Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Heads whip toward the rift, and we all watch as a red wyvern sails out, its wings pumping hard. Soldiers shout alarms and rush for weapons.
But it doesn’t seem to have any interest in us as it climbs higher into the sky.
A glint of gold in its claws catches my notice. “What is that … It’s carrying something.”
Jarek’s eyes narrow. “Or someone.”
The sun’s rays catch shimmering fabric fluttering in the wind, a body cradled.
My stomach drops with dread.
No. It can’t be.
4
Annika
“I vow to reward you with a ruby pendant thrice the size of that ring upon delivering me to Northmost.”
“I don’t believe you,” Captain Aron drawls, his hands slung lazily over the Tempest’s wheel. The sunrise brought with it a dull breeze, just enough to billow the sails. His crew cheered.
My mouth gapes. “You are questioning the integrity of a royal family member’s vow?”
He sighs. “And where is this pendant now? In your boot?”
“No. In the vault, where all our most valuable jewels are held.” I add in a scoff, “Who keeps jewelry in their boot?”
“Your companion has promised me a pendant to get you to Westport, and it’s in his boot.”
“He is not my companion. He is my captor,” I hiss. “And you are aiding in his crime against the royal family. That is punishable by death. Plus that pendant in his boot isn’t worth nearly as much as the one I offer. I should know. They’re both mine!” Tyree stripped me of my jewels as soon as we reached the docks. My ring, he used to barter our way onto the ship and then, when the captain balked at this notion of sailing to Skatrana’s port, he begrudgingly sweetened the deal with my necklace. As if he were parting with his dearest belongings.
“Still, I think I’ll stick to the guaranteed prize, not the one many leagues from here, in a city under attack.”
My rage swells. Does this fool have any idea the treasures hidden in our coffers? “If you were smart, you would insist on taking the other ring he pilfered from me too.” A white pearl set in a gold band crafted in the shape of the sea’s coral. A gift from Zander.
“He has more jewels to present?” Captain Aron eyes the Ybarisan, leaning back against a wooden crate, his complexion ashen.
Despite his poor condition, Tyree grins. “Not in my boot. That one, I secured in a safer place.” He pats his crotch, and I grimace.
“That can’t be comfortable,” Captain Aron notes, swinging his attention back to the horizon. “Or secure.”
“Oh, trust me, it’s secure. I’m keeping it extra safe for the princess.” The mongrel winks at me.
“From what I’ve heard, it would fit just as well on your cock as it does on my pinky finger.” I turn my back to them as the captain bursts into laughter, and watch my lands in the far distance. Waves break over rock just under the surface. I see what the captain meant last night. Whatever waits there would surely tear apart our hull.
“What’s the big rush to get off the boat, anyway?” Tyree calls out.
“He’s right. Given what we saw in Cirilea, we’re safer at sea,” Captain Aron adds.
“Surely, we are not.” The sirens are not a tall tale meant to keep people from these waters. He, of all people, should know that.
The captain studies my ruined dress. “If it is blood you require, I would be willing to barter mine for a price. I did not take any poison.”
I turn away, not to hide my disgust at the proposition, though it is vile—he is a filthy, hairy brute with pocked skin and yellowed teeth—but to hide my panic. Given the circumstances, I should be happy I am no longer desperate. But I don’t like not having answers.
Why do I no longer crave blood? Hudem’s moon flares and the need is suddenly gone? Just like that? Is it only me who is afflicted in this way? And what has happened to make this possible? All these questions I need answers to, and I will not get them in Westport. If we even make it there.
But from Northmost, I could travel to Bellcross and to Lord Rengard. Theon will know what is happening. He might also have a way to contact Zander. They have been friends since childhood. He would choose Zander over Atticus, that much is certain.
“Your not-companion will have a better chance of surviving his injuries through Westport, into Ybaris, where there are healers,” Captain Aron says, as if that might sway my mood.
“She is the one who stabbed me in the first place!” Tyree’s bellow of laughter carries. “I assure you, Annika will wait until I am too weak to stand and then put me in a wagon and slit my throat.”
“And then I will take my dagger back from your corpse,” I muse.