Chapter 39
After a couple of days with little rest, Ophelia finally stopped using her magic to put wind in Omen’s sails as they neared Glasoro. She’d stopped only twice to get a couple hours of sleep, and only a few other times to eat, but it still hadn’t caught them up to Sky’s Honor. There was no telling how long Simon had already been docked, but they were too close to the island to need her speed any longer.
So, she let the extra wind die and wandered below deck to have a quick meal before they reached their destination. The bounty hunters were in the galley eating their own food, and so she grabbed a plate and sat down beside Piers, across from his fathers.
“Where do you plan to go,” she asked after swallowing her first bite, “after you’ve collected my bounty?”
“Dothen,” Gerald answered.
She hummed her curiosity and said, “The wild island.”
“There’s land to be had in the woods,” Abner told her.
“And a town to make some friends,” Piers added.
“And little Sovereign presence,” Gerald said.
She smiled and said, “You’ve got it all figured out.” Gerald nodded, and then sat back for a minute, drinking from his mug while watching her eat, until she eventually asked, “What is it?”
“I was just thinking,” he answered, “that if I’d known all of this would happen, we might’ve just left you alone on Barciet.”
She laughed, “Well, Mr. Hartley, despite you still being quite a nuisance, I’m happy to have met you.”
“ I’m the nuisance,” he chuckled sarcastically, but he smiled warmly at her and gestured his mug in cheers. “Likewise. ”
She took another bite of her food, swallowed, and said, “Let me ask you something,” and he hummed his consent. “Why did you finally step up against Sovereign on Trayward?”
Abner said, “I’m afraid we didn’t really get a chance.”
Gerald nodded and added, “We hesitated too long, even after freeing Wyatt from the brig, and by the time we got there Simon had already Ascended.”
“So we hid from him as he left,” Abner said. “Until you needed us. And now that we saved you, we run.”
“Between you, Izaak, and Omen,” Gerald said with a teasing smile, “we figure we’re the least of Simon’s worries.”
“You should certainly be long gone before he ever thinks to come looking,” Ophelia laughed in agreement.
An increase of shouting from above them let them know that they were pulling into port. Ophelia scarfed down the rest of her food, and then hurried after the bounty hunters to meet the rest of the crew on main deck. Ryland and the riggers brought Omen into a slip as Berkeley brought up a pair of chains from the brig and held them out to Gerald.
“Ready?” Gerald asked.
Ophelia nodded and gave him the warrant letter that she’d kept safe in the infirmary, and then extended her wrists. He clapped the chains on them and led her down the ramp.
They met the harbormaster on the docks, where Gerald produced the warrant letter and told him, “Delivering a bounty. Gerald Hartley.”
The harbormaster scanned the warrant, looked at Ophelia, and then passed the letter back while he nodded. “Good day, Mr. Hartley.”
“And you, Sir,” Gerald replied.
They left the rest of Omen crew behind on the ship while the bounty hunters led her and Berkeley toward the palace. They traversed the city outside the palace walls until they reached the gate, where Gerald went through the same process of producing the warrant letter to the guards.
The guards admitted them, and once they were out of ear shot, Gerald said, “You just tell me which way now.”
Ophelia followed along at his side and whispered directions to guide him through the palace halls. She knew them well — she was raised in them until the time she was shipped off to the Phoenix sanctuary on Harcam. Even after twelve years, she knew each turn like the back of her hand. The steps were engrained in her bones. So deeply etched in her mind that no amount of time away could wipe them .
Before long, they were standing outside the door of her old home. She didn’t know if her parents were even there, but she stood without moving while Gerald undid the chains from her wrists, and then she stood there some more. Staring at the light wooden door. Unable to decide if she was more afraid of if her parents were or weren’t there.
What would they say to her? Why had they been looking for her? Would they even recognize her? What would they expect her to do?
There was only one way she was going to find out, and so she finally lifted one hand and gave a small rap against the wood.
“I know ,” her father’s voice called from inside, “I’ve already been summoned, the emperor can wait a few extra minutes for me to get my uniform-”
The door swung open, and her father stopped talking when he saw them standing there, his hand stopping midway through buttoning the cuff of his jacket. His mouth hung open as he looked from her to the others behind her, but every moment that he stood there, frozen, the confused crease between his eyebrows softened.
“Hi, Dad,” she whispered.
“Theo,” her mother’s voice said as it neared, “you’re already late, what are you standing there-” Her mother pulled the door open wider and gasped, the recognition instant as her hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears, and she lurched forward, throwing her arms around Ophelia’s neck.
Ophelia returned the hug as her own eyes flooded, and she laughed, “Hi, Mom.”
“Oh, you’re home ,” her mother cried, only squeezing her tighter. “Theo, our baby’s home.”
Her father leaned out the doorway to glance up and down the hall, and then waved them all in urgently, saying, “Come in, quickly.”
Her mother only let her go long enough for all of them to shuffle inside, and then immediately pulled her into another tight embrace. She cried onto Ophelia’s shoulder for half a minute before finally pulling away to look at her, smiling from ear to ear even though tears were streaming down her face.
“Look at you,” her mother said, reaching up to cup her face, “so grown up and beautiful.”
That sent more tears streaming down her own cheeks, and she choked, “I missed you so much. ”
“Oh, my baby, we missed you too,” her mom cried, wrapping her arms around Ophelia’s neck again and rocking her back and forth for another minute.
