Sea Of Sparks And Shadows

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!

“What did you say?” Amaris asked quietly. She must have heard him wrong. This couldn’t be. “What did you say?” she said again, louder this time.

“Asterin,” he said, eyes glazed. “Asterin Medies. That’s her bracelet. I gave it to her.” He suddenly looked at her with wide eyes, a glimmer of excitement flickered in him. “She’s in Oddelerie? She’s back in her family house? How is-”

“How do you know her?” she pressed. She had a bad feeling about this…

“I…” he trailed off, “she’s my wife.” he admitted.

“What?” A cold wave washed through Amaris as she stared at the captain in a new light.

“She’s-” he started but she stepped back shaking her head.

“No, it can’t be.” she breathed. She tugged at her ponytail and stared at anything but him. “She’s… she wasn’t married and she…”

“By the heavens, who told you that?” he asked with a blaze of fury in his eyes. “Do they still refuse to acknowledge it?”

“They?” she asked.

“Sito and Alexander.” he replied huffing out a laugh. “They never wanted to admit to it.”

“Grandmother and grandfather?” she asked. This was all too much. Too fast. She needed to breath. The information wasn’t sinking in. Instead, it was falling and crashing every picture she ever painted of her past. Everything she thought she knew.

“You’re Cynthia’s daughter?” he asked. “Of course,” he shook his head with a chuckle. “That makes sense that’s why you’re leaving-”

“Why did you leave her?” she found herself interrupting. Her stomach clenched and her heart ached as she waited for the answer. This was it. What she spent years wondering. What had made her what she was.

Any laughter or excitement the captain had shown swiftly disappeared. He looked away and clenched his fist. “I...I had to. I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t want to leave her but...something came up.”

Amaris watched his every move, his every feature, as he spoke. She watched the tenseness of his shoulders, the way his gaze trailed to the shelf full of roses and his eyes glazed over. She watched as his light dimmed and as her own fire burned brighter with fury. So much fury she’d been burying for years. “Bullshit.” she said at last.

“What?” his eyes snapped to hers surprised as if he had forgotten she was still there.

“I don’t believe a single word you say.” she spoke coldly, balling her fists so tightly she was sure her nails would break the skin.

“I’m telling you the truth.” he defended. “I love her I would never have left her of my own will. I wouldn’t have-” he suddenly stopped and his mouth fell open. “Did she- did she tell you that? Does she think that- that I left her behind on purpose?”

Amaris stared at him for a moment longer, scanning his heartbroken expression and gathering her broken voice before she said, just as the first tear spilled out of her eye, “No. No, she didn’t tell me that.” the captain let out a relieved breath, an invisible burden dropping off his back. “She never told me anything. Not one single thing about you. You know why?” she asked. “Because she’s dead.” her voice cracked at the last word.

“Wh-what?” he asked, his face draining of color.

“You heard me. She’s dead. Been dead for a while now.”

“No.” he muttered. “No.”

“And one more thing. I’m not Cynthia’s daughter.” she spat. “I’m her daughter. Asterin Medies is my mother.”

“What?” he reached for a chair to support himself. “Did she remar-”

“No.” Amaris spoke as coldly as her trembling lips would allow. “She didn’t.”

The captain gaped at her as he took in her red hair, so similar to his own, and the honey brown eyes that Amaris was told were the twin’s to her mothers. “Then you’re… you’re my-”

“I’m not your anything.” she snapped. “You lost that right the day you left my mother. And walked away.”

“Listen, Amaris, I-”

“Don’t. I don’t want to hear it.” She walked to the door and opened it with her shaking hand. “Good night, captain,” she said without looking back. She slammed the door shut before he could answer, making everyone near the deck look up at her. None dared to say a word to her, seeing her tear stained face.

She wiped her cheeks furiously and sniffled as she made her way to the main deck. She needed to think. She was burning with questions and her head ached from the day’s events. She had to find a place to sit down and calm down.

She headed towards the barn but noticed that a good amount of the crew were still on the main deck. And with the low swinging doors, she wouldn’t get the privacy she wanted. Ash and Slygrin were likely still in their cabin too. She let out a frustrated breath and looked skywards. Suddenly she noticed something; the crow’s nest. She instantly sprinted towards the main mast then up the rope ladder.

