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We head down below to the officers’ quarters where we stay, the servants bringing the chests with all my belongings. Buried at the bottom of the trunk, inside a silk pouch, is Nill’s tooth. I insist to Daphne and the servants that I’ll put everything away myself, but the truth is I just need the proper hiding place for the necklace.
Fortunately, I don’t have to share a bunk with Aerik, who is in the cabin next to mine, which means I’m allotted a bit of privacy. I decide to hide it underneath the thin mattress and hope he never comes across it.
I wipe the sweat from my brow, my chemise already sticking to my skin as the temperature below deck starts to rise. I wish I could go up top to experience the breeze and see us cast off, but I know Aerik would say I am in the way. So I remain below, putting my items away until the sweat is rolling down my chest and arms, then I lie back on the bed.
I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I know my room is shaking and rain and waves are lashing at the window. I sit up, the air no longer smelling of resin and sweat but of fresh sea air and the kind of delicious electricity that comes with a storm.
I adjust my dress and hair, then exit my quarters and quickly make my way up to the deck of the ship, passing by crew and servants who bow to me as I go, until my face is met with a lashing of rain.
“Your Highness, it isn’t safe for you to be up here,” Miguel, one of the crew, says to me as I step on deck.
But I’m not even listening. I feel like something is coming alive. The crew are yelling at each other to adjust the sails and there’s chaos all around me, but I’m enthralled. The rain is warm, the wind is blowing my hair loose, and I actually find myself smiling as I tilt my head back to the sky, which is growing darker by the second. Dusk has descended, deepened by the blackened clouds above and when I look to the west, I see the last light of an orange sunset hovering around the silhouette of the nearest islands.
“You really should go back down below, ma’am,” Miguel says, taking me by the elbow. “This is no place for a woman, much less a princess.”
I glance at him, the rain streaming down my face. “Where is Aerik?”
“He’s being sensible and staying down below.”
“No one ever said I was sensible, did they Miguel?” I say, feeling my spirits returning. I pull away from him and walk carefully across the deck—it doesn’t matter how many years I’ve had legs, walking has always been a bit of an issue for me and I have a slight limp that I can’t hide. I go all the way to the forecastle deck where Ivan, our quartermaster, is standing with the pilot, a local man they’d hired to help navigate the area at night.
“Your Highness,” Ivan says to me in surprise. “You best—”
“Yes, go down below, so I’ve been told,” I say. “I just wanted some fresh air.”
“Be plenty of time for fresh air in the months ahead,” he says, giving his hat a shake before slipping it back on. “But a storm isn’t the best time for it.”
“How bad is it going to get?” I ask, peering out in front of us. Sailing at night, especially between islands where there are lots of reefs and hazards, is always a risky venture. Add in a storm and things can get tricky.
“Shouldn’t be too bad, I reckon,” he says. “We’re passing under, it’s passing above.”
I grip the railing as the ship cuts through the waves and I suddenly wish I was alone up here. Just me and the sea and my thoughts. It feels like my soul is being pulled to the surface of the water.
I fix my eyes to the faraway lights that dot the shoreline on the other side of the dark waves, fires and lanterns of the people who live on these islands. I find myself wondering what their lives are like, if they have any worries. If I could trade my life for theirs.
I blink, my eyes trying to adjust. Some of the lights start to move, as if separating from the island.
Then, silhouetted against that last grainy light of dusk, a giant mast and sails come into view and I realize it’s actually a ship. A big one, gliding right toward us. I frown, trying to figure out how it’s possible for them to approach considering they shouldn’t have any wind in their sails at all from that direction, yet they do.
The ship begins to fade before my eyes.
One by one, the lights on the ship go out until I can barely see it anymore.
“There’s a ship,” I say in surprise, pointing in the direction. “I saw a ship.”
“Where?” Ivan asks, and both he and the pilot come to my side, staring out at the darkness.
“It was there. Then it just went dark, as if all the lanterns were snuffed out one by one.” I look over at them. “Why would it do that? Don’t they want us to see them?”
The pilot’s eyes go wide and he shakes his head fearfully. “No,” he says, his accent heavy. “No. No, it can’t be, not now.”
“What?” Ivan asks brusquely. “Tell me now, who is it?”
“It is…the Brethren of the Blood.”
I exchange a look with Ivan. “The Brethren of the Blood?” I repeat. “You mean pirates?”
“Yes. Pirates!” the pilot cries out.
