Crystal Caged (Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles Book 5) by Elise Kova

Author:Elise Kova [Kova, Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949694161
Publisher: Silver Wing Press
Published: 2020-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

A surreal sense of familiarity crept up on Vi as she stepped foot on the Stormfrost for a second time that felt like the hundredth. Much like the first time in her own world, the crew had gathered on the main deck. Adela was among them, identical to how Vi had first seen her, down to her icy cane.

Vi stood, motionless. The crew around her rigidly maintained their positions. They were the string of an invisible bow that Adela held in her frigid grip. One word, and they would lunge to strike clean through her heart.

Adela, for her part, wore a slightly amused smile. She stared at Vi and Vi at her. They waited each other out in the stillness, waited to see who gave first.

Vi knew it wouldn’t be her. Time was one of the many things she had on her side. Time had made her very patient.

“You claim to be the one who broke my magic in Oparium.” Adela’s tone and look told Vi that she sincerely doubted that fact. “I thought the claim insanity. Perhaps just as much as your claim of being Yargen’s Champion returned. Or maybe the real insanity is you willingly coming to the Stormfrost like a sheep to slaughter.”

Adela smirked and the flash of blades being drawn caught Vi’s eye. The crew looked at her like a prime cut of meat.

“I did not come here for slaughter,” Vi said calmly. “I came to strike a deal with you.”

“Yes, so you claim. Get to the striking, girl.”

Vi was discovering one of the greatest annoyances of her current state was perpetually looking like she was eighteen. “Not among your crew.”

“Any deal you strike with me can be done here and now,” Adela insisted. Vi slowly shook her head. “Then I will let them kill you.”

“It’d be a shame for me to raze everything you’ve built and kill every man and woman on this ship simply because you are stubborn.”

“You think you can kill us?” a pirate broke rank and shouted.

“Do you doubt me?” Vi looked to the man and watched as he took a step backward. She turned her eyes back to Adela. “I will not speak among the rabble. This is your last chance. Parlay in private and have everything you desire. Or meet your end. I care not. The vortex continues with or without you.”

Adela narrowed her eyes slightly. “Very well, come to my cabin.”

The crew parted for their captain. Vi could feel their eyes gouging at her throat, making up for what their weapons could not do. But they made no motion against her. As long as Adela tolerated her, so would they.

Adela led her back to an entrance underneath the quarterdeck. It opened into a large cabin with windows lining the stern of the vessel. Ice stretched between beams of wood in place of glass, the world beyond blurred through the frost. A large desk was opposite a bed. Shelves lined the wall to her left, the books and scrolls held in by narrow rails.

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