It was only once she reached the top did she notice that it wasn’t empty. As she popped her head through the hole she was disappointed to see that a large figure was already there. She was about to climb back down when Mecheye noticed her and asked gently. “Hey, is something wrong?”

Amaris shook her head unwilling to trust her shaky voice.

“Then why don’t you come up, we can talk.” he patted the space beside him but Amaris shook her head.

“I don’t want to talk.” her voice sounded weak and bratty to her own ears. She hated it. But she figured that she had the right to sound sour, that day, at least.

“Then we won’t.” he spoke calmly. “Just come and sit down.”

Amaris blinked at him, considering, before she hauled herself up, with his help and sat down.

True to his word, Mecheye stayed silent and looked ahead of him, at the dark horizon. He didn’t utter a single word. Not even when her tears started pouring silently again. And for that she was grateful.

All her life she imagined how her father would be. Who was this villain that no one wanted to even mention? Who was this person who helped create her? Who, because of him, her mother was stripped of any respect or titles and instead was honored with a new name. One that never left her even after her death. Whore.

She wondered and wondered about him, but never in her life did she think she would ever meet him. She never asked herself what she would have done or said if she did. And now here she was. On his ship. Surrounded by people who respect him. Consider him a leader. One worthy of such a position. Captain.

And worst of all, she didn’t hate him. Not one bit. She always thought that this man, her father, was a heartless monster who broke her mother’s heart and left her. But this man didn’t look or act the least bit as she expected. Not at all. He was a man who fought alongside others. He was the one who organised a plan to risk his life to save a boy of his crew. He was the person who let her stay on his ship when he didn’t have to and even paid her for her work and made sure she could defend herself. He was a person she respected.

No. he couldn’t be the same person. It was just impossible.

And now he was telling her that he married her mother? He’s telling her that he didn’t leave on his own? Amaris didn’t know what to think anymore. He was lying. He was obviously lying. That had to be the answer. But then again… why was she finding herself wanting to believe him?

Amaris sat in that small space watching the stars and moon, listening to the crashing waves and twisting her bracelet for what felt like forever before she finally spoke again.

“How are your shoulder and forearm?” her voice was raspy and her throat felt dry.

“All healed. The potion worked quickly. It probably will still hurt for a few days but at least I can move it easily.” Mecheye answered casually, no sign of sadness or pity on his face, and Amaris was thankful for it. “They still won’t let me help with fixing the hull though.”

“They’re not done?”

“Almost, they needed more wood. Thank the heavens they got it in time.”

“Why don’t you just use metal?” she asked. “It resists better to cannons, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, but what if they have a metal weaver with them? We’d be screwed before we even bring out our guns.”

“They’re very rare though, aren’t they?”

Mecheye shrugged. “Better not take any chances.”

Amaris nodded absentmindedly,“What’s the next stop?”

“We were supposed to go to Rivera, then Miruina before we reach Paradelia.”

That was good. Amaris started analyzing. Rivera is a pilgrimage center, having the Golden Willow. That means there were ships from all over the grey sea, the continent or otherwise. The only problem was that Paradelia and Rivera weren’t on the best of terms after the former declared itself with no religion a century ago. The rest of the countries worshiping the golden willow, namely the Miruina islands and Manticali didn’t care. Neither did the countries that worshipped the heavens and spirits. But Rivera took it personally. That was alright, Amaris thought. She could still catch a ship to Miruina, then one to paradelia from there.

“Except,” Mecheye continued, “now that the Manticali soldiers are after us, I doubt we’ll take our usual course.”

Amaris slumped down and sighed. “Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.” she murmured. It looked like she wouldn’t be off this ship any time soon. She needed a distraction. “You can’t fix the hull but you can start on the engine, right?”

Mecheye looked at her quizzically but nodded. “Yeah I was going to start on it tomorrow morning.”

“Great.” she chirped, forcing a cheerful smile onto her red swollen face. She stood up. “I’ll prepare things right away.”

“Aren’t you tired?” he lifted his brows.

She shook her head. “No. I want to work. I’ll just do the basics before going to bed.”

“Alright.” he said.

“Oh, and does your offer to teach me sword fighting still stand?”

Mecheye smiles. “Of course, we’ll start tomorrow.”

“Great.” she said before climbing down the ladder and onto the deck. If she was stuck on this ship for heavens know how many more days, she might as well keep her thoughts busy on things that didn’t drag her down to madness.

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!