Tik-Tok (Faeries of Oz, 4)

North grasped Tik-Tok's hand with- out thinking, perhaps because she wanted something to ground her for the short journey. Tik-Tok peered down at their joined hands and arched a brow. She started to pull her hand away, but he gripped it firmly. Her body relaxed into his touch.

North

he wondered how far she would push her demands- how far he would let her-and it spurred something in his chest. Such a difficult little star. His difficult, challenging, spirited little star.

"But, if you think that's the only reason that I've taken care of you, then you're wrong." Then en why?"

"Im tired," she whispered. "Have you been here with me this whole time?" He shrugged. "It hasn't been that long. Less than a day." "You must really want me to open that portal," she said with a roll ofher eyes. "Where does it lead anyway?" "I don't know exactly, but I know I need to go. It's the only thing I want." Tik-Tok

“You can't die," he murmnured to himself. He'd done too much for this portal to fail now. But ... not only that. He genuinely wanted North to be well. To live and sass him another day. Maybe he would even cut her some slack. Or not. It was amusing getting a rise out of her. More amusing than usual.

North, on the other hand, hadn't done anything to Rizmaela. So why? What caused his first mate to shove a dagger in her chest? And would someone else on the ship try to finish the job? Tik-Tok's mind kept circling back to that thought. Respen would find out but what if...? Tik- Tok had led a mutiny against Captain Salt. Was this a cruel twist of fate? To have his crew turn on him? But why now when he was so close to opening the portal?

What shall I tell the crew?" Tik-Tok stood, his knees aching from the hard cobble- stones. "The truth. Rizmaela betrayed me, paid with her life, and I will return to the ship once North has healed. You're my new first mate." He lifted a tired gaze to Respen. The elf should've been his first mate from the start, espe- cially since he knew the reason Tik-Tok wanted the portal open so badly. But he'd insisted he wasn't ready before. They both knew he was now. "Keep them calm and don't let any of them run off. While I stay with North, you need to find out if Rizmaela was working alone or if there are more traitors on board." Respen took a deep breath and nodded. "Leave every- thing to me." Then he was gone.

Tik-Tok

Just as she was about to push up from the table and go inside to get something cool to drink, footsteps crunched from behind her. North whirled around and reached for her axe, when her gaze landed on matted copper hair. "Oh, it's you, Rizmaela."

He leaned forward, his face close to hers, never under- standing personal space, but her heart thumped at his words. "Don't worry. I won't have dessert with Drusile, but my door will be open if you feel like something sweet later tonight." North blinked, and he chuckled.

"Do you want your usual? Glazed boar and roasted pota- toes?" Drusile asked. "We'll both have a plate and also two bowls of the vege- table soup." "Maybe I'll bring dessert to your ship later?" She winked and swayed her hips as she walked back into the building. North knew exactly what kind of dessert she was talk- ing about, and she didn't want to be around for any of that. She avoided looking at Tik-Tok, not wanting to see what expression he'd given to the elf.

Her eyes turned to North. "You have a new guest? I haven't seen this one with you before." "She's temporary, Drusile." North frowned. Temporary?

"Do you want to come with us? We're going to pick up some goods at the market. I'm famished." Echo stepped from the long pier ontoa grassy trail leading in two differ- ent directions. "She's coming with me," Tik-Tok answered, as if he'd been listening the whole time, which he probably had been. Dax rolled his eyes and sauntered up beside Echo and Respen. "She'll be fine with us. I'll keep her safe." Tik-Tok glared at him. "You'll keep her safe as you fuck a female in the middle of the market? She doesn't need to Witness that horror"

After placing it in her tiny hands, he'd Wrapped her fingers around the weapon and shown her how to swing. It hadn't come easy, but she'd practiced every morning with him. Not because he'd told her to, but because she'd wanted to. Tears pricked at her eyes, think- ing about him. Stone. Her family as stone. They wouldn't be that way any longer, but the image of her father frozen, holding his axe in mid-air to save her lingered in her mind.

"My father trained me" North thought about him and how, when she was younger, she'd wanted his axe for her own, even though it had been too heavy. Her father had surprised her one day by having an axe like his made, except in her size.