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“Listen up,” I say. I dare not shout with all the other ships stationed nearby in the cave, but I hope everyone can hear. “The pirate king has deceived me.” I point over to where my mother is wrapped up in Riden’s arms. “That is my mother. Kalligan has kept her as his prisoner for the last eighteen years. I’ve only just discovered her by accident.”
Everyone swivels their heads in her direction.
“We’re leaving, and we’re going to do it quickly and quietly. Does anyone have a problem with that?”
Enwen raises his hand, shying away from us.
“What, Enwen?”
“Captain, if that’s your mother, that would make her a—a—”
“Siren, yes. Does anyone else have any questions more important than our lives?”
Silence.
“Trim the sails,” Niridia barks out. “Raise the gangplank, hoist anchor! Move it!” The easy-going sailor is gone, instantly replaced with the harsh first mate I need her to be. All sea hands race around us to fulfill her orders.
The other docked ships are quiet, no lights lit. I try to assure myself that even if there were anyone keeping watch, they wouldn’t think anything of my ship leaving. My father gives me orders without telling anyone else all the time. But uncertainty has my heart pounding.
“Are you cold?”
I turn at the voice.
Riden still holds my mother, and she’s visibly trembling in his arms.
“I’m all right,” she answers him. Her response is firm despite her shaking limbs. “You’re strong, for a human.”
“I used to be fast, too. Until I was shot in the leg. Haven’t been able to get it back up to strength yet.”
“You were shot?” Mother asks. “How?”
“Your daughter got me into trouble.”
It must be the oddest thing I’ve ever seen—witnessing Riden talking with my mother, distracting her from her discomfort.
I will go to her as soon as we’re safe. For now, I need to be captain.
Sorinda locates Kearan, who is miraculously sober—well, sober enough to steer—and gets him to the helm.
“Where are we headed to at this hour?”
Yes, where are we going? “For now, the nearest port. Just get us away from here. Like our lives depend on it, Kearan.”
He looks down his broken nose at me. “Because they do?”
“When the king discovers I’ve stolen my mother, he will hunt us down. And if he catches us—”
“Understood.”
It truly hits me then. What I’ve done. We are all going to be hunted by the most feared man in the world. I brought this on all of us by taking her. I just took her and didn’t think of my crew.
No, even if I had paused to think, I would have done the same thing. We can’t serve him any longer. He’s dangerous and vile. He kept her in that room for almost two decades, and I can’t even think of the way he used her without my dinner threatening to come back up.
How have I been so blind?
Roslyn wanders up from belowdecks, rubbing her tired eyes. All the noise must have woken her. “What’s happening, Captain?”
“Roslyn, you’re to go to the crow’s nest. I need to know if anyone follows us. And if anyone starts firing on us, you’re to go to your post.”
