Page 16 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

“Are these oysters sick?” Jina wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her wrist.

I turned one over in my palm. The shells were different—smaller, thinner, the surface dull where the cavern oysters had always been ridged and heavy. I had only ever worked the thick plump ones from home.

“Hurry, mates.” Ranis threw a hand toward the unopened pile. “Find more.”

His accent came clipped and foreign to my ear, nothing like Russo’s flat drawl. I wondered what part of this world had shaped a voice like his.

“I can’t make the pearls appear.” I tossed an empty shell toward the discard pile on the floor, carefully short of where he stood. “There’s nothing in them.”

Ranis didn’t snap back. He just exhaled and leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching us work with an expression that looked more tired than cruel. On Resse’s ship, Brando would have already made it personal.

Ranis reminded me of Kit—young, innocent, who doesn’t want to be at sea.

I pried open another shell and kept my voice casual. “How long have you been on this ship?”

“Three years.”

“You don’t seem old enough for three years at sea.”

His lips twitched, not quite a smile but close enough. “I’m eighteen. My parents owed the captain a debt they couldn’t pay.” He shrugged and sighed, accepting his fate. “So here I am.”

“Russo took you instead of waiting for coins?”

“Russo takes what he decides is fair.” He said it without any bitterness in his tone, but his green eyes told a different story. “That’s how he operates.”

I turned another shell over in my hands. “He doesn’t seem like the most frightening man I’ve encountered.”

Ranis arched an eyebrow. “He’s wanted in all seven kingdoms in the seven seas.”

“What do you mean by seven seas?” Jina blinked up at him.

He gave her a sidelong glance, the way you look at someone when you can’t tell if they’re teasing. “You don’t know the seven seas?”

“We didn’t get out much,” I said.

He studied us for a moment, then glanced over his shoulder to the door, then back to us.

“Each kingdom borders its own water. The Green Sea belongs to King Aldric in Thornwood. The kingdom of Jeju borders the Golden Sea. The Blue Sea belongs to the ice kingdom of Varen in the north. The Red Sea borders Solara in the east, desert country with hot winds. The Purple Sea belongs to Caelum, the oldest kingdom, they say the gods walked there once. The Yellow Sea is shallow and warm, borders the merchant kingdom of Auris, richest trade routes in the world.”

I counted with my fingers. “And the seventh?”

“The Black Sea.” His voice dropped. “Nobody sails there willingly. Some say it belongs to the gods, or what’s left of them. It once belonged to the Seelie people, but they migrated to Caelum when they conquered the land. Now it belongs to Eldenmoor, what’s left of their old territory, ruled by the queen’s brother.”

The shell in my hand felt suddenly heavier. “Gods? Do you believe?”

“I’m from the Blue Sea. We pray to all the gods when we say grace at the table. Do you?”

I didn’t know how to answer. But surprisingly Jina did.

“I’m from the Yellow Sea.” The lie left her mouth easily, her eyes wide and innocent as ever. I was seeing a different side of Jina. “We believe what we see. Over time, the people have forgotten the gods.”

Ranis nodded. “What about you?”

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Jina had made it look effortless and I had about half a second to match her.

“I—we…” I swallowed. “Jina and I are sisters. We come from the same sea.”

Ranis looked at me for a beat longer than he’d looked at Jina, surprise turning over behind his green eyes. Then he let it go.