Page 51 of Voice of the Ocean

If only she hadn’t lost her gun, and her sword, it was possible neither of them would have been injured at all. Guilt washed over her. She always seemed to make a mess of situations. Perhaps she should practice with the sword and gun to avoid being such a deadweight. She had seen plenty of the other crew members conducting target practice on the deck or dueling each other to hone their skills. She could join them, though it made her nervous to even think about being around a group of men. Despite being on this ship for days, she’d gone out of her way to avoid meeting any more of them. Kiyami and she were the only women on the ship, a fact Celeste couldn’t avoid noticing.

Nasir ordered her to bed. She refused.

“Cuts and bruises aren’t the only things that need time to heal, love,” Nasir said.

She ignored him. Today was a wake-up call. Yes, she was shaken from how close both she and Raiden had come to death. And the discovery that she was among pirates didn’t help her feel any safer upon theRed Revenge. But as she moved through her routine, helping Kiyami to avoid the debris of the sunken ship before getting them back on course, she couldn’t stop running through the battle again and again. As loath as she was to admit it, as much as it felt like a betrayal of her family, Celeste couldn’t ignore the fact she had never felt so alive.

The waxing moon rose before the sun had set, hanging above as if it were watching her. She wondered what it saw. A girl? A siren? A loyal princess? A deceitful pirate?

When she joined the crew for dinner, she stared at her plate. Nasir had outdone himself, perhaps in an attempt to give everyone a good end to an otherwise wearisome day. The remainder of the pork he had brought from Romsey was cooked and served with potatoes, crisp bread, and hard cheese.

Ordinarily, the officers drank wine with dinner, but tonight the group passed around a bottle of rum. When Kiyami passed the bottle to Celeste, the siren took the bottle and stared at it. She still hadn’t tried a drop of alcohol since coming aboard. Perhaps she would like to feel dumb tonight, if only to give her brain some rest. But Celeste still didn’t feel comfortable enough to lose any sort of control, so she passed it across to Bastian, trying not to look at Raiden’s empty chair at the head of the table. She closed her eyes and saw Raiden sliding down the stairs in a trail of blood.

The other crew members must have felt similarly, because the atmosphere of the ship was off. It was a considerably disastrous event, even for a group of pirates. They had been surrounded, nearly forced into surrender, all because they were unable to work together for more than twenty minutes without dissolving into discord. If they had been captured, they would have surely been killed. After all, pirates didn’t leave survivors. Raiden’s crew certainly hadn’t. Another thing that weighed on Celeste heavily. What was worse, she didn’t feel that bad about it.

What was happening to her?

And, to top it all off, the cargo ship had been transporting what looked like someone’s personal items. Nothing particularly valuable, like treasure or tradable goods. When the crew had gone to loot, they had found a huge wooden bedframe, books, tables, and the like. Not a lot worth stealing besides some weaponry and trinkets.

At the table, Kiyami perched in her chair, moving her potatoes around in circles. Nasir, who albeit wasnormallyquiet, didn’t speak a word save for answering a question or two with a grunt. Even Torben, who should have been overjoyed after a good fight, jabbed at his food using much more force than necessary. Each stab made loud scraping noises that rang through the small room. Bastian flinched at every scrape. And the Admiral, who usually sat below the table waiting for scraps, was absent. The dog had refused to leave Raiden’s side since the wounded captain had boarded the ship.

“Torben! For the love of God, would you please stop slamming your knife into the table?” Bastian snapped, leaning back in his chair.

Torben’s face burned red. He threw his knife, blade down, into the wood of the table.

“All right, twatface!” Torben shoved the table away from him as he stood. “You have a problem with how I eat? Why don’t I show you where you can put your kni?—”

Nasir reached out a hand and placed it on Torben’s shoulder. The Yenrian stopped shouting and let out a breath. He placed his hand on top of his husband’s. Nasir smiled softly as their fingers interlaced. Taking his time, Torben sat back down. But he still shot Bastian a dirty look before pulling his knife up from the table and returning to his meal. For a moment, the only sound was the squeak of the swaying lantern’s rusted chain above their heads and the roar of the ocean outside.

“Did you get anything interesting?” Kiyami asked, turning to Celeste. Her attempt at steering the conversation didn’t go unnoticed by the others, but it was welcomed.

Celeste shook her head. What little she had taken was lost, but none of it was useful anyway. Then Celeste remembered the parchment tucked into her dress. It was probably nothing, but she did still wish to inspect the gold seal closer. Perhaps it would give some clue as to whose furniture had been on the ship and why. Not valuable information, but at least it would be something to talk about. So Celeste fished it from her bodice. The wax was gold, and jutting forth from it was the image of a blazing sun. Celeste offered it to Kiyami, but the girl’s fingers had hardly touched the parchment before Bastian pulled it from her grasp.

“What’s wrong?” Kiyami asked.

“This is the king’s seal,” he said, frowning.

The crew stopped eating.

“Why would a cargo ship captain have a letter from the king?” Kiyami said. “They were transporting furniture.”

“We’re all talking about thePirateKing, right? King Leonidas?” Torben asked.

“Yes, what other king would I be talking about?” said Bastian.

“There are other kings!” Torben crossed his arms.

Kiyami leaned forward across the table, straining to look. “What does it say?”

Bastian frowned deeper. “There’s too much water damage. I can’t make out anything.”

“A cargo ship filled with furniture and weapons and a letter from the king.” Kiyami grabbed the rum and took a long drink. “Is the king...moving?”

“Did Raiden see this?” Bastian said, looking to Celeste.

She shook her head.

“Do you think he knows anything?” Kiyami asked.

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