find a pale man with long, auburn hair and an eye patch smiling toothily at me. Behind him stood a dark-skinned man with a beard who looked very serious. I just glared at them.
“What do you want?” I growled, not liking how happy the first man looked. Levent seemed to have returned to feigning unconsciousness and attracted none of their attention.
“Apologies for the rude treatment, milady,” the redhead said.
I immediately recognized his voice. He was the one who invaded my room at the inn, and had somehow seen my attack in the dark. I scowled pointedly at him, and