Chapter 67
Trystan
The predawn fog rolled over the water, the outline of his village coming into view from a distance. Trystan had fallen asleep outside Sage’s door with his hand on the hilt of his blade and awoke remembering that she was sleeping on the other side.
I usually sleep in the nude. In case you were wondering, she’d said to him when they were locked in Lord Fowler’s home.
What a fucking awful time to remember that tidbit. Now the stiffness in his back was nothing compared to the stiffness in…other places.
“Good morning,” Sage said brightly from beside him, still working on tying up a sash at her shirt.
The Valiant Guards have all better be knocked out, he thought darkly. Or he’d see to the task himself.
She fiddled with the last loop on the thick belt cinched at her waist and then bent over to tie her boots, revealing large patches of lovely skin at her collarbones. Her curls were damp.
Had she taken a bath?
The last time she’d done that, he’d nearly given himself a concussion.
“Are you well?” she asked, tilting her head, her sleeve slipping down, taunting him.
He cleared his throat. “I’m distracted. There is a very good chance when we dock, Benedict will be ready to take us into custody with more Valiant Guards. We need to be off the ship before them.”
Sage glanced over the side of the ship with a look of consternation. “Like a tuck-and-roll situation?”
“Something to that effect.”
“Good morning,” Clare said in a singsong voice. Her short dark hair was pulled back by several rose pins, and her dress was flouncy, the bright green woven with gemstones that made her sparkle. “I thought I’d wear Father’s favorite color today.”
Trystan’s own clothes weren’t nearly so sentimental. He wore all black—it was what he always wore—but he carried the yellow handkerchief Sage had given him within his pocket, to represent his father and the love he’d saved. It was the most sentimentality he could offer.
“Why are you up so early?” Trystan asked, searching the boat for Alexander.
“I need to speak with Tatianna’s father.” Clare said the words quickly, breaking Trystan’s focus.
“About anything in particular?” Sage asked with a small grin.
“Nope.” Clare was lying, but Trystan was uncertain why Sage found this so enjoyable. She was grinning like a cat that had just swallowed the family goldfish.
“You’re sure?” Sage batted her eyelashes. But before Clare could object, Alexander leaped atop her shoulder, holding up a sign.
Propose
Evie screamed, holding Clare’s hands and jumping up and down. “I knew it!”
“Shut up!” Clare placed both hands over Evie’s mouth. “I’m merely speaking to him about the possibility. I’m waiting for the right time.”
“And that’s at Father’s burial?” Trystan was genuinely asking, so he wasn’t certain why Sage whacked him on the back of the arm.
“What’s at your father’s burial?” Tatianna appeared, talking through a yawn, though she paused when she saw them all staring. “What is it?” Her dress, too, was vibrant, splashed with every shade of pink, the sleeves resembling the wings of an angel.
“We were discussing how we are to get to the buried window before Benedict and the Valiant Guard do.” Clare stared pointedly at him. “Right, Trystan?”
“Yes,” he confirmed dryly. “It’s all we can talk about.”
“What if you two go now?” Tatianna suggested. “Take one of the light boats before the rest of them get up, head to shore. We’ll say you’re sleeping in if they suspect anything. Or that you’re ‘lovemaking.’” Tatianna snorted.
Clare recoiled. “Ew.”
Trystan ran the scenario through. The “leaving right then” scenario. Not the “lovemaking.” He wasn’t trying to embarrass himself in front of his sister and sister adjacent.
And Sage.
“They’d notice if one of the lifeboats was missing. There are only two of them,” Trystan pointed out.
“There’s another solution,” Sage said, pushing down her pants, revealing frilly shorts acting as undergarments.
“What are you doing!”
He glanced around the boat furiously, but the deck was empty save for one of Benedict’s men keeping watch in the crow’s nest, though the snoring coming from it didn’t indicate much watching.
And then she untied her sash and pulled off her loose shirt, leaving her in a sleeveless white undershirt and bare, smooth legs.
But Trystan had no time to enjoy it.
Because Sage winked at him, climbed over the side of the ship, and jumped.