Chapter Twenty-Five
ADRIAN
The heat was sweltering as Adrian disembarked from the Starred Siren with a sack full of treasure and navigated the bustling harbour of Sol.
He made a point not to frequent the Kingdom of Light too often—more than anything because it was the home of the D’Oros.
And, gods, he couldn’t stand that arrogant prick of a prince, who he’d heard through the grapevine was now king after committing patricide. Seemed about right.
After seeing what he had thought was a mermaid in the water, he’d immediately found Santi, who had peered over the side with him for about half an hour before chuckling and telling him something about ‘needing sleep’.
Adrian eventually agreed with his quartermaster. He’d stayed up as long as he could, but when no further glimpse of what he thought he’d seen had reappeared, he’d taken himself to bed—very grateful to be upon his own goose-down mattress once more.
As he set foot in the dusty streets, he hoisted his bag over his shoulder, ignoring the beads of sweat running down his neck.
Damn it all, his very magick rebelled against the heat, the light.
Firewielders—many of them—took an instant dislike to Adrian whenever he did business within the kingdom.
It was either because of his magick or the fact he was a notorious pirate. Probably the latter.
He scanned the harbour ahead, looking past his favourite tavern—the Lion’s Maw—where he’d spent many a delicious night appreciating the only fine thing that the godsforsaken place had to offer: the women, of course.
He sighed. It had been a long time since he’d bedded a woman.
Two weeks. In Adrian’s world, that was a drought—years, it felt like.
Perhaps he’d return after healing his sister and seek out his favourite girl in port, Raina.
He dipped into the bazaar, the scent of incense and saffron instantly greeting him, colour splashed through the haphazard market.
‘Any silvers, sir?’ a little boy with curls asked, running up to him. His eyes were so large and doe-like that Adrian had to look away as the boy blinked. ‘Please, sir?!’
Adrian sighed, lugging his bag down as he rooted through the collection for anything cheap he could give the boy. As his hand clasped around a few silver coins, he saw the little boy’s dart in, whipping out a saltwater pearl necklace.
‘Why, you little shit!’ he exclaimed, lunging forwards.
The boy sprinted deeper into the market, cackling over his shoulder, and Adrian cursed, giving chase.
He pushed through throngs of people, the market the busiest he’d ever seen, sensing a strange fervour around him.
As he passed a lantern holder, he saw a familiar face pasted on to the post, and nearly tripped as he recognized Elara.
He tried to push the princess from his mind.
Whatever mess she’d since got herself into was none of his concern.
Still, though, her face, those eyes—they seemed imprinted on the back of his eyelids.
He shook his head, veering left, then right, then right again, just glimpsing the top of the boy’s curls.
That necklace was worth a fucking fortune, and clearly the boy knew just how rare saltwater pearls were.
He’d be damned if a little Helion street urchin was going to filch one of the things that could help pay for a cure for Annabel.
Finally, he began to catch up with the boy, who was hurtling down a street with a dead end.
The boy stopped outside a door—a very strange one, with a blue eye painted outside. He bent over, wheezing.
‘Isra!’ he shouted.
The eye on the door blinked, and Adrian took a step back as it swung open, revealing one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
The little boy tossed the woman the necklace.
‘Well done, Rico,’ she cooed.
‘Careful with that!’ Adrian gritted out, hands swiping at the jewellery.
The woman held it above her head, giving a tut of warning.
Stars, she was stunning. Hazel eyes that he could tell held intelligence, hair braided with different crystals and gems, her skin a deep brown that seemed to glow with the light that seemed to illuminate all Helions.
‘Pirate?’ she demanded.
Adrian brought a lazy grin to his face. ‘Well, I’m known by far nicer names. Lord, lover, the best bed this side of the continent.’
The little boy snorted, and Adrian shot him a reproachful look while the woman, much to his dismay, pulled a face. ‘You can save the batting eyelashes and sugared words for someone else. I’m not interested.’
‘Which makes me all the more so.’
She sighed, sauntering past him and down the road. ‘Why is it that when one spells out one’s intentions clearly to a man, he acts as though he’s deaf? Let me translate it into a language you speak. I like women.’
Adrian grinned then as he began to follow her, and, to his ire, the boy did too. ‘That, we have in common.’
Was that a quirk of amusement in the beautiful stranger’s hazel eyes? It was gone as soon as it had appeared. ‘We have no time for this. I brought you here for a reason.’
‘And it wasn’t to seduce me?’
She seemed to mutter a prayer under her breath. ‘You’re here because you have to help someone. Someone very dear to me.’
‘Who?’
‘Elara Bellereve.’
Adrian nearly dropped the bag on his shoulder. ‘You know her?’
‘Well,’ the woman replied. ‘And I foresaw something—only a glimpse that the dead allowed me.’
‘You’re a seer?’ he interjected.
‘Keep up,’ she snapped, and he could do nothing but follow her word and her path as she cut confidently through the streets, which were getting ever busier and louder.
‘What the gods is happening here?’ he said, craning his neck as the crowd became more condensed within a square they pushed through. Someone was on a raised platform, shouting, a crumpled poster in their hand.
‘That’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you. Elara is in danger. Terrible danger. She returned here, to Sol. And the kingdom wants her head.’
‘Helios and the rest of Celestia!’ he said.
Isra shook her head and blinked rapidly as tears formed. ‘Do not believe a single lie the Stars tell. Or the fucking sheep who follow them blindly. I saw you in the vision, Adrian Mereille.’
‘How do you know my name?’
She tapped her head, and he nodded. ‘Right, yes. Seer, I don’t know how you think I can help Elara—’
‘She needs safe passage to Altalune. That’s all you need to know. And in the vision, I saw you being the one to aid her. One of the very few who could. Even now, they are going to the docks to try to find a ship without being recognized. Make sure you wait for them. Make sure you help.’
‘Them?’
The stranger’s lips quirked as her eyes went distant—as though she was seeing something amusing.
‘You’ll find out. But time is of the essence.’
‘I came here for a reason, and, believe it or not, it wasn’t to follow some vague advice from an albeit beautiful, but really quite mean, seer.’
She glowered at him, and Adrian blanched.
Gone was the cool amusement, and in its place was something threatening, something powerful.
‘You will help her, and the rest of my family, because I cannot. And so help me skies, if you refuse the call that fate has chosen for you, I will hunt you down myself and show you a few tricks I learned from Svetan pirates.’
It was then that he noticed the runestones in her hair, the slightly guttural accent half masked by the Helion.
‘I need money,’ he gritted out. ‘I have my own problems that I need to take care of.’
The seer dipped into the pockets of her skirt, producing two bags. She plonked them into Adrian’s hands. Both, to his disbelief, were filled to the brim with midans, glinting gold within the light.
‘Skip the market and get back to the harbour,’ she ordered. ‘Oh, and here.’ She tossed the pearl necklace at him, and he cursed, catching it.
‘How do you have this much money?’ he gawped.
‘I’m best friends with a king,’ she said, smirking. Her eyes then flicked coolly to the little boy. ‘Rico, give the pirate his tiara back.’
Rico harrumphed as, to Adrian’s incredulity, he pulled a golden diadem adorned with ocean sapphires out from under his shirt.
‘Stay close to her, Adrian,’ the seer said solemnly. And with that, she disappeared into the crowd, Rico following behind.