Page 24 of Burning Crowns

‘Don’t think of the wind on its own. Think of what itdoes,’ urged Wren. ‘Imagine the mainsail, full and straining. Or your fancy new hat, flying off your head. Think of the waves slapping against the ship, spitting sea foam in our faces.’

Marino’s shoulders relaxed, and his frown loosened.

‘Once you conjure the image of what you need, your magic will know what to do,’ said Wren. ‘It just takes a little practice.Concentrate. And keep your palms open. Good. Just like that.’

Marino smiled. ‘You’re a good tutor.’

‘We’ll see,’ said Wren.

After a minute, she felt the wind pick up. It yanked the hood from her face and sent her hair streaming through the air. ‘It’s working!’

Marino laughed as his frockcoat rippled behind him. ‘I can feel the storm inside me!’

The wind howled, as if it were laughing, too. It punched the mainsail taut, sending the ship skittering along the waves. They were growing, slapping against the hull as if the wind was urging them faster. Before long, Wren had to grab on to the railings for balance.

‘I think that’s enough!’ she called over the roaring sea.

‘I could do this all night!’ roared Marino, gleefully.

Wren yelped as the ship veered to the left, heading for a cluster of sea rocks. ‘You might want to try steering now!’

Marino snapped his eyes open. ‘Good idea!’ he yelled, sprinting for the wheel.

Wren ran after him, grabbing a rung to help him steady the ship. They narrowly avoided the rocks, adjusting the course four notches to the left, where the open sea was calling them. When Wren looked back, Wishbone Bay had disappeared. Eana was behind them, their voyage well and truly under way.

Wren stayed by Marino’s side as the morning sun arced over them, and the sky changed from amber to blue. When her stomach began to grumble, she ventured below deck, where a bowl of fragrant fish stew was waiting for her in the captain’s cabin. She devoured it in ten bites before collapsing into bed, grateful that Marino had offered her his cabin with all of its finery and luxurious comfort.The waves soon rocked her to sleep.

Mercifully, she was too tired to dream.

When Wren awoke, there was a chill in the air. The cabin was silent. The candles had dwindled to nothing. She could tell by the frost webbing the porthole and the eerie stillness of the ship that they had reached the Sunless Sea. The sun had set, a slant of greying evening light slipping through the window.

Wren washed and then dressed in her leathers, before shrugging on a fur-lined cloak. She donned her sturdiest boots and the gloves Celeste had gifted her for Yulemas – as though she had known even then that Wren would be returning to the Sunless Sea. As Wren stood in front of the mirror, braiding her hair away from her face, she traced the silver streak self-consciously, trying not to linger on the shadows under her eyes.

Up on deck, Marino was bright-eyed and good-tempered, despite a full day of rough sailing. He was standing at the wheel, sipping on a mug of coffee.

‘You look nice,’ he said, by way of greeting. ‘Not that it matters, of course. Since this is definitely not a secret romantic meeting.’

‘Please don’t start that again.’ Wren snatched the mug from him and took a long, leisurely sip. The coffee zipped through her bloodstream, warming her fingers and toes. ‘How much longer?’

Marino nodded at something over her shoulder. ‘See for yourself.’

Wren turned and squinted through the evening mist. And suddenly there it was – a towering white rock jutting up from the sea in the shape of a shark’s fin. They had made it to the meeting point.It took her another moment to spot the warship floating just beyond the mighty rock, and the Gevran king’s flag, rippling atop the mast pole.

And there, below the flag, standing side by side, were King Alarik and his fateful captain. Wren couldn’t help it. The moment she saw Tor, her face broke into a smile.

Alarik smiled back.

Behind Wren, Marino chuckled. ‘This is going to be fun.’

Rose

CHAPTER 10

Rose would never admit it to Wren, but the morning after her sister left for Wishbone Bay, she climbed out on to the roof of Anadawn Palace and used Celeste’s spyglass to watch theSiren’s Secretset sail at first light.

Before Rose became queen, she and Celeste often came here late at night or early in the day to watch Marino’s boat come and go. Celeste always pretended she never worried about her brother, but Rose saw the way her best friend gripped that spyglass until her knuckles paled and knew that she did.

And now that she had her own sister to worry about, Rose truly understood the relief Celeste felt every time theSiren’s Secretsafely returned to Wishbone Bay.

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