Chapter 5 Caspia
Five
Caspia
Moonbeams streamed through the windows as I took a final look around my room. The floor was spotless, the bed neatly made. The vanity top was clear save for three letters on its wooden surface.
One for Aunt Oleana. One for Xandra. And one for Graciella.
By the grace of the Divine, I’d see them again and those letters wouldn’t be my final farewells. But in case I didn’t get that chance, I’d penned them each a note goodbye.
I prayed that I’d return. That soon I’d fly home as a Starling and have summer after summer with my family, soaring over my city. And when—if—I returned, I’d happily suffer Oleana’s wrath for disobeying her orders. Maybe her anger would be tempered if I completed my ritus and avenged Emery’s death.
Since the moon when I’d seen Emery’s death for the sixth time, the calling I’d felt standing in the mews had only grown stronger.
My blood was stirring. Something beckoned from across the sea.
In my soul, I knew the vision and my ritus were linked. And it was time to answer the call.
Maybe Aunt Oleana was right, and after I completed my ritus, the visions would stop. Until then, I’d use what the Divine had shown me to bring honor to my sister’s death. I’d follow this calling to learn the truth of her fate and kill the silver-eyed man who’d dared take a Starling’s life.
The leather pack at my feet was stuffed with a spare change of clothes, a canteen, and a healing salve.
The pockets held a bone comb, two books, and one tiny canister of hair oil for my curls.
And tucked in every empty space I could find were various teas I’d bought from an apothecary in Showe.
A tea for seasickness. A tea for headache.
A tea to help me sleep and another to keep me awake.
My kukri was secured across my spine, hidden by my hooded cloak. My sharpest knives were strapped to my forearms and around each of my thighs.
I picked up the pack, slinging the straps over my shoulders. Its weight was as heavy as my heart.
There was a chance that I was wrong and this journey would prove to be a mistake. And even if I was right, if this was my ritus calling, there was a chance I wouldn’t be strong enough for the change.
Not every Quiescent survived her first shift. The rite was as dangerous and deadly as it was powerful.
Was that why my mother had left Nelfinex? Maybe she’d been called by her ritus after birthing three daughters, and the change had taken her life. I would always resent Aunt Oleana for not speaking of my mother.
The secrets in our family would be our demise.
My pulse pounded as a tug drew me toward the windows, like a rope tethered to my chest, pulling me away from Nelfinex. A thrum vibrated through my body, spreading from my heart to my hands and feet. It was like a chord being strummed on a guitar, the notes in perfect harmony.
Beyond my sleeping city, the ocean stretched to meet the moonlit sky. The waves glittered in the starlight. Every time I looked toward that unknown place on the horizon, I felt that thrum.
It was time to go.
Before I lost my nerve, I crossed the room and opened the door, pausing on the threshold to take one last look over my shoulder.
“Goodbye,” I whispered, hoping my farewell would linger long enough for Xandra to hear in the morning.
When she came to wake me, clapping twice, she’d take one look at the tidy room and know immediately that something was wrong. By that point, I’d be a league away, sailing into the dawn.
Divine, guide my path. I closed the door and moved on silent feet to the nearest stairwell.
The ship I’d hired had cost me a fortune, nearly all of my elfalter armbands, but it was fast, and more importantly, the captain, an infamous pirate, hadn’t asked questions.
There was a chance Aunt Oleana would fly out over the Marixmore and fetch me.
When she shifted into a swift, there wasn’t a vessel in Nelfinex that could match her speed.
But I hoped that when she read my letter, when she realized this was not simply a quest for vengeance, she’d let me take this journey for my ritus.
My boots whispered on the stone stairs as I hurried to the main level. When I reached the palace’s vestibule, I flipped up the hood on my charcoal cloak, hiding my hair from view.
When I became a Starling, I could come and go as I pleased. Saskia’s favorite time to fly was at moons’ peak. So was Oleana’s. But as a Quiescent princess, I was under a strict curfew.
To leave the palace, I was required to keep with a company of guards.
It didn’t matter that I could best any of them in combat.
Until I could shapeshift, until the time came when I could take the form of any animal to defend myself against a threat, I was under the protection of the queen’s Royal Blades.
I walked softly on my toes. I kept my hood drawn low.
The sounds of footsteps and male voices drifted from a hallway ahead.
I scurried to the closest wall, tucking myself into an alcove just as a pair of guards rounded a corner and stepped into the vestibule.
Both men were dressed in ecru uniforms and armed with swords, knives, and daggers. The Royal Blades were aptly named.
I held my breath, waiting until they passed, none the wiser to my presence. As their hulking figures rounded another corner, I slipped away from the wall and scurried for the hall that led to the gardens.
The moment I was out the door, a cool breeze kissed my face. The overwhelming urge to cry burned in my nose.
Not once in my life had I spent a moon outside this palace. A small part of me had doubted I’d even make it this far. An even smaller part hoped that I’d be caught. That I’d miss the ship waiting for me at the docks.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, then quickly crossed the garden’s stone pathways, weaving past vibrant blooms and drawing in their fragrant scents as I set off for the nearest iron gate. As it came into view, I took a fortifying breath and squared my shoulders, flipping the hood off my hair.
The guards in the gardens were not Royal Blades. Only the best warriors were allowed inside the palace halls.
The men and women stationed outside were simply sentries, tasked primarily with keeping people out, not in. And unlike the Blades who trained with the Quiescents every sun, the sentries were not familiar with my face. In the dark, I was counting on them mistaking me for Saskia.
