Chapter 89
Belle
I leaned against the rail of the ship, giving myself three breaths to savor the moment.
Sunlight glinted off the bay, and a forest of masts rose around me, gently swaying in the breeze.
I inhaled, drawing in the scents of salt and shore, oak and tar.
The shouts of sailors echoed around me, joined by the boisterous voices of fishmongers haggling with fishermen, and the sound of the waves lapping against the wharf.
Amara. It was even more beautiful than Papa’s stories.
And now, it was time to leave.
I shoved off the rail, returning to the chaos on deck. Sailors rushed past, shouting incomprehensible orders to each other as they checked the rigging and made the final preparations to cast off.
I found Valen without intending to. He stood on the towering stern of the ship, powerful and handsome in his sleek black coat, his sun-kissed hair dancing in the wind. He was speaking intently with the vessel’s navigator, probably making a final check of the itinerary I’d laid out.
From Amara, we’d sail southward, stopping at all the ports along the eastern seaboard, before heading across the open ocean to the Shimmering Isles. Some of their names I remembered from Papa’s stories, others I’d discovered between the pages of a book.
My chest swelled. I was finally going to be part of the adventures I’d always read about, and I’d chosen every stop along the way.
As if sensing my gaze, Valen turned, rewarding me with that half-smile of his that always made my pulse skip. The dragon that had haunted him was gone, but its heat remained—and right now, it was all directed at me.
I grinned as I imagined him dragging me below to our private cabin and reminding me of just how lucky I was.
Suddenly flushed and breathing quickly, I turned back to the waiting crates of provisions sitting on the wharf. There’s still work to do.
“Ready for the next one?” I shouted to the ship’s master below.
He clutched his ledger tightly. “You should really let the porters load the vessel, my lady. That’s their job.”
They were slow.
I threaded my magic into one of the trunks, and it soared up into the air above me. Men shouted, chasing it along the length of the deck as it wove past the ship’s spars, racing toward the wide-open hatch.
“Easy into the hold,” I whispered.
The trunk stopped and slowly rotated before it gently descended into the hatch. A few of the deckhands braced themselves as if the trunk might suddenly rise back and sail away, taking them with it.
I turned back to the master. “Ready for the next?”
The blood had drained from his face. “This is highly unusual, Your Ladyship.”
Meaning my witchery was spooking the sailors. Well, they’d best get used to it. The witch was going to be here all voyage long.
“You told me you needed help to get the ship loaded before we lost the tide,” I said as I launched another heavy crate skyward. “This is the fastest way.”
I’d loaded a dozen barrels and crates in a quarter of the time his men would’ve taken.
He wiped his brow with an old handkerchief as he watched the crate soar over the ship. “I meant I needed coin for more hands.”
What he meant was more coin for his own hands.
“I’m worth a dozen men at least.” I glanced down at him, my expression as stern as I could manage. “And I expect you to pay me accordingly, of course.”
His eyes rounded at the sudden financial implications. “But this is your ship…you’re paying…”
I laughed, and a relieved smile broke over his face as he caught the jest. “Honestly, your ladyship, I’ve never seen the like. You could probably replace half my crew if you had a mind to.”
One of the sailors called from the hatch. “The merchant wants you below, my lady.”
“I’ll be back,” I said to the master, then dodged a pair of deckhands as I hurried to the companionway at the stern.
A hand spun me around, and I bumped up against the wall of the cabin as Valen closed in. “You’re a busy woman. I’ve barely seen you all morning.” His honey gaze raked over me, heated and covetous.
Gods, I loved it when he looked at me like that.
I tried to slip away from him, but his arm blocked my escape.
“Yes? Is there something you need, your former highness?”
“Do you not have better things to do with your time than shift cargo?” he murmured as his hand slipped invitingly along my backside. “If you cannot think of anything, I can make some suggestions.”
I toyed with the pleat of his coat, imagining all the uses I could put myself to. “I’m sure that you’re full of suggestions, but they’ll have to wait. I’m a busy woman with a ship to get under sail.”
He brushed his lips against my ear. “Considering your knack for marshaling men about, you would have made quite a queen.”
“I’ll make a better merchant.”
“Or deckhand, it seems,” he said, a smirk on his lips. “Perhaps we should retire to our cabin and let the men get on with their work.”
I pursed my lips. “I happen to be doing exactly as I wish. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Marcel needs me below.”
He let me shove him away, and I clambered through the companionway hatch, pausing halfway down the ladder.
“Have you seen Loreli?” I called up to him.
“Don’t worry,” Valen said. “She’ll be here.”
“This ship isn’t leaving without her,” I said, climbing down. “Or without my books.”
She was the only one I trusted to make sure they got on board.
I dropped to the deck below and pivoted out of the way of a pair of scrambling ship’s boys, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dim light.
The hold rang with the clamoring voices of men as they shifted sacks of grain and barrels of food.
A pair of hands grunted as they tried to shove an ungainly crate into place.
I threaded my magic into it, and the crate slid over and nestled beside the others, leaving the men stumbling and looking up in surprise.
Ducking to avoid the low beams, I found Marcel far end of the hold.
He’d trimmed his white beard short, and the port air seemed to have worked miracles on his constitution, as he looked heartier than I’d seen him in years.
