Page 137 of Ship of Shadows
One thing was for certain: whatever I did, whoever I became, I’d do it with him by my side.
Epilogue
The sea rolled out in front of us as the ship bobbed next to the dock.
Mal, my mother, and other members of the water court stood on the boardwalk, looking out at us. Tears slipped down my mother’s cheeks, and Mal put an arm around her, bringing her to him. Bartholomew stood behind them. He’d decided to finally put his bard skills to the test on Arathia, see if he could find that untapped audience he was so eager to impress. He waved, and I gave a small wave in return.
Bastian came to stand by my side. “Are you sure you won’t regret this?” he asked, staring out over Apolis.
I turned to him. “Trying to get rid of me already?”
He wound his arms around me and crushed me to him. “Never,” he said fiercely.
The ship left the dock, sails billowing above us as I watched everyone grow smaller and smaller, little pinpricks in the distance.
“Good.” I turned my head and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Because you’re stuck with me forever, pirate.”
“Forever is a long time,” he murmured into my mouth. “Which is good because there are still so many things I plan to do with you in my cabin?—”
“Get a room,” Kara yelled from across the main deck.
I smiled into Bastian’s lips. If it wasn’t Driscoll or Leoni shouting at us, of course it would be one of his sisters.
I turned and leaned my head into Bastian’s chest, his arms wrapped tighter around me as the wind fluttered my hair, the scent of salt and sea wafting through the air, the sun on my face. It was a perfect day at sea.
“I’m worried about them,” I said.
“Who?” Bastian asked.
“Mal, Lochlan, Driscoll, Leoni. All of them.”
“Mal is going to be a most excellent king. We already promised your mother we’d come back for the coronation. And Lochlan, well, you did the right thing letting him go. I have a feeling he needs this. Needs to find this woman plaguing his dreams.”
“What about the blue lines?” I thought about when Bastian first arrived in Apolis, how those blue lines had stretched so dangerously close to his heart until he’d gotten back to his ship that he’d been bound to. “How long do you think he has?” I asked.
Bastian’s chest rose as he sighed. “I’m not sure, love. When I finally made my way back to Apolis, I’d been separated from my ship for eight months. But we don’t know enough about any of this to be sure. Maybe it depends how old a person is, whether they’re human or elemental, how strong they are. It might be longer for your brother.”
“Or not,” I said, saying what we were both thinking.
“He’s going to find this mysterious woman trapped in a tower, and he’s going to get his shadow back. And if he needsour aid, we’ll give it. Plus, Leoni and Driscoll will keep him company.”
“Or drive him mad,” I said.
“Well, that’s a very good possibility as well,” Bastian agreed, and I laughed.
We fell into silence as we gazed out at the open sea.
“So what’s next for us?” Bastian finally asked. “The princess and the pirate.”
“Mm, has a good ring to it, doesn’t it?”
In the distance, water sprayed from a whale’s spout, dusting the air.
“Aye, it does, but you didn’t answer my question.”
“Well,” I said. “You’re not the villain anymore, and you don’t have to be. I promised some boys we’re going to create a new home for them and rescue them, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Bastian chuckled. “You just love inviting danger, don’t you? You’d go back to that island after everything we went through?”
