swaying vision, but it’s not enough to dull it entirely.
I’ve been drunk before, but it’s never felt anything like this. Our “dance” is nothing more than him holding me on my feet as the world once again blurs around me.
“Have you eaten?” His smile is wide and proud, fake for all those watching.
“I heard Ilia and Nelly arguing,” I answer instead, not remembering what he asked me.
“Do you know what it was about?”
“Maybe she was mad because this is all fake?” I laugh into his shoulder, no longer able to see him. My skin is so hot. So sticky. Everything is white. “She must have spent so much money on this party, and it’s all fake.”
I laugh again as the music stops, feeling Bastian tense beneath my hold. “Hang on a second longer. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“Apologies,” someone says. Ferrick, maybe? By the gods, I love Ferrick. “But we’re under strict order to get Her Majesty to her room by a reasonable hour, to prepare her for the rest of her time on Curmana. But please feel free to continue enjoying this wonderful party. Eat, drink, dance!” He says something else that makes the crowd laugh, but I don’t hear it.
Bastian turns my back to the crowd when I can no longer pretend. It’s all I can do to hold his arm and allow him to lead me.
“What’s wrong with her?” Distantly, I recognize the voice as Vataea’s and wonder when she arrived.
“She said it was too much wine,” Bastian says, keeping his voice low. “Just act natural. Laugh or something. Stars, Vataea, you draw too much attention.”
She laughs quietly, as Bastian suggested. But as we get farther away she whispers, “Are you sure it’s the wine?”
“I’m fine,” I try to argue, but I’m not sure if the words ever make it past my lips, or if everyone is ignoring me.
“Food poisoning, maybe?” Casem asks. We must be far enough from the crowd, because my feet slip away from beneath me and my body floods with warmth as Bastian pauses to scoop me into his arms, cradling me against his chest.
“We need to get her to the room without anyone seeing,” Bastian says. “Shanty, a little help here?”
Those words and the press of two warm hands against my cheeks are the last thing I remember.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
When I wake the next morning, the first thing I do is vomit into the metal basin at my bedside.
Though I don’t remember this happening already, something in the way I reached out for the basin, expecting it, assures me this isn’t the first time.
Only after a wave of dry heaves do I notice Bastian’s on the chaise beside me. I startle when I see him, my stomach clenching even fiercer, and his jaw screws tight.
“Looks like you’re awake this time.” He stands to gather my fallen curls in his hands and fasten them back into a clip that hadn’t been there the night before. “Here, drink some water.” Wordlessly, he picks up the basin and disappears with it. Two minutes later and he’s back, placing a clean one next to me. “How are you feeling?”
“Better, I think.” Stomach empty, the nausea has subsided some. No longer is my skin slick with cold sweat, but sticky with the memory of it. “What happened last night? I remember I was dancing, and then we were leaving, and everything after that is … fuzzy.”
There’s a clatter from the bathing room, and both Vataea and Shanty poke their heads out.
“I told you she was awake,” Vataea huffs, slipping out of the room to join us. There’s worry etched into the hard lines of her face, and as Shanty trails in behind her, even she looks concerned enough that my skin crawls.
“You’re scaring me with those faces,” I attempt to tease, but the joke falls flat at the worry in their eyes. “Relax. I had too much wine, but I’m fine, now.”
Ferrick appears then, opening the door of my room carefully as he balances a heavy tray of food. Though I expect one of the elegant gourmet meals that Aunt Kalea and Yuriel have always raved about, I’m surprised to find that everything he’s brought comes from Keel Haul’s stash. Dried meats, cheese, fish, and nuts. Casem follows behind him with a small barrel full of water we had stocked on the ship.
I pinch my brows at it, surprisingly hungry for having thrown up. “They didn’t offer us breakfast?”
“They did. But this is what we’re