Page 25 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

“She’s Pythia, dark fey friend and ally of Caedmon, the Blarestri king,” Pritkin snapped. “They wouldn’t dare touch her.”

“Is that what you’ve been telling yourself?” Alphonse asked, a dark eyebrow going up. “They just served her poison, but okay.”

“That was meant for me!”

“And that’s better? ‘Cause I gotta say, your chances aren’t looking too good. There’s,” he paused and ostentatiously counted, “two of you—”

“We have two more in our room,” I said, glaring at Pritkin. Who had forgotten to mention that this was a duel to the death.

“So I heard.” Alphonse chuckled. “And you guys think that’s gonna help you? Bringing two demons to court? Well, two and a half,” he shot another look at Pritkin. “You know you can win every challenge and still lose if everybody votes against you, right?”

“What?” I said, upping the glare. Because it seemed there was a damned lot I didn’t know!

But Pritkin didn’t look too disturbed as he sat back down. “In theory, yes.”

“In theory?”

“Look.”

He didn’t tell me where to look, but I discovered it didn’t matter. There was another preening popinjay on the landing, which I guessed was who the trumpets had been for. He was in a silver-white get-up that glittered in diamonds and looked like he was cosplaying Poseidon.

With a million-dollar budget.

A cape of silver and white, with the loose weave evoking fishing nets, hung from his shoulders, with tiny diamond fishes dangling from the webbing. He wore silver-colored armor underneath that was every bit as nice as mine and maybe nicer since it was set with more sparkly stuff, as were the silver tattoos or maybe makeup on his face. He was nonetheless frowning, possibly because nobody in his entourage had told him that boots were déclassé at court, which was why no one else was wearing them.

Or maybe because of us.

Yeah, it was us, I thought, catching that lordly gaze.

But I barely noticed because I was too busy adjusting my worldview and, therefore, also wearing a scowl myself. Each table behind us and the many spread out below, including the ones sitting hundreds, was now a competitor. I felt my stomach knot itself into a tiny, hard lump.

At least I couldn’t eat the poison that way.

“After every round, they have a banquet like this one,” Pritkin said. “Supposedly to celebrate, but in reality, it’s a vote. People decide who they think will be the likely winner and join his or her table. As the contest continues, the smaller tables shrink to nothing as their members join the larger groups. By the end, there’s only a handful left standing, and the final night is the final vote.”

“And there are three of us!” I said, suddenly seeing Alphonse’s point.

“Yes, but tides change quickly, and no one wants to be on the losing side.”

“How can you say that when we’re the losing side?”

“Look again,” he told me, and I did because I didn’t know what else to do.

But this time, I saw what he meant. No one else was paying attention to us anymore because they were too busy scowling at the newcomer—and everyone else. The factions in this court hated each other, probably as much or more than they hated us.

We were the nasty, tainted outworlders, but looking at the vengeful, prideful, superior faces, it looked like there were old grievances and long-standing feuds that cut far deeper. I understood that as much as anyone, although my personal vendetta hadn’t had the centuries to fester that many of these probably had. But it was nonetheless hot enough.

Which was why I was on my feet again a second later at the sight of the fat face poking out from behind the latest blinged-out backside.

Tony.

Son of a bitch.

Chapter Eight

I shifted to the landing when I could have just shifted him to me and my backup. But I wasn’t thinking, and anyway, I didn’t need backup for Tony. I didn’t need anything except to catch him!

But that was harder than it sounds, as an entire retinue was behind the silver, god-like creature that I appeared beside. And this one was a little different. The latest heir had been posing on the balcony and sharing his sneer with the room a second before, looking like this was all beneath him.

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