Chapter 19

S O R E N

B oarding the Sea Wolf allows my mind to finally accept what just happened; what we just escaped.

The gravity of abandoning my men’s dead bodies in the streets weighs deeply on me. Their death bought me the time to breathe in this air. It’s hard not to think about how they deserve better—a burial, burning their bodies, something .

It always feels wrong to know that the dead don’t get to see what they died for, even if every single one of us is aware our bodies might never be laid to rest.

Not with war.

“You can take off your mask,” Ritter says.

The two of us are standing at the ship’s helm, watching Skull’s Row harbor as it’s left behind us, and my gaze is wherever Mads and Silas are. The sound of waves crashing against the Sea Wolf fills our ears, mingling with the distant cries of seagulls that will soon be gone. Jane is secured down in Tempest’s quarters while the crew prepares for warfare, her energy felt securely below me.

“It enhances my powers, and I’m currently using them.” I glance at him, a briny breeze moving loose strands of hair into my eyes. “I haven’t seen you use your mask.”

“It’s currently in use, as well. That purpose is not for you to know.”

My attention returns ahead, glad to have more ocean between us and Skull’s Row, even if the Spiraling Stone is still stationed high over us. Once the sun dips below the horizon, this place will be lost over the ocean’s surface line.

“So, is Jane safe in the captain’s quarters?” Ritter asks, more like confirming something rather than inquiring.

“About as safe as she was in that tunneled nest Cypress built… Something dark still haunts her.”

His sigh is heavy. “I can see it, too.”

Oh yeah, the eye shit . “So how the fuck does that work?”

For a moment, he looks like he won’t tell me, but he seems to realize the value of being honest. “Your power,” he begins, choosing his words carefully, “as far as I’m aware, taps into the essence of the energies around us. You can sense it. With mine, it’s essentially a broken version of yourself. A forced magic that we acquired over the Black Sea. With the Seeing Eye visible, I can see if energies align, but I can’t get more than that. When I look at Jane, traces of a putrid darkness surround her, one when I look at Blackwell, he’s saturated in it... it has to be Misery.”

Hearing it from another somehow makes it worse, as if acknowledging how damning this is for Jane.

“Speaking of that,” I say, crossing my arms as the leather stretches. “You ever killed a god before?”

His laugh is short and sharp. “Not yet.” His humor fades, Ritter shifting his stance to straighten himself, then looks at me in my periphery. “I assume you’re aware that there’s no point in meddling your emotions with my daughter if all of our lives are on the line, and your focus is your sister.”

Oh, fucking great. He wants to talk about this .

“It does go against logic.”

“And with your powers, I know enough to know that your magic tells you when not to associate with someone. And yet you continue to do the things you do.”

“I’m not spelling it out for you,” I snap, my voice grittier. “Nor am I going to sound it out, act it out, or fucking make any comment about it.”

His snicker contrasts the fierce side of his heart, the one that exists solely for Jane. “All I’m getting at is if your powers can tell you not to associate with someone, then I’m curious if they can tell you to associate with a person.”

“What’s your point?”

“You could easily wait until this is all said and done before entwining any emotions. You’re not a romantic. So something is telling you to do it, or there’s other motives.”

That makes more sense, at least with what he’s getting at. I inhale deeply, my teeth grinding. I can’t tell him I don’t even know what’s going on. About how my magic latches to Jane like she’s destined for me, and right now, her heart demands affection, even if she doesn’t see it like that, and I am weak to that call. The taste of longing coats my tongue as I struggle to articulate the inexplicable connection between her and me. No matter how loud the chaos of the unknown is, I feel utterly compelled to give her everything I have; I’m living recklessly, because I fucking want to .

No fucking way I tell him any of that.

So, I remain quiet.

“It’s not lost on me that Basilisk has appeared,” Ritter continues. “And I’m aware he was in Death’s Wing, just like you,” he adds, like explaining something complex in a simplified manner.

“I have no idea why he’s here.”

Ritter slides his hands into his leather coat, tilting his head to the side. “He mentioned something about his cat.”

I frown, since he said the same with me, to which I honestly didn’t believe. He didn’t have a pet last time I saw him—not an animal , at least. “Does he really have a cat? ”

“Don’t touch it, or he’ll kill you. Jasmine is very real.”

My movements are momentarily suspended, even down to the blinking. Then, my head cocks to the side, my lips parting. What the hells is that about?

Ritter turns to face me, but I still don’t shift. “Jane needs to focus on surviving, and if she’s busy navigating a confused heart, that will fuck us all over. Including you. Which is why Basilisk appearing is suspicious as all hells, especially since you won’t talk.”

I finally move my head to look into his eyes. “You threatening me, or what? Be clear about it.”

“I’m trying to understand what surrounds my daughter.”

Reasonable, but he’s asking for too much. “I’m not answering anything beyond what I’ve already said.”

I don’t care if he’s looking out for his daughter. I don’t talk about my heart to anyone, which means giving it to Jane is still as confusing for me as it is for the rest of the world, especially since I do it without question. Just because I crave warmth doesn’t mean I know how to describe what it’s like to finally have it, or why I want it in the first place.

