Chapter 48 Serena
SERENA
My stomach dips as the ship lurches to the side again. The sea crashes, cradling us between eager waves, slamming against the mermaids and monsters carved into the sides of the salt-worn ship.
Blue above us, blue below. Blue everywhere, like the world begins and ends with it.
The good news is that if Mal plans on gracing us with his sparkling company again, he’ll have to wait until we’re on dry land or risk being harpooned in the middle of an ocean.
Or suffering a brutal shark attack. A sight I would pay good money to see.
The bad news is—we’re on a ship. I have half a fear I’m going to develop scurvy or scarlet fever—some old-timey disease that probably ravaged the Mayflower.
I turn from the railing, using my hand as a visor to block the sun’s glare. “So what exactly do you need me to retrieve?”
The Pirate King stands at the helm, fingers wrapped around the spokes of the wheel while the breeze toys with her platinum hair. The ship obeys her every command without hesitation, reminding me of the way Furi and I are together—how I barely have to think to have her respond.
Speak of the devil. I peer up to see her soaring overhead, bobbing between the clouds like a dolphin.
Thought I told you to lie low.
This is lying low.
No, my dear, this is what we call a humblebrag.
“It’s a compass,” the Pirate King says, stealing back my focus.
“You want me to go to Skull Valley for a compass?” I quirk a brow, glancing at Zadyn. The sun dances off his golden skin, the wind tunneling through the loose white tunic tucked into his navy pants.
“It’s not just any old compass, girl. This one is special.”
“Why?”
“Not that I owe you an explanation, but it has magical properties. It’s said to be one of the oldest objects in the history of the world.”
“Sounds valuable. What do you need it for?” I answer her scowl with a sweet smile. “I just want to know what I’m getting myself into.”
“Let’s just say it has sentimental value.”
“Really? You don’t strike me as the sentimental type.”
She pushes a sigh through her dainty nose. “If you must know, it was my father’s. And now it’s mine.”
“Now who would be fool enough to steal from the ghastly Pirate King of Bleakwater Bay?”
She turns over her shoulder and hits Kai with a look sharp enough to draw blood.
“Aside from spoilt siren twats seeking certain death? The Valley Dwellers. Nasty little beasts.”
She pushes up the sleeve of her peasant blouse to reveal a long patch of creamy skin with swirling black tattoos. Running up her forearm parallel to the ebony ink is a large pearlescent bite mark.
“It’s from their teeth.”
“That is gruesome.” Kai pops between us, marveling at the double crescent moons. She tugs her sleeve down and faces forward, the blunt edges of her hair smacking him in the face.
Shuddering, I ask, “What exactly are the Valley Dwellers?”
She tosses her head back, the sound of her laughter annoyingly attractive. “For a Blackblood, you are startlingly clueless.”
I look to Zadyn, frowning.
“Treasure-hoarding cave creatures. Touch their gold and they will shred you to bits,” he explains, stands of brown, red, and gold skating across his forehead.
“I’ve read they’ll eat anything that moves. Including each other,” Eaton warns.
“And then they’ll eat you for dessert.” The Pirate King snaps her jaw at me and snickers. “Why do you think they call it the Valley of Death?”
“You want me to risk my life? For a compass.”
“I’m risking mine harboring you fugitives,” she retorts, thrusting her thumb over her shoulder.
Someone retches behind me, and I turn to see Dover curled over the ship’s railing, Mar holding back his shoulder-length brown hair and smoothing his head. Poor guy has been sick for almost a full day.
“We’re not fugitives—”
“You’re wanted by the King of Vod. If he found out I was defying him by abetting your escape, I’d be ash in a split second. Despite how good I am at my job. I’m doing you a favor. I’d better get mine in return.”
I sigh. “So these valley creature things have your father’s compass. How are we supposed to get it back?”
“Well, I know one thing.” She cracks a wicked smile. “They don’t like fire.”
I lift a shoulder, slumping back against the carved oak railing. “I can work with that.”
She whistles for a crew member to take over and plops down on a nearby bench, fishing a gleaming red apple and switchblade from her pocket.
“So what’s the story with your name?” Kai scuffs up to her, hands in his pockets.
“Elaborate your thought,” she drones, sinking the blade into the skin of the apple.
“Why go by Pirate King when you are the very portrait of femininity? Or you hiding a little something between those pretty legs?” Kai smirks, nodding toward her lithe form.
“Female I may be, but make no mistake, what I lack in manhood I make up for in other ways. I am every bit my father’s daughter, and I would delight in cutting off that famous cock of yours and wearing your balls as a necklace”—her eyes flicker up from the apple—“prince.”
