Page 71 of Voice of the Ocean

TheRed Revengewaited, tucked in a shadow just beyond the dock. Celeste couldn’t help but smile at the sight. It was easy to overlook, as the crew had placed it behind a larger, flashier ship. Because Valencia and Celeste had been looking for the ship in the opposite direction, they had missed it completely.

“We took a risk,” Kiyami panted, weaving around one human to draw closer to Celeste on her right. As the crowd thickened, their pace was forced to slow. “Let’s just hope Valencia and her crew are still—” Her gaze slid to something behind Celeste. Eyes widening, Kiyami uttered a word in a language Celeste did not know. But it certainly wasn’t agood word.

The siren turned to see Torben and Raiden running down a side street toward them. But they were not alone.

“Stop! Thieves!” Valencia pointed a finger at the two men. The outcry started a commotion. Raiden and Torben zigzagged through the thick crowd, shouldering people out of their way. But their progress was slow. Torben risked a glance behind and saw that Valencia’s crew gained as people leaped from their path. In one smooth motion, he pulled his gun from his hip and fired into the sky.

“Move!” he bellowed.

The crowd erupted in chaos, screaming and fleeing in every direction. A passing constable began pushing his way toward the source of the disturbance.

“Run faster!” Raiden cried.

Torben trailed not far behind, his face red with effort. “I am running faster, ya prick!”

A hard yank drew Celeste’s attention away from the chase.

“Hurry! Your lover boy will be fine,” Kiyami said with a smirk before taking off in the direction of theRed Revenge. Celeste flushed pink but followed without protest.

Thankfully, the crowd thinned near the dock. Their feet hammered faster against the wooden boards. Wind whipped at their faces, as if the sea itself urged them on. Upon theRed Revenge, the lanterns lit one by one. Time for concealment had passed. If she squinted, Celeste could just make out the tall, broad figure of Nasir and the narrower figure of Bastian beside him on the deck. The two ducked down and reappeared, carrying what looked to be the rope ladder. Kiyami tore down the last walkway, legs flying. But the ship wasn’t close enough to the dock to be boarded. They would have to swim. Or?—

“Stop! You there!”

The constable had joined in the chase. Celeste threw a look over her shoulder in time to see Raiden and Torben nearing the docks. But the law enforcer pursued, hot on their heels. With a grunt, Raiden grabbed the nearest barrel and hurled it back at their pursuers. It collided with the constable’s chest, sending him flying backward into Valencia and her crew. The group collapsed into a heap of angry shouts. But as Raiden turned and let out a whooping cheer, a second constable tackled him. The very one who had accosted him earlier in the day.

Celeste’s legs stilled beneath her as she watched the constable wrestle Raiden to the ground, the two disappearing from sight into the crowd.

“Celeste! Come on!” Kiyami pleaded.

Celeste’s feet were moving before her mind knew what she was doing. Fireworks exploded in the sky above her, but her steps did not falter. She dove back into the crowd headfirst, eyes scanning for any sign of Torben or Raiden. But the throng was too thick. Her heart pounded against her chest. She neared the spot where she had last seen him and found nothing. Without thinking, she opened her mouth to cry out his name.

“What are you doing here, lass?” It was Torben.

Celeste tried to push past him, but he stepped into her path.

“Get on the bloody ship!” he shouted.

A cry rang out, and Celeste turned to find Raiden bursting through the crowd with a bag of coins clutched in his hand and a constable’s hat on his head. Celeste nearly sagged in relief. But Raiden was staring at her in disbelief.

“Why aren’t you on the ship?” He turned to Torben. “Why isn’t she on the ship?”

“Bloody search me!” Torben shot back.

“She’s supposed to be on the ship,” Raiden said, a note of anger in his tone.

“Well, I expect she came running here after you, ya fool!”

Raiden’s eyes slid to Celeste’s, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Something about the look he gave her made her heart stumble.

“I’ll kill you, Raiden Sharp!” came the Pirate Queen’s alto. Valencia was running toward them like a nightmare made real.

“Time to go,” Raiden said, grabbing Celeste’s bound hands and bolting.

They reached the dock, where Kiyami was waiting, a look of concern etched into her face. But upon catching sight of them, she dove into the water without hesitation. Torben reached the end of the dock second, entering the dark water with a loud splash. They were close. Just a few feet away. And then the sharp crack of gunfire split the night. Raiden threw his arms around Celeste, covering her body as if on instinct.

“Change of plans,” he said into her ear, before zigzagging them away from Kiyami and Torben, who would have been easy targets as they swam through the water, and toward the grand ship that sat in front of theRed Revenge. Bullets whizzed by their heads as they scrambled up the gangplank.

The two hit the deck of the ship, and Raiden turned, kicking the plank to the side so it sank into the water beneath them, forcing Valencia’s crew to find a different way of boarding. A bullet whizzed by Celeste’s ear, and she dropped to the ground, covering her head with her bound hands. Raiden pulled his gun from his hip and fired back, hitting one of the pursuers in the knee and downing them. Celeste wanted to help, but with nothing but a dagger on her, she was useless in the fight. Still, she grabbed a nearby bucket and flung it with all her strength toward Valencia’s crew. The bucket hit Valencia square in the face with a satisfyingthunk.

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