Page 11 of Ship of Shadows
She looked up at the gold-embossed ceiling. “This has caused a fury among the other courts. It will weaken their trust in us.”
It was true. The courts hated conflict of any kind, terrified that if we used our powers for the wrong purpose, the Seven Spirits would rain down their displeasure and take away the magic they’d gifted our people so long ago.
“You have put our entire court in jeopardy,” my mother said.
I came to a stand. “I fell in... to a relationship with the wrong man. I don’t expect your forgiveness, but I am a grown woman, Mother. I don’t need to be told I did wrong. I already know. I already shoulder the burden of our loved ones’ disappearance. I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you, to this court.”
“You can’t.” My mother’s eyes shone with tears. “Don’t you get it? They’re gone, and there’s nothing you can do to bring them back.”
I thought about Bastian’s words earlier, hating myself for letting him get to me. But what if he could help me... No. No. My mother was right. We had to move forward.
My mother sank onto her plush bed, the thick comforter a pristine white. “I can’t do this. I can’t be strong for us anymore.You have to earn back our people’s trust.” She gave a decisive nod. “He’ll be executed tomorrow morning, at dawn, and you’ll be the one to do it.”
I stilled, heart stuttering. I’d had a chance to kill Bastian once, right after I’d found out about his betrayal, and I hadn’t taken it. I hadn’t been able to. Now my mother was telling me I not only had to kill him, but I had to do it in front of everyone?
My mother continued, “Then we’ll crown you queen, going on with the coronation as planned. We must,” she said. “We’ll find you a good, dependable husband. Show everyone you’re over the pirate lord and ready to lead our court into a new era. We won’t give the other courts any reason to distrust us.”
She couldn’t be serious.
“What about Father’s ship?” I asked. “Bastian was on that ship. He might at least know something about where Father is.”
“No,” she snapped, then her face softened. She walked forward and grabbed my hands. “I miss him as much as you do. He was the love of my life. But he’s gone. He’d never have relinquished that ship. ThePearlwas his pride and joy. If it’s in someone else’s possession, that’s all the confirmation I need that he isn’t coming back.”
Spirits below, she was right, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t at least get answers.
“We cannot waste more resources trying to rescue the boys, your brothers. Look what happened to your father, to so many of our men. They went after those taken and paid the price. We can’t lose any more of our people, not when the fate of Apolis hangs in the balance.”
Her words were like a hand around my throat, slowly choking the life from me. For the last eight months, I’d stood back and watched my people suffer. And I’d done nothing. I convinced myself that doing nothing was the right thing, but now I wasn’t so sure. I searched my mother’s brown eyes, full ofso much pain and loss. Wrinkles lined her face that hadn’t been there just a year earlier. Her hair had lost so much of its luster. Her gown hung loose on her thin frame.
She needed this as much as our people did. She needed hope.
“Get a good night’s rest.” My mother cupped my cheek with her hand. “Tomorrow the pirate lord will die, and you will become queen of Apolis.”
Chapter Six
Itossed and turned in bed that night, the events of the day rolling through my mind like endless waves.
Bastian. Bastian was here. Bastian was in prison. Bastian was going to die.
The covers tangled over my sticky body, misted in sweat from the combination of nerves and heat. I needed to go for a walk, to get out of the confinement of this room.
I grabbed a shawl and threw it over my thin nightgown, then put on my sandals and slipped from my room. I knew how to sneak out of the castle, had spent years doing it. I knew the guards’ rotations, the right shadows to stick to, the doors that didn’t creak, the empty hallways.
Soon enough, I was outside, breathing in the briny air. I inhaled deeply, descending the rocky terrain, paying no attention to where my legs carried me. I didn’t care. I just wanted to be free.
Soon I came upon a statue of Spirit Water nestled in the rocks. The statue had been built long ago by our ancestors, and it was truly breathtaking. At least three times my height, she rose up, her hair like the ocean waves, the clothes on her body rippling like a waterfall. Her face was calm, and in her handshe held a trident, a powerful weapon she’d been rumored to wield. No one had been able to find this weapon, but my father had always been obsessed with it, convinced that finding it would bring glory to the water court. He’d gone out on multiple missions to find this mysterious trident but always came back empty handed.
Even if the trident didn’t exist, I loved the lore behind it all, loved that this beautiful statue was here to honor Spirit Water and the powers she’d granted us.
A breeze blew my hair around my face, and I swiped the strands away. In the distance, ocean waves rolled in and out, the rush of them calming my frayed nerves.
I wandered past the statue, trying not to think about tomorrow and what I’d have to do. I hated Bastian Lore for what he’d done. That didn’t mean I wanted to be the one to kill him.
It all felt like too much, happening too fast. I had accepted my fate. I had to be queen, a leader for the water court, but then Bastian sailed right onto our shores, and... and what? What had changed in the last few hours?
His words echoed in my mind again. He said he could help me. That I could help him. But what could I possibly do for him? I chewed at my bottom lip, feet stumbling over the rocks that led down to the shores. My brothers had poked fun at me for scaling these rocks instead of just using the stairs. Mal had been more practical, serious, about it—his usual nature. He spouted off all the reasons it was dangerous for me to stray from the stairs. Lochlan had just laughed and joked that of course I’d choose the more challenging pathway. But I liked the challenge of it, the journey of it, how I’d find random seashells or plants, how I could take a different path every time. It was never predictable, not like the stairs.
Stars twinkled in the sky above, the moon big and round, lighting my way as I mulled over Bastian’s words, his proposition.
