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Jari could see that. The guy had gotten caught up in some bad shit when he was young. If Father hadn’t been killed that night, Jari would have been forced to work with him unless he’d taken the chance to leave on his own one day.
“Este!” called Tenth.
She opened the door to look out. “What?”
“The dove-” A blue dove swooped in. “I think you can see it.”
“Thanks.” She shut the door and grimaced. “Fuck.”
The dove landed and hopped on the floor in front of her. Great. Darlim was probably wondering what the fuck his kid was doing. Blue doves usually belonged to royalty or higher-ups.
Este whistled, and the dove flew up to land on her finger. “Este,” it cooed. He stuck out a leg to show the letter tied to it.
“I’m ignoring it, but we’ll see what Father has to say.”
Aurelius let out a faint sigh. While Este read, the dove explored the cabin floor. Darlim wanted to know why she hadn’t written besides a quick note that said they’d won the battle. He needed to know a bit more than that. He’d written to King David who hadn’t responded yet.
That meant he hadn’t heard of Zora being taken over and handed to Aurelius. Blue doves were pretty swift, but they stillneeded time to fly to the recipient. Darlim must have waited a bit, thinking another letter from his daughter was surely coming.
Once Darlim learned of certain events, his next note to her would likely have some much stronger words.
Este was to write a proper report to him as soon as possible. Even if she was busy, she could spare a few minutes to get the facts down and send it off. He was assuming Aurelius had been taken, but he needed proper communication, and it shouldn’t take this long. Being a Duchess and Crown Princess required more than wielding a sword. A ruler needed to know when to put quill to parchment.
“Like I didn’t know that.” She crumpled up the note. “He can wait.”
Jari took a deep breath as he thought of the simple way Darlim had mentioned Aurelius being taken like he was an item to be picked up. For a moment, his blood damn near boiled as he clenched his fists on his thighs.
The dove fluttered up onto his shoulder and cooed as he spoke. “Please respond about my shitty plans to get richer and grow my Kingdom.” The dove put his forehead close to Jari’s face. “No, I’m not sending a letter with you.”
She balled the note up even tighter. “He’s not getting what he wants. We’re about to cast off, so if you get sick and can’t get to the railing to hurl, I’m sure there’s a chamber pot under the bed. Come here.” She whistled at the dove who stuck out a leg. “No reply. Come here.”
He fluttered to her finger, and she put her forehead close to his face. Blue doves could read minds to an extent, so if she pictured a place long enough or repeated a name several times, he’d pick up on that and know where to go.
“Fly safe, little guy.” She opened the cabin door and let the bird go.
Darlim would be pissed when no return letter came with the dove. Or maybe he’d panic and think something dreadful had happened to his daughter.
***
Jari had never been on a boat, and he didn’t feel his best by the time dinner rolled around. He went out for air, and Tenth gave him a tincture that would help and the promise that he’d probably feel better by tomorrow morning.
The tincture helped quite a bit. Aurelius, the lucky bastard, didn’t feel sick at all, and he stood near the railing with Jari as they watched the sunset tint the water gold farther out. The shore was a smear, and the air smelled salty.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Jari.
“It is.” Aurelius hooked his pinky in Jari’s. “We can share the bed, but I just want to sleep tonight.”
“I figured you’d want to rest.” Jari figured that was code for “don’t try to cuddle me.” After so much shitty sleep, no wonder he wanted a night to simply be so he could rest and not think for a bit.
“We’ll do the items first once it’s entirely dark,” Aurelius murmured.
Jari had to work to get dinner down. The tincture also didn’t entirely erase the unease in his gut. They had a wash up in the cabin, and it was pretty late by the time Jari went to find Este below deck. She’d been given a tiny room done all in yellow, and Jari cringed at the decor as he stood in her open doorway.
“Really?”
“Hey, Tenth picked how to decorate the cabins and whatnot. Not me. Besides, I like it.”
“It’s a bit…bright.”
