Chapter 3
Better Off
Norah tightened the handkerchief over her hair before taking a deep breath and opening her cottage’s front door. Her heart was beating as though she’d just run the entire length of the port, and her cheeks were flushed from the spirited dance.
She hadn’t danced for long, she assured herself as she tried to open the door as quietly as she could. She’d only danced until Johnny had stopped protesting, and his mother had handed Norah her basket back with a smile. It hadn’t really been that long…
“That was quite an excursion you took.”
Norah briefly shut her eyes before opening them and turning to face Nanny. The woman was sitting at the table with a pile of half-shelled peas beside her. But neither the knife nor the peas were in Nanny’s hands, and that was a bad sign. Nanny was never idle.
Instead, her arms were crossed, and she was glaring at Norah as Norah could never remember her doing before.
“I… was caught by friends,” Norah said carefully. And it was true. To anyone else in that square, she’d simply been detained by friendly neighbors. “I couldn’t leave without making a scene.”
“Oh, I know,” Nanny said darkly. “I was there.”
Norah felt her face pale, but she stood her ground, even if her knees did tremble slightly.
Though why they should, she didn’t know.
She was nineteen, far old enough to take part in an innocent street dance now and then.
It wasn’t as though she’d done anything wrong.
“Then,” she said, clearing her throat, “you know I behaved as I should have.”
“Except that you exposed yourself to those who might do you harm!” Nanny stood and strode toward Norah, taking Norah’s hands in her own. “Norah, dear, you have no idea what kind of danger you’d be in if they discovered where you are!”
Norah sighed heavily. “Nanny, we’ve been through this a thousand–”
“You might have been too young to remember the faces of your family,” Nanny said, her voice now quivering. “But I do remember! And I’m haunted by the nightmare in which the pirates find you and do the same! Or,” she added darkly, “most likely worse!”
“Which is why I don’t understand why we stay here!” Norah blurted. “Nanny, why must we stay in TiFiore? I have family back in Cuicaine! We could hire ourselves out to work on ships! And then, using the money we earn, we could go there and find my cousins and–”
“And what? Abandon your legacy? Your gift?” Nanny took Norah’s face gently in her hands. Norah had to control her urge to step back.
“Norah, you are all that’s left of their legend! Your people are still on that island, waiting for you!”
“So we can do what?” Norah’s chin trembled, and she did her best not to cry in her anger.
“Stay here forever, knocking on the palace gates that refuse to open for us? Nanny, I can’t even get my betrothed to address me.
How in the world am I supposed to help whoever stayed on the island after the fire?
” She swallowed hard, but the lump in her throat remained.
“Some stayed because they believe in you, love! Because they trust you’ll be back!”
Norah closed her eyes and shook her head, willing the faces of those she’d left behind to disappear from her mind’s eye.
When she spoke again, her voice was subdued.
“The fire ruined most of the island. Everyone knows that. They’re…
all better off starting again on their own.
And from what I’ve heard, those who stayed have done so.
” She opened her eyes to blink away the stinging suddenly in their corners, and in her frustration, she ran a hand through her hair, removing the band that cast the black shade over it.
“Norah, the windows!” Nanny ran to pull the shutters closed. Then she turned to Norah and shook her head. “You were too small to understand such things, but your family and King Astin had a pact!”
“Yes, they did!” Norah flung the headband into its basket by the door.
“Before they closed the castle gates and refused to let anyone in or out!” She put her hands on her head.
“Nanny, we can’t live like this forever!
” And though she knew it was useless, she ran to the older woman and grasped her hands. “Come with me on my adventure!”
“The adventure you’ve been planning since you were ten?” Nanny scoffed. “Norah, that quest would cost a fortune. I’m not sure why you keep making it up in your head that we could ever afford such a hop about the world!”
“Even if we didn’t go around the world,” Norah said, suddenly feeling desperate. “We could go to Cuicaine, and we could find my family! People who love us and want us to belong!”
“Love, you are my family.” Nanny brushed a lock of Norah’s rebellious curls out of the way. “Your family has been my family for generations!”
“And I will be the last in my line if I’m never able to leave this house or meet anyone younger than forty-and-five!”
“Listen,” Nanny said, taking Norah’s hands in her own. “We’ll go to the castle again tomorrow. And this time when we knock–”
“Nanny, I’m done going to the castle!” Norah pulled her hands from the old woman’s and began removing her shoes. “I’m done begging for the attention of the betrothed who never thought I was good enough to be allowed into his presence.”
How many times had she waited at the copper gates since she was small, standing beside Nanny and hoping someone would let them inside?
Even though it had been more than ten years ago, she still vividly recalled standing in the rain, barefoot and afraid as Nanny banged on the gates, demanding to be let in.
Her hair had still smelled of ash and smoke, the pale, frozen faces of her family etched into her young mind.
It had been years before she was able to shut her eyes without seeing her entire island being eaten by flames.
Nanny might not have thought she could, but Norah remembered that night well.
“I need to get supper on.” Nanny sighed. “But this conversation isn’t over. I’ll not let you give up your–”
“My gift isn’t good to anyone if I can’t share it!” Norah snapped, tears threatening to run down her face. Then she hurried to her room before her emotions betrayed her any more than they already had.
Norah fell asleep not long after throwing herself onto her bed.
She’d been determined to think of a way out of their situation that Nanny might actually consider, but before she’d come up with even two possibilities, she’d fallen into a deep sleep that was broken hours later in what felt like the dead of night.
Norah jerked awake, looking immediately to the window, as she always did, to see the time.
To her surprise, however, there was no early gray of coming dawn, as the night was still an inky black.
Before she could wonder if it had been a nightmare that had awakened her, there was a violent banging against the front door.
Norah hurried to her bedroom door and peeked out at the front of the house.
“Quickly!” Nanny said, coming up behind Norah and startling her nearly as much as the banging on the door. “Put on your headband and your shoes and cloak, then sneak out the back way! I’ll meet you at the castle!”
“Nanny, no–” Norah began to say, but Nanny, who had left the candle in Norah’s hands, had already fetched Norah’s headband and cloak.
Knowing better than to argue further, Norah had just slid the headband into place, turning her locks back to their unnatural silky black, when the door fell in, and three masculine figures entered the house.