Page 16 of The Queens and the Kings
Off course.
He could immediately feel that they weren’t where he wanted to be. Something in the currents, the way the arcane felt in his body. A feverish panic, something not quite right. By instinct alone, Pedr commanded the ocean to change.
With a second intentional thought, the arcane went to work. The sea currents shifted. Rosenvatten chugged into a languid curl, heading away from the stormy west. Southeast would be better, away from General Helsing’s view, and into the eventual shadow of Dragul Mountain. He wouldn’t lead them away from Kapurnick yet.
They needed supplies.
He blinked out of the arcane, shaking his head. The deeper he pressed into the arcane, the harder to extract.
“How and why was there a wyvern?” Britt demanded. “This is too far from the mainland. Something must be happening.”
Satisfied they sailed with the correct heading, Pedr braced his hips against the railing, palms splayed to either side. He stared at Britt in her high ire, moderately amused but wise enough not to show it. Henrik and Einar and Agnes shared her unease. He swallowed the forming weight in his throat. Betweentheir heavy expectations and the restriction of his curse, this would be a tricky conversation.
“It was a wyvern,” he said.
Britt threw her hands in the air. “We know what it was! How did it get here? Wyverns are only supposed to be on the mainland.”
“I didn’t bring it.”
Einar sent Henrik a questioning look. Henrik shrugged. Even soldats from Stenberg had heard of wyverns, though probably more as an inflammatory story than truth.
Britt spread her hands. “Who did?”
Pedr shrugged.
She stacked her hands on her hips and glared. “Kapurnick is too far for them to fly. They’ve neverbeenhere before. It means something.”
Saliva filled his throat as he said, “They live on the mainland, but they’re notfromthere.”
The curse activated like a hard fist to his sternum. Not yet restrictive, but he entered dangerous territory. Those horrid biddies who cast the curse hadn’t prevented him from speaking about wyverns, only the Wyvern Kings. The wyvern topic flirted a very dangerous line. He couldn’t even think about . . .them. . . without painful spasms in his voice box.
Britt shook her head in a wordless question, hands lifted with her palms up, as if to say,what do you mean?
Pedr shoved away from the railing, folded his arms across his hard chest. His shoulders shifted, brow lowered. The more he thought about how to answer, the greater the curse’s discomfort amplified.
“I can’t say, except that the presence of the wyverns this far away from the mainland means . . . it means . . .”
His breath failed.
The lump in his throat grew ballast. As his fingers curled into his palm, he grunted out a final, “Nothing good,” before words stopped completely.
Britt paled. “An attack from the mainland?” she breathed. “Is that what’s going on? There’s no other explanation.”
There are many other explanations,he thought with deepening irony.None of which you’re likely to believe.
Pedr said nothing. If he did, his body would lock down entirely.
“How could the Lordlady attackhere?” Britt cried.
As his thoughts shifted to the Lordlady, leader of the mainland, the restriction ebbed enough to speak. “No one said the Lordlady was attacking,” he muttered.
“The wyverns haven’t been here for centuries. If ever! They’re under the mainland’s supervision, thus the Lordlady’s domain. What other parallels should I draw?”
He rolled his eyes, said, “Plenty of others, Britt!” and held up a finger. “Youarecorrect on one count, and only one. The Lordlady can do whatever he wants. He is the most powerful leader in Elestra. If he wanted control over The Isles, it’s a simple matter of harnessing the wyverns to be his attack dogs. As that’s unlikely for many reasons, assume it’s something else.”
Britt studied him, not at all put off by his mention of the Lordlady’s power. She read him far too well. Her tone grew arch.
“What else do you know about the wyverns, Pedr?” She softened her demanding tone by adding, “Please.”