“So you’ve heard of my cock? My lady, I can now die happily.” Kai gives her his most rakish grin.
Ignoring his attempt at flirtation, she sighs and says, “My father was the Dread Pirate King of Bleakwater Bay. I was born on this very ship. He taught me everything I know. When he died, I had a reputation to uphold, and Pirate Queen doesn’t instill the kind of fear I needed it to.
So I took up my father’s title to continue his legacy and remind all five kingdoms who owns the seas. ”
Kai measures her with impish curiosity. “What’s your real name?”
“None of your gods-damned business, prince.”
“Shall I guess?” He takes hold of a rope suspended from above and drapes himself over it.
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Sabella.”
She scoffs.
“Carina? Angel?”
“Do I look like an Angel to you?” Her eyes score him with complete detestation.
Kai cocks his head, beaming at her. “You walked right into that one. I’ll find out. One way or another.”
“Please do. Try and try until you’re blue in the face. Until the curiosity just—” She finishes her last rotation on the apple, waiting for the skin to drop in a perfect coil at her feet. “Kills you.”
“Ah, but then you’d miss me too much.”
She stands and walks up to him, drawing out each step. Positioning her blade beneath his chin, she tilts her head and murmurs, “You think you’re so charming, don’t you?”
A flutter of dark lashes. “I don’t just think it.”
I watch them go back and forth, enthralled, neither missing a volley. Her knife drifts up to his cheek, and I can see in her face just how badly she wants to add to that scar below his left eye. The one Kylian gave him.
“What happened here?”
“What’s more impressive? Rabid wolf or female scorned?”
“The truth.”
“The King of Vod is what happened here.” Kai’s fingers shoot up to wrap around her wrist. Something guarded slips into his tone, darkening some of that flirtatious levity. “Let’s put down the sharp objects, shall we, darling? Wouldn’t want you to slip and hurt yourself.”
His palm closes over her hip, one finger at a time.
“Get. Your hands. Off of me.”
“You first, sweetheart.”
Another pregnant beat passes before the Pirate King wrenches herself free and struts away, hips swishing in time with her hair.
I giggle into my hand. “Kai, you are so barking up the wrong tree.”
He stares after her, transfixed. “You forget how persistent I can be. She’ll come around.”
The loud slam of her cabin door punctuates his sentence.
“Don’t count on it,” Dover groans, turning back to the sea. “Mother of Zed, not again.”
I cringe as he hurls again. “I’m going to see if she has something to help with that.”
Thank you, Mar mouths to me.
I slip into the Pirate King’s cabin, finding her office empty.
I do a quick scan of the room—my gaze sweeping across the floor-to ceiling wooden shelves filled with leather-bound ledgers, and glass cases displaying strange oddities and exotic artifacts.
Skulls of unfamiliar animals, a collection of golden vases painted with ebony whorls, a row of vials with labels too small to read.
Trophy cases, I realize.
“See anything you like, Blackblood?”
I turn to find her feline form behind me.
“You’ve got quite the collection.”
“Live as long as I have, and it’s easy.” She stares me down, waiting for an explanation.
“Dover can’t stop retching. Got anything to help with that?”
She inverts her lips. “Depends. What are you willing to give me for it?”
“Boy, nothing comes for free, does it?”
“You of all people should understand. You’re the one being hunted like someone’s lost possession.” She breezes past me.
“Touche. But there is such a thing as kindness. Ever heard of it?”
“Kindness, you will learn, is only a crutch for those too meek and cowardly to act according to their mind’s truest impulses.”
There’s a wariness to her voice as she wrenches open the glass cabinet, snatches up a thin vial of clear liquid, and tosses it to me. I scramble to catch it.
“Have him take it with rum. Kills the taste.”
“Not poisoned, is it?”
“No, I keep all my poisons here.” She twists her delicate wrist, gesturing to an array of vials resting inside the locked case to the left. My eyes go wide.
Oh, she wasn’t kidding.
“I consider myself an expert. Some of these I even crafted myself.”
I read the labels in wonder.
Water Nymph Tears-weakens psychic connection
Poppy Flower-impairs judgement and makes one more susceptible to influence
Mandrake root-causes dangerous hallucinations
Calder Essence- causes temporary paralysis and in extreme cases causes the blood to boil
“You know, they say poison is the coward’s way.”
“It’s not. Take it from someone who’s tried every manner of murder—the best weapon is the one they don’t see coming. Nothing works better than being underestimated. Kills faster than any blade in this world.”
She keys open the compartment and starts digging around, passing me a glittering orange vial to hold.
“Careful with that—it will grow you horns.”