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“It’s not an act when I’m right.”
He gave a teasing smile, looking away as soon as I caught it.
“I won’t pretend to understand your attachment to your family,” he continued. “And it’s not important for me tounderstand it, so I won’t bother. But with these things in mind, do you still want to go through with this?”
I hesitated. He caught it.
“Okay then,” he said. “Well, if you still want your wings before we leave with Henrik out to sea, I’ll take you to the king to have the ceremony finalized. Otherwise, I’m taking you home. Understand?”
I scoffed. “I’m not sure why you keep calling memotherwhen you’re the one who’s so damn bossy.”
He chuckled. “Be nice to me. Or else I’ll change my mind about you seeing off the pirate king.”
I sat up straight. “You mean—?
He stood up with another long, annoyed sigh.
“Let’s go see off this pirate captain of yours,” Jacques said. “You can say your final words. Again.”
***
TheQuetzalcoatllooked like a ghost ship.
Perhaps in some ways it was, considering half the crew had been sent to the afterlife. There was no doubt that Adrian’s heart weighed heavily from the loss. I saw the guilty, sorrowful look in his eyes when Jacques’s crew had attacked the ship and killed some of his men.
That was probably why Jacques had no intentions to see Adrian off personally. Jacques had only walked me to the exit of the den, stopping right before the entryway.
“Say your goodbyes and come straight back,” Jacques said, motioning toward the ship. “If you take off again, I’m not saving you this time.”
Even though he was serious, I couldn’t help but smile.
“You know,” I replied, “when we first met you said I’d keep my distance once I found out who you were. Now that I’ve learned,you’rethe one who hasn’t stayed away fromme.”
His eyes narrowed as I gave him a smug laugh, but he didn’t say anything.
I turned to walk out of the den, the entrance now blocked by a couple sirens. It seemed that they didn’t want the pirates coming back in. I passed by them and went to the ship.
Even though the ship was grander than I had remembered it, that wasn’t the first thing that caught my eye.
Hewas.
Adrian had one leg up on the rail of the ship, leaning against it on his elbows as he stared off into the den. There was no doubt in my mind that Adrian was trying to think of a way to sneak in. He was so focused that he didn’t see me staring at him from down below.
He didn’t see me board the ship.
He didn’t even see me when I came to stand beside him.
“Don’t get cocky,” I said next to him.
He jumped and turned to me.
“Just because you succeeded in sneaking in once doesn’t mean you can succeed again,” I added.
A breathy laugh escaped his lips.
“If I didn’t know any better,” he said. “I’d say you were my conscience.”
He smiled but it was hollow. I couldn’t think of a reply when I saw the ache in his soul like that. He turned his head back toward the den, the faint wind picking up locks of his hair and twisting it around his eyes.