The ten rings on my fingers should help.
Only the Starling wore elfalter rings, a symbol of status and ability. They were wide, spanning the lower half of each finger. The rings on my hands were Emery’s. I’d stolen them from Aunt Oleana’s room when I went to visit Graciella—to leave Hop in her care and hug her goodbye.
When my sister left Showe with Max, she’d left her elfalter rings behind. Just like she’d left Graciella.
It was probably intended to be a slap in our aunt’s face after their horrible fight about Max. Since Oleana had no daughters, Emery was supposed to be her heir. My aunt had forbidden Emery from taking a Beesan as consort and delivered an ultimatum.
Leave Max or forget becoming queen.
The next morning, Emery was gone. And she’d left her rings—gifts from Oleana upon completing her ritus—at Graciella’s bedside table.
I didn’t blame Emery for choosing the man she loved. But to leave her daughter? That, I didn’t understand.
We’d been abandoned by our mother. Emery knew how it felt. How could she do that to her own child?
Despite her quarrels with Oleana, Emery loved Graciella. I had to believe that my sister wouldn’t have left unless she’d planned to return. Maybe Emery had been on her way home when she’d been killed by the silver-eyed man.
I intended to find out.
It felt wrong to wear her rings, but at least they would grant me my freedom.
I hardened my steps so the thwack of my boots would catch the sentry’s ear. Then, with my chin lifted, I extended my hand so the rings would gleam in the moonlight.
“Starling.” The man bent at the waist, eyes cast downward.
“The gate, sir.” It was only by the grace of the Divine that my voice remained steady.
He lifted the rail that barred the gate closed and, with another bow, pushed open the iron bars. The hinges creaked as it swung outward.
If he wondered why I’d leave through a gate rather than fly over the walls, he didn’t ask.
Without a word, I marched through the opening and onto the nearby street.
The sentry’s gaze was hot on my shoulders as I walked away with measured strides. Not too fast, not too slow, until the street sloped away from the palace, and I ducked behind a building, pressing flat against its rough white stone.
“Vexx.” I slapped a hand over my racing heart, and the rings resting against my knuckles clinked together. One by one, I slipped the thick, smooth bands off my fingers and into the pocket of my pants.
This pirate I’d hired would earn my elfalter bands as payment, but I didn’t want him to know I had these rings. I didn’t trust him not to change the price of this voyage if he knew I had more to offer.
Quiescents had very little wealth individually, despite our family’s vast fortune. That would change after I went through the ritus and became a Starling. My inheritance of elfalter, gold, silver, and jewels would make me one of the richest people in Nelfinex.
But I wasn’t rich yet.
With the rings safely stowed, I pushed off the wall and hastened through Showe for the docks.
The streets were empty, illuminated by the light of the two moons and the occasional house lamp. The white stone used for every building gave off its own faint shine, allowing me to make out different colors.
Red tile roofs. Mahogany wooden doors. Umber brick roads. And over my shoulder, a palace the color of pale peaches with shining lamps and gleaming elfalter roofs.
The temptation to turn around, to return to my room, was so overpowering I tripped over my own feet. But I caught my balance and kept going, not letting myself look back again for fear the palace would lure me home.
By the time I reached the entrance to the docks, my stomach was in a knot and my head was spinning.
This was my ritus. It had to be. I refused to believe I’d fallen victim to a meaningless dream. Still, my steps slowed as doubts spread like poison through my mind.
Was I wrong?
A short, shrill whistle rang through the dark.
Another moon, I would have been annoyed that a pirate had summoned me like a dog. But right now, I needed that whistle to keep me going.
Cap leaned against a lamppost, chewing on a toothpick. His bulky arms were crossed over his barrel of a chest. He stood with one ankle casually draped over the other. His blond hair was long on top and shaved on the sides. A row of golden hoops decorated the shells of his ears.
He looked like Emery’s Max, handsome and roguish with a devilish glint in his cobalt eyes. I could see why my sister had fallen for her own pirate and why she’d let Max take her away from Nelfinex.
“Ready, Starling?” he asked, pushing off the post and tossing his toothpick aside.
“I’m not Starling.” Not yet.
“As long as I am paid by your Starling elfalter, I don’t care what you call yourself.” He held out a meaty hand.
I took the elfalter bands from my cloak’s pocket and passed them over. “Your payment, per our agreement.”
He inspected the jewelry, tilting each band from side to side so the metal would catch the light. “They’re real.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course they’re real.”
“Can’t be too careful.” Cap flashed a dazzling smile, then led the way through the maze of wooden walkways, taking me past stalls and huts where fishermen and merchants would trade their goods at dawn.
Our footsteps mingled with the sound of water slapping against the dock’s pylons. Once we reached the outermost row, we passed ships and boats of all different sizes until we came to a stop beside a ship with lofty black sails.
Cap swept out an arm for the plank that bridged the gap between the boat and dock. “After you, Princess.”
“Thank—”
A piercing scream rent the air.
My gaze whipped to the sky, searching for beating wings. I found her soaring around the castle’s tallest spire, circling the mews.
Aunt Oleana.
Even in the dark, even from this distance, I knew her beautiful silhouette as it blotted out the stars.
I pressed two fingertips to the center of my forehead. “I will avenge her, my queen. You have my vow.”
Cap cleared his throat. “Your ship, Starling.”
I didn’t bother correcting him again. With a nod, I crossed the plank and stepped aboard.
The ship rocked beneath my boots.
And before I was ready, we set sail into the black.