Ritter turns even more, but it’s just then that Tempest’s energy appears behind us. On land, she feels like any other Zenith—capable, difficult, and dangerous. Here… I look over my shoulder, and there’s something almost ethereal about her. She reminds me of Cypress, as if her energy is the source of ripples, ricocheting off the rest of us.

We both face the pirate queen, whose leather jacket is embroidered with elegant filigree, something she rarely wears on land. “So, let’s be direct. Misery is hunting Jane; that’s confirmed.”

“Did you know prior to now?” Ritter asks.

Her smile is feline in nature, the truth in her soul as blended together as ever; impossible for me to decipher details . “I know a lot, Charles Ritter.” Her nearly black irises flit to mine. “You’re an interesting wild card, Soren. Blackwell didn’t like you having her,” she laughs, revealing two golden teeth that, unlike other pirates, I know hers are naprese. “No, he wanted Jane chained up just like Misery asked for. But he couldn’t step too far out of line, or it would unnerve the rest, and Misery was not ready to make such a disruption.” She steps nearer, her energy so potent . “He underestimated the role you’re playing.”

“You know this how?” Ritter asks immediately, almost for me.

Her languid blink combines with shifting her gaze to him. “My men tortured the one named Shade.”

My hand instinctively drops down to my sword’s hilt, the cold metal grounding me. “What did you do?”

“Your man Bones brought him here, just as you requested when the rest fled. Shade was brought to us on the other side of the pier and immediately taken to Sea Wolf,” she answers, which makes sense why I felt Bones on here before we even boarded, along with Shade. I just didn’t realize they’d begin torturing him so swiftly. “I just got done getting the insights they’ve acquired so far. Don’t worry. He’s still on board and I thought to let you handle the rest.”

My veins run cold at the gauntlet thrown at me. Bones better have been in that room.

Tempest faces the Scorpion once more, “So… are you officially out of hiding, Charles?”

“Aye,” he groans out, inflecting the end of that word as if it’s obvious.

“And what is the plan? The reason for it all?” she asks, waving her hand around.

“I told you, a while ago, that I needed Jane safe?—”

She interjects, still rolling her hand— “That when I’d see the ruby earrings, I knew to act…. Even if I hate the rubied witch being involved.”

Oh.

That’s interesting . The ruby earrings, back in the Pit…

“For whatever reason, Jane being a Cinder is important to Misery. It’s what started all of this, back when I had Melona take her to safety,” Ritter immediately answers.

Her eyes widen, and it’s the first time I’ve seen her genuinely surprised, as if Ritter knew all the right things to say to catch her interest. “Cinder? Those are… this is what started it all? Is that related to Nora being killed? She would have been one, too.”

“Yes.”

“Why does Misery need a Cinder? And why were you in hiding for so long? You could never answer me in the letters.”

Her gaze burns at him like the act itself might command his obedience.

Definitely don’t intend to piss off the captain of the ship any time soon.

Ritter glances my way, and I get the message that this is private. “I took a lot of oaths that required a lot of specific behaviors, and one of them was to remain a mystery until it was time.”

Tempest licks her broad lips. “So…” she begins, lacing her fingers. “We either protect Jane and hope that we fuck with Misery, or we give her to Misery in order to spare losing resources and men?”

Ritter’s entire being is flooded with murder at the mention of sacrificing Jane. “If Misery has his way, he plans to take over the Balar Coasts, and it will be centuries before they’re reclaimed, if ever .”

The bodies of my men cross my mind, knowing they died for that very cause. That more of us will, too.

Tempest’s eyes flare, her meddled aura unifying in her sense of betrayal. “Interesting. Maybe that’s why Blackwell really wanted me in the Crimson Isles, to get my ships out of these ports… and what information is this all based on?”

He groans, as if he’s a child that is about to admit they were the one that lost their parent’s very precious item. “Cypress.”

Tempest’s eyes flash with true murder, much like how my body does if someone references my sister. “You bring that witch near me, and I’ll feed you to the ocean. Those earrings are the most I will tolerate.”

I lean my head forward. “You find her among us, and I’ll help feed her to whatever the fuck you want.”

Tempest doesn’t seem entirely pleased, but is willing to let it go. Thank the fucking gods she can’t read me like I can read her, even if she’s enigmatic. She’d know that Cypress is so ingrained in this we might as well be encrusted with rubies.

Tempest moves on. “So, why did they kill Nora if they want Cinders?”

“They want Jane for something in particular, as in Misery wants Cinders, but Jane is targeted directly . I honestly don’t know what that is,” Ritter answers.

She nods, looking away like she’s far from accepting that answer as the closing of this conversation, but also wants to process it on her own.

“And since I saved your hide just now, how about a deal that your army back home will be used if we need feet on soil?” she asks, tilting her head.

He hardly reveals any emotion. “I already assumed as much.”

“Then you can all go below deck and rest, and tomorrow morning we interrogate Shade. We’re leaving him overnight with no sleep or food, and I want the port to be out of view before we begin dissecting him further, to distance ourselves from Misery, in case he can hear any remnants of him. We can discuss what happens next once on my island. I’ll fetch Jane for you… and for now, Charles, we are even.”

With that, the pirate queen’s back is to us, the crew around her eyeing us with scrutiny but I can tell they’re slightly terrified for what comes, and yet thrilled to be a part of something large .

Perhaps it’s time to make Jane tell me what Cypress promised her, to claim clarity in everything .

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