Chapter 18
Because…
Norah screamed. But before she could do anything else, Jameston grabbed her by the arm and yanked her through the crowd of pirates toward the stairs, and Norah had no choice but to stumble after him.
But if Jameston thought he had vanquished her spirit by widowing her, he was in for an unpleasant surprise. For the second she stepped over her husband’s body, which was still bleeding onto the floor, Norah realized with a sudden wave of rage that she didn’t care to escape.
She wanted justice.
Jameston continued to drag her forward, then up the stairs. But as he did, something changed inside the girl he pulled behind him.
Or rather, the woman.
This man–this monster–had stolen the decision Norah had made for her future. For though she had felt for a long time as though she’d had little say in the life the Maker had given her, marriage had been her decision. Phillip had been her decision.
For as much as Freya had wanted Norah to marry Phillip, in no way had Norah been forced to do so.
In fact, had she desired it, Norah could have left the palace the moment Freya had found the piece of paper.
She could have walked out the front door any time during the weeks she’d spent at the palace.
And if she had, Phillip wouldn’t have stopped her. He would have let her go.
In fact, he’d made it clear once through lots of pointing and pictures that if Norah wanted to go, but was simply too afraid of the pirates to do so, he would secure her a place in a traveling caravan headed deep into the continent, where the pirates would never find her.
All Norah had to do was say the word, and she could have traveled the world as she had always dreamed of doing.
Her hands were strong, and without Nanny, there would have been nothing to hold her back except memories of pain and loss.
And yet, she had chosen Phillip.
“Do you see this?” Jameston yanked Norah up onto the deck, where she could see the harbor growing smaller by the second.
Alongside them sailed five more ships. “You’re alone now.
Completely and totally alone! Unless…” He turned to face her, his dark eyes burning, “you let me love you. Because if you don’t let me protect you, you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life, serving on my mother’s ships as the healer without anyone to speak for you! ”
“Fine!” Norah snapped, yanking her arm out of his hand. “So be it!”
Jameston blinked, seeming taken aback. “You… you would choose to be alone? Over a life with–”
“I chose Phillip!” Norah was shouting again.
As they argued, the crew gathered around them, revealing just how many men were on the ship.
This should have frightened Norah, as Nanny had taught her long ago what happened to girls who were left alone with pirates when no one was there to protect them.
But Phillip was dead. And Norah was angry.
She wasn’t just angry with Jameston, however. She was also blindingly aggrieved with herself.
For in her heart, she knew now why the healing hadn’t worked in full.
It was because of her. She had failed Phillip.
Not because her power had been wanting, though, as she’d so often feared it would, but because she’d only said the vows with half of her heart.
The other half was still waiting for some other path, an escape like the one she had longed for for so long.
If only she could go back and do it all over again, she would choose Phillip with all her heart.
Because she knew now that she did love him.
And that she would have learned to love him even more with each passing day.
Yes, her choice might have brought her pain.
But it would also have brought her joy and companionship, and they would have created their own adventurous life together.
Perhaps not the one she had wanted, but one with a path all its own.
Because Phillip had been a good man, and together, had she put her heart and mind to it, they could have changed the world.
“Matthus!” Jameston shouted, his eyes welded to Norah’s. “Where is the body?”
“Here, sir!” a man grunted.
Norah turned to see two pirates carrying Phillip’s dead body over their shoulders as they trudged up the stairs onto the deck. He was so large that even with two of them bearing his large frame, they struggled.
“Get me a ball and chain!” Jameston ordered.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Norah demanded, but Jameston ignored her as he stomped over to where another man held out a metal ball and chain.
“In case you get any ideas of healing your beloved,” he hissed, beginning to wrap the chain around Phillip’s neck.
Once he was done, he turned and leered at her, his face transforming from the handsome man he might have been into something entirely different.
“The Bianne line can heal. But they can’t bring men back from the dead!
” Then he snapped his fingers, and his men tossed Phillip’s body overboard.
Norah tried to scream, but her voice seemed to have fled her.
She ran to the handrail and stared down in horror as Phillip’s body sank deeper and deeper.
Without thinking, she grabbed her skirts and hoisted one leg over the railing, but a hand reached out and yanked her back onto the deck, nearly pulling her shoulder out of its socket.
“I already told you,” Jameston said, “even if you choose not to love me, you’re not going anywhere!” He jerked her around to face the shrinking shore. “Are you sure you want to be so rash?” Then he flipped her around again to face the dozens of men who looked at her with hungry eyes.
