Chapter Thirty-Two
ELARA
It was dawn when Elara found herself in the map room scrutinizing all the different kinds that Adrian had acquired.
The one that stretched across a large table in the centre of the room was of the entirety of Celestia.
To her wonder, it moved as the ship moved, tracking their journey, the lands shifting, new places written in detail as though someone was scrawling them hurriedly.
She looked to the others, seeing some where the kingdom names were different, another where the paper was entirely blue, a map of the oceans with entire worlds below that she had never heard of.
She’d just returned to the main map, tracing over a landmark called Sailor’s Cemetery off the coast of Altalune, when the door opened. She spilled her tea in fright, watching in despair as it splashed on to the map. ‘Shit,’ she cursed, dabbing the blot with her nightgown as Santi strolled in.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I was doing the morning rounds. Didn’t mean to startle you.’
‘I’ve ruined the map,’ she said.
Santi laughed as he made his way over. ‘Here,’ he said, pressing a finger to it, and Elara watched as he pulled the tea from the map with a flick of his hand. ‘I’m a healer, of sorts. Can even heal an old map.’
‘You’re Altalunian, aren’t you?’ she asked. He nodded. ‘Is it true what they say about your kingdom? That they can heal near anything?’
‘It is,’ he said, looking at her. ‘Is that why you’re heading there?’
Elara wasn’t used to such direct questions. ‘Yes,’ she said carefully, not wanting to reveal anything more.
‘Well, I hope you find what it is you need, just as I hope Adrian does.’ His eyes went dark, his gaze far away before he blinked back into the room.
‘You know, sometimes the issues of the body start in the mind. Especially in women. You store your pain, suppress your emotions. It has nowhere to go, and so it festers, and is brought into the physical realm.’ He shrugged.
‘That was my experience at my mother’s shop, anyway.
Was never very good at it all, hence why I became a pirate.
’ He winked, whistling a shanty as he left the room.
Elara considered his words as she looked back at the map, placing the snakestone upon it. Was that what was wrong with her shadows? Was her magick ill, after too long suppressed inside her?
She skimmed the snakestone over different continents. The Celestes—and where they could be hiding—had been weighing heavy on her mind. Then the door opened again.
Elara slammed her hand over the snakestone as Adrian’s head popped around the door.
‘Morning,’ he said brightly. She relaxed, letting go of the stone. His eyes fell to it.
‘So that’s what we spilled blood for,’ he said, slowly approaching.
Elara spun it on the table. ‘Wouldn’t say it was worth it,’ she muttered. ‘It only works in dreams.’
‘Let me put that to the test,’ he said, settling in the chair beside her. ‘Show me where my soulmate is,’ he proclaimed dramatically, hand clutching his heart.
The snakestone remained still over the Starred Siren marked on the parchment and Elara raised a brow. ‘See,’ she said.
‘Well, yes, I think it’s definitely useless,’ he said, smile wide as he stood. ‘Anyway, talk of fated love aside, I came to retrieve you for Merissa. The poor woman has been on the upper deck watching Victor’s combat training alone. I think the ratio of men to women is a little off.’
‘Speaking of that,’ Elara said as she followed him out of the room, ‘I didn’t know there were female pirates aboard the ship.’
Adrian turned to look at her quizzically. ‘There aren’t,’ he said. ‘I know, a little brutish, isn’t it? These men are stuck in their ways; superstition and all that—’
‘But I saw a woman last night. She spoke to me. And she seemed in distress. Then she walked right up to you.’
Adrian gave her another strange look, laughing a little bemusedly. ‘Elara, I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
She frowned as he went up the steps before her, scrutinizing the back of his head. ‘Adrian?’ she called out. He turned. ‘I have no need for the snakestone now.’ She held it out to him. ‘It’s yours. You did fight for it, after all.’
His smile could have lit the sky. ‘Thank you,’ he said, squeezing her arm as he took it. ‘You don’t know what that means to me.’
They reached the top of the stairs, a glowering Enzo looking at Adrian’s hand upon her arm. She stepped away to greet him, her eyes lingering on the pirate as he walked across the deck.
Why would he lie about something as trivial as a woman on board? Just what was the pirate hiding?
The tang of brine on the air and the clash of steel soon brought Elara back to her senses as Enzo stalked beside her.
While some crew members were doing their usual ship’s duties—checking the sails, scrubbing the deck—most were in the midst of drills.
She saw Victor, the quiet Persean, pacing at the front, hands behind his back as he barked orders.
To her surprise, Leo was beside him, hands folded as he watched.
‘Best warrior, my arse,’ Enzo muttered beside her, and she snorted as they approached them.
