Free Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) by Jen Wylie Page B

bodies to toss overboard. The conditions
in the hold had started taking lives already. Once they took one of the women
up. She never came back down.
    She went once to check on Prince. He glared at her.
    She glared back at him. "What?"
    His eyes narrowed and he stared at her for a long
moment before answering. "Why are you with that Fey?"
    The way he said the word Fey spoke volumes. He didn't
seem to like them much. Anger rose up within her at the unfairness of his
attitude toward Kei. As far as she knew, Kei hadn't ever done anything to him,
and he had been so nice to her. "In case you hadn't noticed, I've limited
company."
    His jaw tightened at her flippant remark. "I
meant you now seem attached to his side."
    "I like him," she answered defiantly,
raising her chin.
    His lips tightened into a thin angry line and he
looked away, shaking his head. "You're asking for trouble," he said. "The
Fey can't be trusted."
    "And I can trust you?"
    He looked back at her, his gaze still hard. "Of
course."
    She snorted. "Of course," she mimicked him. "Because
nobles are known for their honesty, truthfulness, and for helping others."
    Judging from the look on his face, her mocking tone
didn't seem to impress him.
    "How's your arm?" She changed the subject
quickly before she got seriously angry.
    "Fine."
    "Good." She turned stiffly and went back Kei
and Avery.
    Kei immediately took another step closer to her as she
stopped beside them. "Why do you have to talk to him?" Kei kept his
voice to a low snarled whisper. "He's obviously doing fine."
    She shrugged, still furious about the whole thing. "He's
alone. Alone isn't a nice thing to be. You're right though, his arm doesn't
seem to be bothering him."
    Kei growled slightly and she tried to smother a sudden
grin at the sound as she glanced over at him. He saw it however, and a small
smile crossed his own lips in response as he reached over and ruffled her hair.
    The ship rolled suddenly and they braced themselves
against the hull.
    The following days played out much the same. She
attempted to speak to Prince a few more times, but he became just as surly on
each occasion. She did feel bad for him though, even if he was a prince. Every
time he glared and snapped at her she tried to remember he was hurt and alone
and pretty much ignored by everyone but her.
    The slavers attempted to pump the water from the hold.
They lowered a long leather hose and Aro heard the sound of billows above. It
worked at first and the water level dropped. The slavers should have cleaned
the hold first. Straw and filth quickly clogged the hose and once again the
water began seeping in quicker than they could pump.
    Sleep became almost impossible. Even though they now
fed them hard rounds of bread every day, it didn't seem to help. Her stomach
seemed continually cramped from hunger. The water continued to rise from a mix
of rain and sea water. By their ninth day at sea it had reached almost to her
knees. Her wet feet drove her crazy and her toes felt swollen in her boots. The
other men grumbled about it, too. There was nothing they could do. At least
they could stand and keep the rest of their bodies dry. The rain never stopped.
It increased every hour, so did the wind and the rolling and pitching of ship
as it rode bigger and bigger waves.
    As the sun set and the hold once again sank into
darkness, she braced herself against the wet hull. The filthy water swelled and
splashed around her with each roll of the ship. Lack of sleep wore upon her.
She was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open. If she went down she
could easily drown. Judging from the growing number of bodies the slavers kept
hauling out and dumping overboard it had happened to some already. Sickness had
also begun to manifest within the horrible conditions of the hold.
    Wrinkling her nose, she smacked the water around her
in frustration. They were trapped. There was nothing they could do. She wished
she had her knives. The cell was empty of anything to