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***
Cold.
Everything is cold. I feel it at my cheek. Clinging to my fingers. Seeping in through my clothes.
My eyelids are heavy, but I manage to open them. They’re met with bars. Am I back in my cell?
No.
Beyond the bars is not the interior of a ship, but sand and trees. I hear the rolling of waves not far off, though I can’t see the shore.
I am alone.
The trees rustle in the wind. I shiver through the cold. Creatures slither and crawl on the ground, making their way through the undergrowth. The sounds of the night do not frighten me.
No, it is the cage that frightens me. I am without song. Without my lockpicks. Without any company at all.
For the first time in a long time, I am truly afraid.
***
It is morning before anyone approaches me.
I do not recognize the man. He’s tall, though not as tall as my father. Bald on top of his head, a brown beard on his chin. Five gold hoops hang from his left ear. His clothes are fine, yet roguish. He has a sword and pistol at his hips. Though I can’t imagine he has to use them often. He looks as though he’s built out of solid muscle, but I bet I could take him were I not locked up.
He pulls something out of his pocket, an orb of some sort. Ah, it’s the map. He tosses it up in the air and catches it lazily. A show for my benefit.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks. His voice sounds exactly as I would expect—deep and demanding.
“Am I supposed to care?” I ask indifferently, as though I’m not trapped. I’m proud of myself for my tone. It masks completely the coiling of nerves in my stomach.
“My name is Vordan Serad.”
I hide my surprise. I have been kidnapped by the third pirate lord, and this time my capture is not planned.
At least not by me.
I try for faked confidence. “Do you know whoIam?” I ask in return, matching Vordan’s air of authority.
“You are Alosa Kalligan, daughter of Byrronic Kalligan, the pirate king.”
“Excellent. Then you already know how foolish you’re being for keeping me like this.”
“Foolish? Not at all. Your father thinks that young Allemos captain has you, so he will not be coming after me. I have it on good authority that you have been depleted of the power the sea gives you, so you cannot save yourself. I would say it isyouwho are being foolish by not being afraid.”
My stomach sinks through the ground as my mouth dries. “And whose authority would that be?”
“Mine,” says a voice from behind me. Several men break through the trees. Riden is among them, but he is not the one who spoke. No, Riden has two pistols pointed at him. They’re forcing him to walk in my direction. Why isn’t he locked up like I am? Running low on enormous cages, are we?
My mind empties as soon as I lay eyes on who spoke, the fourth man who enters the clearing.
It’s Theris.
He slouches against one of the trees and pulls out his coin, turning it over his fingers.
I shake my head at him. “Betraying my father? That will be the last mistake you ever make. Do you know what happened to the last man who fed information to his enemies? My father tied him up by his ankles and sawed him down the middle.”
Theris is unaffected by my words. “Fortunately for me, I’m not betraying him.”
