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Genya sat at the edge ofnow? I tried to shake the cobwebs froe of nausea The unpleasant s to settle , shaky breath

Genya wore a red kefta embroidered in blue, a coared in flawless curls, and she looked more lovely than any queen She held a tin cup to my lips

"Drink," she said

"What is it?" I asked warily

"Just water"

I tried to take the cup from her and realized my wrists were in irons I lifted , but I was parched I sipped, coughed, then drank greedily

"Slowly," she said, her hand s the hair back fro?" I asked, glancing at Ivan, who leaned against the door watchinghave I been out?"

"A little over a week," Genya said

"A week?"

Panic seizedmy heart rate to keep me unconscious

I shoved to my feet and blood rushed to my head I would have fallen if Genya hadn’t reached out to steady me I willed the dizziness away, shook her off, then stuy circle of glass Nothing Nothing but blue sea No harbor No coast Novyi Zeht the tears that rose behind my eyes

"Where’s Mal?" I asked When no one answered, I turned around "Where’s Mal?" I de wants to see you," he said "Are you strong enough to walk, or do I have to carry you?"

"Give her a minute," said Genya "Let her eat, wash her face at least"

"No Take me to him"

Genya frowned

"I’m fine," I insisted Actually, I felt weak and woozy and terrified But I wasn’t about to lie back down on that bunk, and I needed answers, not food

As we left the cabin, ere engulfed in a wall of stench--not the usual ship se and fish and bodies that I re far worse I gagged and clalad I hadn’t eaten

"What is that?"

"Blood, bone, rendered blubber," said Ivan We were aboard a whaler "You get used to it," he said

"You get used to it," retorted Genya, wrinkling her nose

They brought me to a hatch that led to the deck above Ivan claer to be out of the dark bowels of the ship and free of that rotting stench It was hard cli with my hands in irons, and Ivan quickly lost patience He hooked ulps of cold air and blinked in the bright light

The whaler was lu at full sail, driven forward by three Grisha Squallers who stood by thearound their legs Etherealki, the Order of Suo, I’d been one of thehspun, and rip the ship’s slippery deck No uniforms, I noted So they weren’t military, and the ship flew no colors that I could see

The rest of the Darkling’s Grisha were easy to pick out ahtly colored kefta, but because they stood idly at the railings, gazing out at the sea or talking while the regular sailors worked I even saw a Fabrikator in her purple kefta, propped up against a coil of rope, reading

As we passed by two ot a fierce whiff of the stink that had been so powerful below

"The try-pots," Genya said "Where they render the oil They haven’t been used on this voyage, but the smell never fades"

Grisha and crewth of the ship When we passed beneath the irl fro like two birds of prey, watching us with olden eyes

So it hadn’t been a dream at all They’d been in my cabin

Ivan ledHe stood with his back to us, staring out over the bowsprit to the blue horizon beyond, his black kefta billowing around him like an inky banner of war

Genya and Ivan made their bows and left us

"Where’s Mal?" I rasped,didn’t turn, but shook his head and said, "You’re predictable, at least"

"Sorry to bore you Where is he?"

"How do you know he isn’t dead?"

My stomach lurched "Because I know you," I said with more confidence than I felt

"And if he were? Would you throw yourself into the sea?"

"Not unless I could take you with me Where is he?"

"Look behind you"

I whirled Far down the stretch of the , I saw Mal He was flanked by Corporalki guards, but his focus was trained onforseized ged I hated the desperation inlike fools and calling it heroic"