Page 38 of A Wrecking of Salt and Fire

Ember cocked her head to the side. He was dressed like her, dressed to fight. She wondered if King Athanas’s spies heard Nexos was coming and he wanted Kohl to be prepared. There was no other explanation for it.

King Athanas spoke next. “Not here to cause trouble, and yet you interrupt this sacred tradition?”

“You would know all about interrupting sacred traditions, Khalid.” Nikolaos’s words boomed through the courtyard again.

King Athanas laughed, the sound unnerving. His pupils dilated the same way they did the day before, the whites surrounding them until they were almost nonexistent. “Of course you would go on the defensive, Kirassos. And yet it was you who formulated the plot to take our dear Aikaterine, who was supposed to be Acknowledged during this very ceremony.”

Voices started to rise as people realized Katrin was not sick, but worse—missing. She cursed the gods that King Athanas brought that to everyone’s attention. Nexos would never admit they took her in front of all these people, especially if they were trying to capture the Throne of Alentus.

No, someone like King Nikolaos would want to draw this out. “This is the first I have heard of your lady’s disappearance. Twice in a decade seems very suspicious, Khalid.”

King Nikolaos stepped closer toward the dais, the crowd parting on either side as his shadows began creeping through the courtyard. “As I said, I am not here to cause trouble, just to perform my duty as a fellow leader of the Mykandrian Isles, and offer my vote.” His voice dripped on the words like olive oil.

“And what of your eldest son? Is he here to perform his duties as well?” King Athanas snapped.

“You know very well where my eldest son is, Khalid.” King Nikolaos’s shadows grew thicker, as did the darkness swirling in his silver eyes.

Kohl’s father just smirked. “I haven’t a clue what you are implying, Kirassos.” The Viper looked over at his son, giving him a nod.

Ember could not help but stare in awe at the curious interaction happening in front of her. A tinge of long-standing rivalry looming between two kings. She was so close. So close to everything not going to shit until gods-damned Nexos walked in.

Shadows began to whirl in the center of the courtyard, forming around what appeared to be another man, though this one much younger than the king. His son, Ember thought. As she glanced between Ajax and Kohl she could tell they both thought the same thing, each reaching for the blade at their side. But what was said next, she did not see coming. The confusion, the betrayal, it froze her standing there unable to grasp what happened. Unable to protest as the words were spoken loud enough for all to hear.

“I enact the Wrecking of the Throne of Alentus.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Katrin

Cool air whipped about The Nostos, as Katrin paced the deck, Mykonos still padding by her side. She’d pulled another pair of trousers out of the dresser, these ones made of a thin brown leather. Not thick enough for a battle, but similar to the ones she wore training in the fall. Again they were too big for her, having to wrap a navy cord tightly around the top to keep from showing her skin to everyone on the ship. She paired it with a thicker long sleeve shirt, cut lower in the front than she might have liked.

Her teeth chattered as the breeze struck her skin, waiting patiently for the sun to warm her body. The skies were clear, which would help later in the day, but in the early morning light, it just meant the chill from the night lingered. At night, she curled up under the blankets in Ander’s cabin. He did not bother to come back after she insulted him. She had every right to challenge him though—and his intent for what to do with her.

But this morning she intended to find him. Make him tell her exactly why she was here, where they were going. Katrin even managed to swipe one of the shorter swords from the supply room she happened upon yesterday. She flipped the pommel around in her hand.

It was only a tad bit heavier than the metals they used in Alentus. But this sword was a delicate work of craftsmanship. It depicted beautiful carvings of what appeared to be a myth, a man was tied to the mast of a ship, beautiful women with the scales of fish along their arms and wings of an eagle protruding from their backs lay on a nearby isle. It was adorned with deep blue sapphires and crystals, radiating a power that was much older than she.

Katrin paced for what seemed like hours and still there was no sign of him—or Leighton for that matter.

The sky was so clear, not a cloud or dusting of fog to be found. Only a deep crystal blue stretched out in all four directions. She knew there was a point between Alentus and some of the nearby isles that looked this way, traveled to them once as a child with her father. Maybe she was already starting to lose her mind, maybe only moments passed since she walked up to the deck.

Too many thoughts filled Katrin’s mind. The Acknowledgement would be starting soon and she would not know the outcome. Deep in her gut she knew Kohl and Ember would find some way to postpone or call upon some ancient law that allowed Katrin to be Acknowledged without being there. But if they did not—Katrin shuttered to think of the state of her home if that happened. If someone managed to take her rightful place on the throne from under her, she could not imagine how bad that would be. How much worse it would be if it was Nexos.

But Nexos was more than likely responsible for this—all of this. The words of the man with the blood-red eyes replayed in her head.

He is your curse.

Maybe this he still was. Nikolaos.

She never saw the King of Nexos, escaped before they arrived at the isle last time. Katrin wondered if that was where they headed now. A chill creeped up her spine, not from the brisk morning air, but from a tall individual she found towering over her.

“I was beginning to wonder if you were hiding from me.” Katrin turned around locking her brown eyes with his. This time an icy blue with only small flecks of green.

“I would think it would be the other way around, Starling,” Ander purred.

Katrin snarled her lip, then took a deep breath, trying to compose how she would say what she needed to say. Or, technically, ask what she needed to know. Her hand kept twitching against the hilt of the sword she sheathed in her leather cross belt. A faint heat radiating off the metal, a buzz shooting up through her arm.

She kept her voice calm but forceful. It was the only way she knew he might listen to her request—given he turned her down multiple times since she woke up on this gods-damned boat.

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