Norah closed her eyes. I’m sorry, she prayed silently. I’m sorry I couldn’t see what I had when it was there.
“She can’t choose you, Jameston,” said a deep, unfamiliar voice.
Norah opened her eyes to see a tall man with long blond hair balancing on the rail by holding onto a rope with one hand. His clothes and hair were dripping, as was the sword grasped tightly in his other hand.
“She can’t choose you,” Phillip said, his voice reverberating through Norah’s chest as he brandished his sword at the pirates, “because she’s already mine.”
Norah gasped as Phillip and the pirates warily eyed one another…
again. Then, as though a signal had been given, the four pirates nearest him rushed forward in attack.
Phillip swung hard and fast. And now that he had room to properly swing with all his might, he immediately pushed his attackers back.
Wait. Norah blinked. Where had Phillip gotten a sword? Norah remembered stepping over his sword where it had fallen when he was stabbed. Surely, the pirates hadn’t dropped it over the edge of the boat with him.
Her question was answered almost immediately as men–these in green uniforms–leaped over the ship’s rails, shouting and wielding their own weapons. One of them, who looked oddly familiar, even had a merman’s tail that transformed into legs mid-leap!
When Prince Lucas joined the fray, however, Norah recognized the green Maricantan uniform for what it was.
And if that wasn’t enough of a sign that the tides were turning, the sound of cannons rang through the air, and Norah looked up to find what looked like Ashlandian ships firing on the five ships sailing alongside them.
“Jameston!” shouted an angry woman’s voice. “Get her out of here!” It was Willamina, who had also appeared with a sword in hand at the top of the stairs.
Norah’s arm was grasped and yanked back once again. But this time, Jameston was dragging her toward the edge of the ship.
“I’ve waited my whole life to find you!” he said, his voice full of both panic and fury. “You loved me then, and I know you can love me again!”
Norah struggled to get away, but he was too strong.
Even as he cut the rope holding a small wooden raft against the outside of the boat, his grip didn’t loosen.
When the raft was free, it fell into the water with a splash, and Jameston gave her another violent tug toward the edge of the ship.
And he would have succeeded in shoving her over the side of the ship if a blade hadn’t cut in front of him, blocking his path.
“Phillip!” Norah screamed. But Phillip’s brown eyes didn’t move to her. They stayed on Jameston, hard and cold as he lifted his blade and crouched down.
“Let go of my wife, Jameston,” he said, his deep voice hard. His hair had fallen out of its usual tie behind his neck, and his clothes were torn and bloody. But he didn’t even flinch when Jameston took a wild swing at him with his sword.
“She was mine first!” Jameston snapped, though his words, like his movements, were getting jerkier and less controlled as they came out.
“You wouldn’t have needed her at all if your father hadn’t introduced the plague to the world,” Phillip said.
Norah sucked in a sharp breath. “Your father did this?” She turned to Jameston in horror.
“It was supposed to infect the crown prince alone!” Jameston growled.
“It was never supposed to spread, let alone to me and my brother!” Only then did he seem to remember who he was talking to.
He pleaded with her with his eyes as though he hadn’t just stabbed her husband and abducted her.
“We never meant for it to infect the entire kingdom.” His voice shook this time.
“The sorcerer my father purchased the potion from promised it would only touch one person–”
Phillip took advantage of Jameston’s distraction to use his longsword to pin Jameston’s blade against the side of the ship just long enough to lean forward and snatch Norah from the pirate’s grasp. “Lucas!” he shouted.
Before Norah could even turn, Phillip pushed her into the arms of the younger Maricantan prince, who caught her and gently pushed her to the side, away from the melee that was now covering the entire deck of the ship.
“Wait here, Your Highness,” he said, raising his own sword, though no one was approaching.
But he needn’t have worried. Norah couldn’t breathe as Phillip and Jameston, unburdened by her, truly began to battle.
“Should you help him?” Norah asked the Maricantan prince. Surely two would be better odds against the pirate than one.
But Prince Lucas only gave her a wry smile. “Your husband might not have been able to communicate for a long time, but that man needs no help when it comes to the sword.”
Sure enough, though Jameston was ruthless and quick, Phillip was steady and strong. And despite Jameston’s relentless attacks, Phillip drove him back into a corner, where he was pinned between the railing and Phillip’s sword.
“Surrender,” Phillip commanded, holding his sword so the pirate couldn’t move.
Jameston glowered at him for a long moment. Then, as fast as lightning, he lunged toward Norah. But instead of reclaiming his prize, he met the end of Phillip’s sword.