‘Your Highness,’ Victor said with a little bow. She smiled, eyes sliding to Merissa, who looked utterly bored as she sat in a chair.
‘You doing okay there, Mer?’
‘I’ve changed my nail colour about five times while they’ve got on with this,’ Merissa sighed as Elara came to sit beside her.
Elara chuckled. ‘And what did you decide on?’
Merissa flourished her fingernails. They looked like iridescent pearls with little seashells painted upon them. ‘Santi’s hair inspired me,’ she said.
‘And you happened to be paying attention to him in such a way, did you?’ Elara might have been soul-tied, but she wasn’t blind. With his clear olive skin, lilac eyes and strong jaw, Santi was handsome and seemed to know it, too.
Merissa looked aghast. ‘Only as much as anyone else.’
It was then that the man in question approached, Adrian strolling beside him, both with cutlasses already drawn. Elara’s grin widened. ‘Oh, Mer. Now there’s two of them. Maybe Adrian will inspire your hair colour next.’
Merissa shoved her as Elara sniggered, Victor, Leo and Enzo all turning at the sound.
‘We’ve got some fresh meat to train with, boys,’ Victor said. ‘How about we go over there while the rest of the crew finish their drills?’ He pointed to the raised platform towards the end of the ship. ‘Now, with an Everchanging Deck, I usually like to give Adrian and Santi some obstacles.’
He grinned, clicking his heels to the floor. The section they were on shimmered before becoming a rink of ice.
Leo immediately began to slide, his face morphing in alarm as he tried to cling on to something, anything, before clutching Enzo.
‘Don’t bring me down with you,’ Enzo hissed. But too late—both the king and his general fell on their bottoms to the guffaws of Santi, Adrian and Victor.
Elara focused studiously on the floor, trying to will her own laughter down.
‘In Perses, we were trained on every field you could imagine. Our tutors told us we would never know where the battlefield might be. So every terrain, every eventuality, we worked through.’ Victor walked gracefully on to the ice and slid his sword out of its scabbard.
Its steel was a dark silver, red writing upon it that reminded Elara far too much of Ariete.
She fought the anger rising in her. Soon. Soon she’d have her revenge.
Victor spun and levelled his sword at Leo, still on the ground. ‘Let’s see what you’re made of, general.’
Leo hauled himself up, and the two began to fight.
‘He looks like a deer on that ice,’ Elara said quietly to Merissa, and Merissa hid her laugh with a hand as Leo skittered about, though to his credit he still managed to parry and counterattack the swift and precise blows that Victor dealt.
‘I’ll remind him of this moment the next time he tries to put me through one of his own sadistic drills. ’
‘How about it, Lion?’ Adrian asked, holding out a wooden sword to Enzo. ‘Didn’t you challenge me yesterday to a duel?’
‘A duel is too respectful for you. But of course, let’s duel.’
‘I’m staying with you girls,’ Santi said as he made his way to them, eyes alight with mischief. ‘They’ll need a healthy healer when they all end up in a wounded pile.’
Enzo raised the practice sword, turning it in the sun’s rays before striking.
‘If your lovemaking skills are as bad as your sword-wielding skills, then I feel for Elara,’ Adrian crooned, pushing his own sword up to deflect Enzo’s.
Leo let out a snort, his focus momentarily slipping at the comment, earning him a jab from Victor and a wrathful look from Enzo as the general raised his hands. ‘Sorry.’
‘I don’t think Elara has anything to complain about,’ Enzo replied. ‘And the Deadlands will freeze before I take sword-wielding advice from a pirate.’ He advanced with three vicious blows, each cracking upon Adrian’s blade, one narrowly missing his arm.
‘Why, as your cousin can attest,’ Adrian drawled, ‘my sword-wielding skills are very adequate.’ His and Enzo’s swords swung in a large arc before Adrian’s swept low. But Enzo sidestepped it, though he nearly slipped upon the ice.
Santi chuckled and Enzo shot him a death glare, which only made the cocky quartermaster grin wider.
‘This could go on for a while. I’ll fetch us some breakfast,’ Merissa said before disappearing to the galley.
‘While you may like to delude yourself with such notions,’ Enzo said tightly, ‘one thing I can guarantee is that my sword is bigger than yours.’ He gave a sarcastic smile as he passed it between his two hands before feinting left and aiming for Adrian’s ribs.
Adrian spun on the ice at the last moment.
‘Maybe we’ll let the lady compare,’ Adrian said, smirking.
‘I’m not getting involved,’ Elara said. ‘I wouldn’t want you to embarrass yourself, Adrian.’