The moment the curse was broken, Locke’s spell over him had vanished.
The demon was dead, and Marcel had raced back to the castle.
Now we’d be traveling the world together.
“Ah, just in time,” Marcel said, smiling broadly. He held out his ledger for me to check. “It’s all here. Everything accounted for, but I thought you’d want to see it for yourself, seeing as you paid for it.”
I took the book and quickly ran my finger along the inventory, flicking my eyes to the stacks of chests and boxes. “Technically, Valen paid for it. Along with the ship.”
Marcel grunted. “I doubt he could list two things on the inventory. You picked out half the goods we’re taking to port.” He gestured at a stack of small oilcloth wrapped trunks. “I’m not even sure what those things are, or why we need half a dozen chests of them, but I’ll trust your judgment.”
“Split drawers,” I said hastily. Valen had bought a pair for me in the city, and the moment I put them on, I’d known they’d sell. “They’re quite airy and freeing. Women will eat them up in the southlands.”
Marcel held up his hands. “As long as women want them, I don’t care about the details of lady’s underclothes.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I know you picked up a few pairs for Maeve.”
“You’re too nosy for your own good.” He snatched his book back from my hands.
My stepmother had trained me to spy. I couldn’t help it.
His expression softened as he tapped the ledger on his palm. “I always promised to take you on a trading expedition. Now you’re taking me instead. I couldn’t be prouder.”
I glanced back as I hurried back to the ladder. “Maybe wait to see if we make a profit.”
“Too late,” he called, but I was already halfway up.
I climbed back up the companionway and immediately got back to work, sending a cask of ale into the air. The tide was already slipping. A glint of silver hair drew my gaze, and I ran down the gangway. “Ella!”
She clasped her arms around me, and my throat tightened. This was goodbye.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” she whispered into my shoulder. I held her close, fingers pressing into her warm coat. Her bright youth had returned, the crown resting easier now that the curse was broken and the beasts were gone.
“I’m glad you came,” I said softly. We’d had a week together in the port, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“I wouldn’t miss seeing you off for the world.” She sighed. “But gods, I’m going to miss you so much.”
I stepped back, squeezing her hands. “I promise I’ll come back with stories and gifts from distant lands.”
Just as Papa used to bring.
“You’d better,” she laughed. “I expect ribbons and jewels and unimaginable tales.”
Valen was with Cassius further down the wharf, speaking together in the shadow of the ship.
There’d been a distance and mistrust between them when they’d first reunited, but it had slowly transformed into something natural, almost casual.
Leaning against the top of a piling, Valen was relaxed in a way I’d never seen him, the last of his great burdens cast from his shoulders.
A shout came from the end of the pier, and I looked up. Loreli, waving as she herded along a line of porters carrying small oilskin-wrapped boxes.
My books.
Isolde trailed behind, parasol slung over her shoulder, leading a pair of porters struggling under the largest trunk I’d ever seen.
Valen met my eyes. “They’re here. Time to go.” He clasped arms with his brother, said something that made Cassius laugh, then headed for the gangway.
Ella pulled me into her arms. “Be safe, Belle.”
“I will.” I buried my face in my little sister’s silver hair. “I love you. And if the crown ever gets too heavy, just come find me and forget it for a while. You have our route.”
“Being queen really isn’t as bad as you imagine.”
I hugged her one last time. “The offer stands. Adventure. Foreign lands. The open sea.”
Who could resist that?
Valen had to nearly pull me up the gangway to separate us.
Loreli followed, laughing as I helped her on deck. Her face was flushed despite the cold, her eyes bright. “I think you must’ve brought half the library.”
“Not even a fraction,” I said, as I mentally ticked off the cases of books, making sure not a single one was missed. Fairytales, histories, guides to all the places we’d be visiting, and more—it was all there.
She smiled and shook her head as the porters passed the last one over the rail. “We shan’t be bored.”
“You’ll be able to read them yourself by the end of the voyage, I promise you that,” I said.
If the books were about handsome knights and lords, I imagined she’d be a quick learner.
A deckhand swept her things toward the cabins at the stern, and I grinned as I caught her watching. “You best get situated. There’ll be plenty of time for talk once we’re underway.”
Even before the sweating porters heaved Isolde’s massive trunk aboard, shouts went up from the stern, and sailors started swarming over the rigging and along the sides of the vessel, preparing to drop sail and cast the ship off its mooring.
Valen pressed his hand against the small of my back, guiding me toward the bow for a better view. “Gods, woman, you’ve brought enough books to sink the ship. I can’t believe the master let you take them all.”
“He says the ship can take the weight if I find the space—which I will.”
“I don’t see how. The sailors need a place to sleep. I’m certain that a few hundred would have been sufficient.”
We found a patch of rail on the forecastle, out of the way of the men.
I let him pin me against it, the wide-open bay at my back.
I lifted my chin, looking up into those beautiful honey eyes.
“Sufficient? That would barely last me a week. What would I do for the rest of the voyage? It will be months!”
Valen pulled me to him and gently tilted my mouth to his, a half-smile at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, I think I could find a way for us to pass the time.”
And we did, again and again…
Happily Ever After.
Thanks for joining us in the dragon’s lair!