Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Her fingers go to her mouth, pressing against her lips and she gasps softly. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yes. So am I. So was everyone. Venla was well-liked, despite what she was. She was a good witch. And she made a dauntless pirate.”
“And the child?” she asks quietly.
My heart twists in my chest and I try to smile over the pain. “She lived. Hilla. She was a beautiful little girl.”
“Oh.” Her eyes shift to a soft blue, a sad blue, no doubt picking up on the past tense.
“Yes,” I say, clearing the thickness from the back of my throat. “She died when she was eight. I raised her myself, well, with the help of the crew, much like we’ve done with Henry and Lucas. I did the best I could for her and she was such a happy child here despite never knowing her mother. But looking back, I know I shouldn’t have raised her on this ship, not with the world the way it is.”
“Was it the navy or…?”
“A sea witch,” I tell her, my tone taking on a razor edge. “A sea witch that controls a great beast.”
Her eyes widen slightly. “What beast?”
“The Kraken.”
She gasps in response.
“Before you ask, yes they are real too,” I tell her. “They are horribly real. And they killed my little girl before my eyes. Now all I want is my revenge.”
“On this Nerissa?” she asks, her voice rising. “Or on the Kraken?”
“As far as I know, Nerissa didn’t have anything to do with Hilla’s death and can’t control the Kraken. What she does control is a curse that she inflicts on sailors who sail too close to her islands. The skeleton crew are victims of her unfortunate curse. Humans turned into skeletons for eternity. The only way they can ever appear human again is by finding magic of their own…”
“Mermaid blood.”
“Exactly.” I have another sip of my wine. “So they hunt them too, even though the magic doesn’t last very long for them. They’re a mad lot, you see. You would be too if you’d been reduced to a walking corpse for the rest of your life.”
She thinks that over for a moment, then asks in a low voice, “So what witch does control the Kraken?”
“Her name is Edonia.”
The princess’s eyes go frightfully large then quickly back to normal, her face turning blank.
“You know her,” I surmise.
She gives her head a shake. “No. I don’t know any witches.”
“Then why did your skin pale like you’d seen a ghost?”
“Perhaps all your tales are spooking me.”
The lady is lying. I’ve been around her enough now to know that nothing seems to spook her. That’s fine. She can save her secrets. I’ll uncover them sooner than later.
“So what is your plan then?” she asks, straightening up in her seat and taking on an air of false dignity, eyes focused on her plate.
“We spotted their ship yesterday for a brief moment. They are being pulled back to the islands.” She frowns in confusion and I go on. “Nerissa keeps them on a leash, letting them cast off only when she feels generous. Eventually she will pull them back to the islands, like a magic rope. Their ship moves as fast as the Nightwind when she’s controlling it and the crew are at her mercy. It truly is a ghost ship.”
“But if we’re going to the islands, where this sea witch is who curses humans, isn’t she going to do the same to us?”
I shake my head. “No. She won’t. She can’t touch us.”
“Why not?”
I run my tongue over my teeth. “Magic.”
“From the last time you killed a mermaid and drank her blood?”
“From my wife, if you must know.”
“She gave you magic.”
“Once upon a time. She even wrote me a book of magic. Some might say we wrote it together. But it was made for me and my crew. She knew how truly dangerous these seas were.” I pause, sucking back on my lip for a moment. “She knew how spiteful her sister was.”
“Sister?”
“Half sister. Edonia is Venla’s half sister. And oh did she hate that her blood got together with the likes of me.”
“So…” she trails off, her lips downturned.
“So killing Hilla was her revenge, I suppose,” I say. “Edonia took my girl. And she took my book. The one that Venla made for me.”
The princess’s mouth opens for moment, then shuts. She presses her lips together for a second before saying, “I’m sorry.”
I don’t want her pity, though I can feel her empathy. It rises out from her like a warm embrace. It’s a nice feeling.
“Yes. Well. Suffice to say, I want my revenge now too. On Edonia. And with only scraps of magic left behind from the book, we need mermaid’s blood to truly defeat the sea witch and survive the Kraken. You understand now, don’t you?”