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Curiosity pricked at me. But her silence made it clear she wouldn’t be giving me anything more.
“What is it you want when all this is done?” she asked.
I shrugged. The pirate queen couldn’t be trusted. I knew that much. Still, she interested me. Her life interested me. Once the barrier was down, she could go anywhere. See anything. “Why would you care?”
“I see a lot of myself in you.”
At that, I turned, facing her. Most people would hunch their shoulders or at least glance away when I turned my disdain on them. Daharak merely laughed.
“I want to be left alone,” I said. “When this is done, I want to go somewhere no one knows my name. I want to start a new life. Alone.”
“You don’t really want that.” She shook her head. “But by the time you learn that, you’ll be half an ocean away.” She tapped her temple. “I like to believe I have a hint of my mother’s sight.”
I ground my teeth at her patronizing tone, and her eyes lit with humor. “I believe I’ll help you with your plans anyway. If we bring down this barrier, find me after the war, and I’ll take you with me.”
The thought danced along my skin. I could practically taste freedom. “Why would you do that?”
“For the same reason I do everything, of course. My own amusement.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
My brilliant mate had outmaneuvered the pirate queen.
And when Daharak learned we’d had Jamic for days—and that Regner himself wanted the barrier down, she would be forced to admit just how well she’d been manipulated.
We would see if her ego would allow her to truly be an ally even if she was forced to work with us.
Traveling this close to the barrier had been…interesting. A few times, Prisca and Madinia had both forgotten it existed. As if the knowledge had been entirely wiped from their minds. When reminded, they’d looked haunted.
Even Marth had succumbed to the barrier’s magic once, which had put him in an even darker mood. Thankfully, the more time we spent in these waters, the less impact the barrier had. All of us were somewhat immune to it now.
The wind was cool as we stood on the deck of Daharak’s ship, drawing closer to the Frosthaven Isles. Clustered around the inlet’s narrow mouth, approximately one hundred of her ships waited, currently being starved by Regner’s ships. According to Daharak, her people would have soon needed to resort to drinking seawater. And while she would have gladly attacked Regner’s ships from the south, using her blood vow with Prisca would mean as few losses as possible.
Regner’s ships had formed an outer ring around the inlet, effectively trapping Daharak’s ships inside.
“A blockade,” Prisca said when she noticed it, her lips white. I leaned down, rubbing my nose against hers in an attempt to soothe.
I knew what was running through her mind. The prophecy.
When bound by blockade’s tightening fist, heed the drifting shadow, else all be lost. To prevail, dance the sails toward the sun.
“Look into the sky, wildcat. There’s no hint of a shadow.”
Firming her lips, Prisca peered up at the cloudless sky and nodded.
Daharak gestured, and one of her men rang a bell farther down the deck. A stream of fire shot high into the sky—her signal to the ships currently trapped by Regner’s soldiers.
Answering fire sparked in the distance, lighting up the sky with flames and smoke.
“They’re ready. Are you ready?” Daharak asked Prisca.
Prisca nodded. “Why is this ship positioned so far right?”
Daharak gestured to the waves on our left. “What do you see?”
“Water,” Prisca said.
Daharak smirked. “I see a hidden coral reef. This ship is marking the reef. My people know they can’t move any farther east than here.”