It was her father’s hand on her mother’s shoulder that finally got them to separate, and then he stood in front of her and moved his hand to her shoulder. He stared her in the eyes, studied her face, and watched another tear stain her cheek as a warm smile spread across his lips. And then he was crying too as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
She hugged him around the waist, squeezing him just as tight as he was hugging her as she cried against his chest.
After a minute of it, he asked the bounty hunters, “How did you know?”
She answered instead, “I applied for medical school under the same family name you signed my warrant with.” He laughed, running the palm of his hand across his cheeks. “I’m a surgeon, like you, Mom.”
Her father finished wiping his own tears away, and brushed the backs of his fingers over Ophelia’s face as he asked, “Did you keep the name Sovereign gave you?”
She shook her head, sniffled, and said, “Ophelia.”
Her mother let out another loud sob and rushed forward, nearly pushing her father aside to embrace her again, and she returned it for a few seconds before pulling away.
“I know I only just returned,” she told her parents, “but something terrible is happening. I need you to trust me, and we need to leave Sovereign. Now, and for good.”
Her mother sniffled a couple times, wiping at her cheeks and glancing over at her father.
“Sweetheart,” her father said, giving an almost pained smile, “we’ve been trying to find you for over five years so we could leave Sovereign.”
“What?” she breathed in shock.
“Things here have been very wrong for a very long time,” he told her. “There’s a rebellion, Freedom in-”
“In Shadows,” she interrupted. “Yes, I know. I know Izaak.”
Her father’s head cocked. “You know Izaak?”
She nodded. “Do you?”
“I’ve never met him personally…” he said.
She inhaled deeply with realization. “ You warned him about the assassination. ”
“Yes,” he answered. “But I couldn’t risk a dialogue with him while being so close to the emperor.”
She nodded her understanding, and sighed, “Simon Ascended.”
“I know,” he replied. “Which is why we need to leave.” He hurried away to a cabinet just outside the foyer, and returned with an entire sack full of coins. “Here,” he said, handing it to Gerald, “your payment. Thank you for your discretion, and for bringing her straight here.”
“Dad,” Ophelia murmured, “I can’t go with you yet.”
“This isn’t your fight,” he told her. “Leave it to Izaak.”
“I wish that were true,” she said as hot, fresh tears filled her eyes. “We were there, on Trayward. I tried to stop Simon from Ascending, but he almost killed me, and I…” She inhaled deeply and sighed. “I’m the only one who can stop him now.”
Her father’s brows met as he asked, “What did you do?”
“The only thing I could,” she answered.
He blew a hard breath through pursed lips, nodded for a couple of seconds while he thought about it, and then said, “I can’t let you go alone.”
“I’m not alone,” she told him. “I’ve come with the pirate ship Omen.”
“Omen?” he repeated.
“That’s right,” Berkeley said, stepping forward. “Simon took two of our crew, including our captain.”
“Carolina Trace,” her father said knowingly.
Ophelia’s heart soared. “She’s alive?”
“She’s been taken to the palace dungeon,” he answered.
“What about Rue?” Berkeley asked. “Rue Cortez.”
“I’m sorry,” he shook his head, “I don’t know of her.”
Ophelia inhaled a breath to say something, but a solid knock on the door cut her off, and all of their heads snapped toward the sound.
“Coming,” her father called, and then looked at her and whispered, “Hide.”
“Nobody move,” she told the others as her father paced toward the door, and then she gestured her hands to cloak all but her mother from sight.
“Simon,” her father said in surprise as he swung the door open. “I was almost on my way out the door. I assume you’ve broken the emperor’s curse, is he-”
“Dead,” Simon said .
There was a long, heavy pause as her father stood there, staring at Simon before distracting himself with finally finishing the button on the cuff on his jacket. “I see,” he said, and then hesitated again. He seemed to recompose himself quickly after that, because he asked, “Have you taken command?”
“That’s correct,” Simon said. “Our fleet is boarding for Trayward with our stores of laibralt explosives as we speak.”
“The explosives? All of them?”
“ All of them,” Simon smiled.
“Why?”
“Because we’ve got a god to kill,” Simon answered. He shoved the door farther open, and Ophelia flinched even though he looked right past them at her mother. “I want you with the healers, Angela.”
“Yes, Sir,” her mother replied.
Her father added, “We’ll make haste, Sir.”
Simon turned and walked away, and as soon as her father closed the door, Ophelia dropped the spell, and all but her let out a sigh of relief.
“He’s going to kill the heart…” she mumbled.
“So that no one else can Ascend,” Berkeley said, “just like Wyatt told us.”
“Whatever that means, it’s time to go,” her father said, pacing past them and to the next room and returning a moment later with a large sack — full, Ophelia assumed, of all the belongings they needed to run. “We can’t spend another second here.”
“We can’t go anywhere without Carolina and Rue,” Ophelia told him.
He let out a short, thoughtful breath and then nodded. “Alright. If all the troops are reporting to the docks, then it should be simple enough to get to the dungeon. Stay alert, keep on your toes, and stay close to me.”
All of them nodded, and he opened the door just enough to stick his head out and look up and down the hall. Then he threw it open fully, motioned for them to follow, and hurried out the door to find and rescue Carolina and Rue. And none of them bothered to close the door behind them, because they might never be coming back.