and set her feet flat on the floor, ready.
Aenlilea’s face was torn between frowning and smiling, so he just shouted, “Have fun and come back soon,” before the door slammed shut.
Once the ship was closed, my heart jumped along with my stomach. I was sure I was turning green or blue by this point, but thankfully the half-blood was watching Kewyn tug on the controls to prepare for flight, and the kin had not looked at me since we sat down. I closed my eyes as I heard the cords retracting into the ship and we lurched forward. There was a click and a steadily growing roar as the mechanical wings began working to steer us into the air.
Kewyn sighed heavily. I kept my eyes closed, but I hoped she was smiling. “The cold air’s actually going to help us. That balloon should easily carry us as high as we want to go.”
I leaned back, trying to quiet my mind as it began worrying about going higher than we wanted to. Kewyn had control over the ship, though, right? I was definitely feeling ill, and someone beside me had finally noticed.
“Are you alright?” Levent said so quietly I could hardly hear him over the roar inside the ship.
I just shook my head, not willing to open my eyes or mouth for fear of what would happen. A shock ran through me as a warm hand wrapped around my clammy one. I held the edge of the cushion with a death grip. I did not want to know whether the half-blood was seeing this, or what conclusions he was making. If the warm and steady hand of the kin on mine was did not make me feel so much better, I would have protested.
I tried not to feel the sensation of moving in the ship, and instead concentrated on the heat of that hand traveling into mine. Breathing deeply, I began to calm down and my ears adjusted to the change in pressure as we rose. The heat of the engine below kept us surprisingly warm as we slowly rose into the freezing winds.
If I ignored the fierce roar of the engine, I could swear we were just sitting on a normal boat at sea. I chuckled, as I never would have thought of a ship as comforting before this point.
I pushed my mind away from the airship and moved to thinking of Bolivar and the rest of the crew aboard the Lady Theatus. By now they had delivered their goods from Bain to Lykwain and were off on the seas toward the Volin Isle again. At the