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“No.” I wagged my head. “It’s yours.”
“No. It isyours,” he replied. “I may be human, but I can feel its power. Who it calls for. Itbelongsto you.”
My lashes fluttered with emotion as he laid it back in my hands. The dagger felt different this time. Instead of being my father’s demise, it was my father’s serenity. The blade carried a piece of him, his life, his story, but I hadn’t forgiven him. I still didn’t understand how he could do what he did. But I loved my father. Any part of him I could still have, I wanted.
“Thank. You.” My throat thick, I accepted back my father’s dagger.
“I know we will see each other again.” Haoyu stepped back, and in a blink, he was gone, disappearing within the fae door.
“Wait, did that asshole just leave us fifty-plus stories up with no way down but the stairs?” Croygen stopped dead.
Fuck.
“Oh yeah, who’s the pony now?” Sprig pretended to ride Croygen’s shoulder. “Go, horsey. And on the way, can we stop for breakfast?”
“Sprig, I’m gonna chuck you off this building.”
“Is that a yes or no to breakfast first?”
My legs still shook as we made our way across the Helix Bridge, heading toward Batara’s palace. After fifty-seven stories down from the Skydeck, my muscles trembled like mini earthquakes.
Our feet pounded in sync as a thin band of yellowish-orange glowed from the east, putting sharper shapes to buildings and objects and coloring the shadows dark blue.
I couldn’t help but look over at the boat dock, my heart both longing and dreading to see if my ship was still there, waiting for me to rescue it.
A gasp filled my throat, my borrowed shoes coming to a dead stop. My attention was locked on the place that used to be calledThe Float.It once held concerts and entertainment, but it had been ripped out and made into a shipping/trading dock for Batara.
A rope seemed to lasso around my lungs, squeezing out all the air.
“What?” Croygen’s head whipped back, sensing I was no longer beside him. He glanced around, trying to find what caused my reaction. “Katrina, what’s wrong?”
“Look.” I pointed. He followed my hand, his eyes squinting, trying to see what I could through the shadows.
My ship.
It wasn’t the tug of my heart feeling like I found my old friend, a connection tying a pirate to their ship. No, it was the commotion going on around it. Batara’s flag flapped from the mast as dozens of men wheeled on crates, loading it for a journey.
It felt like coming home to a stranger in your bed, violating your home. Probably thinking I was long dead, Batara was using it as his own, preparing for a grand voyage.
“Come on. Let’s get a closer look.” Croygen flicked his head, leading us off the bridge and down toward the dock. Pulling up our hoods, we weaved through the loud stalls, dodging the horses and buggies carrying barrels and chests, the early morning hours a bustle at the docks while the rest of the city slept.
Creeping closer, we hid behind a stack of crates, peering around to my ship, watching the people moving on and off it.
My teeth drove into my bottom lip, forgetting how beautiful my ship was. I had worked so hard for it. The people and things I sacrificed. I had fucked up a lot of things, but that ship was still my pride and joy. The need to run to my baby, to claim it back, curled my nails into my skin.
Yells and orders came from the deck, but I couldn’t see by whom. “I want to get a little closer.”
“Are you kidding?” Croygen’s head wagged. “No. We are already too close. If justoneperson recognizes youorme, it’s all over.”
I knew that, yet I was unable to stop. Something twitched every muscle, pulling me toward my ship, as if my gut knew something I didn’t.
“Kat!” Croygen hissed behind me as I slinked around, moving closer to the ship.
I didn’t get far before two massive men strolled up the plank with huge trunks on their shoulders.
Oh. My. Gods.
The twins. Typhoon and Hurricane. They were alive.
