Page 23 of Burning Crowns

‘If you say so.’

‘Marino! Stop smirking at me!’

‘I can’t help it. It’s just my face.’

Wren scowled at him, then stomped away. The thud of Marino’s boots told Wren that he was following her. She went to the prow, where the wooden mermaid peered over the water, as if she were marvelling at her own reflection. ‘If you want to talk about love affairs, let’s discuss your mermaid,’ Wren challenged.

Marino’s face fell. ‘Alas, I still haven’t found her.’

‘Don’t you think it’s time you settled down with … oh, I don’t know … someone with legs?’

‘Such as who?’

Wren shrugged. ‘It’s a pretty low bar, Marino. What about Rowena? She never shuts up about you.’

Marino shook his head. ‘Too temperamental. She’d blow me away in a storm.’

‘She did uproot an apple tree last week when she lost a game of cards against Bryony,’Wren conceded. ‘Well, you could have your pick of anyone.’

‘Why settle?’ The captain folded his arms. ‘One day the sea will lead me to my true love.’

‘And if it doesn’t?’

‘Then I shall die alone. And rich. Very, very rich.’

Wren snorted. ‘That is tragic.’

‘At least I’m not in love with a Gevran.’

Wren raised a warning finger. ‘I am not in love with King Alarik.’

‘I didn’t say the king this time,’ said Marino, with a wink.

Wren was silent, then. Her thoughts turned to Tor, the feel of his strong hands sliding up her back, the heady press of his lips against hers, desperate, searching. A new heat stole through her body, casting a blush in her cheeks. She couldn’t deny her feelings for him. She wore them too plainly, thought of him too often to lie about it. And anyway, she didn’twantto lie about him. He deserved better than that. Better than her.

Marino’s brown eyes danced. ‘This is going to be a fun voyage.’

‘Speak for yourself,’ groaned Wren. ‘Can’t you make this bloody ship go faster?’

‘I can certainly try,’ he said, with a grin. He raised his hands, as though he were reaching for the moon. ‘Rowena’s been helping me with my tempest magic.’

Learning Marino Pegasi was a witch had come as a surprise to everyone at Anadawn, especially his sister Celeste. Celeste had spent so many years denying her own seer abilities, which she had unknowingly inherited from her mother, that she never thought to find out whether her older brother might be a witch,too. Marino said he had been star-gazing all his life, thinking nothing of the shapes that used to appear in the night sky out at sea. He considered himself a gifted sailor who could read the constellations, not a witch who could read the future.

But once the witches’ curse had been broken, and the five strands of power restored to every witch in Eana, Marino began to notice other things about himself. Other abilities.

Magic bloomed inside him, and he welcomed it.

He closed his eyes now and opened his fists, frowning as he concentrated. Wren watched him in silence, curious to see what he could do. A minute passed and then another. A rogue breeze whipped up, but it died almost as quickly. ‘Slippery little thing,’ Marino muttered. ‘I almost had it.’

Wren cleared her throat. ‘Do you want me to—?’

‘I can do it,’ he said. ‘I’ve done it before.’

Wren doubted that but she wasn’t going to argue with him in front of his crew. They were lingering nearby, watching him struggle. Some of the swabbies were laughing among themselves. Wren shooed them away with a glare.

She turned back to Marino. ‘Picture the storm in your mind. The clearer you see it, the quicker it will come.’

‘Wind is invisible,’ he huffed. ‘How am I supposed topictureit?’

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