Chapter 10 Sofie
Chapter ten
Sofie
“Don’t get any ideas about swimming for it, pet,” Jax called out as I joined him on deck. Looking none the worse for all the rum, he paused for effect with one boot on the ship’s rail.
“Why’s that?” I shouted back over a gust of warm wind.
“For historical reasons, the Council of Pirates chums the bay before the gathering each year, to help prevent any surprises from our more lawful counterparts.”
I snorted. “Don’t tempt me to push you in.”
“Alas, I am too lean and full of tough muscle for the sharks to enjoy.” His grin made my fingers curl into a fist. “You, however, are nice and plump and tender in select places—the perfect meal.”
“You’d better not be looking at my select places!
” I snapped, immediately flushing red as I heard how foolish the words sounded.
Curse him—curse him thrice over, if that’s what it would take!
I wasn’t one of his “countless paramours” in myriad ports.
I’d had a stern talking to with myself last night, after almost falling for his rum-soaked charms.
I wasn’t going to be fooled by him again.
“Admit it, you’d be hurt if I hadn’t noticed,” Jax practically crooned.
And with that, he leapt over the railing, leaving me struggling to compose myself.
Not even the masters at Dewspell could have dreamt up a more perfect opponent for me. Jax was the ideal nemesis, able to get under my skin with such ease.
To calm myself, I thought of what Master Aynia would say. In fact, I could almost hear her voice: Yes, he gets beneath your skin, but why are you letting him?
And as I returned to the captain’s cabin for a few more blessedly Jax-free minutes, I, too, wondered what the answer was to that question.
I stepped up to the rail of Blue Moon, knuckles whitening as I wrapped my fingers around it. The rowboat that ferried the first few members of the crew was returning.
“Ready, beachmaid?” the Lady de Gorm asked me with a wolfish grin, adjusting the ruffled cravat at her neck and the lapels of her gold-embroidered, long-tailed blue coat.
“For what?” my eyes were on the flecks of red and yellow on the other end of the shallow bay, wondering what they were.
“To meet the king of pirates, of course,” she said, mirth in her dark eyes and low voice, “and all his noble pirate lords.”
“Not sure ‘noble’ is a word I’d use.”
“We can’t all be born with a silver spoon, beachmaid. Some of us have to steal ours.”
I gaped at her, affronted. “Some of us earned ours,“ I snapped. “By the gods, I’ve never had a single thing given to me but the chance to leave the land of my birth. I did the rest. And why do you keep calling me beachmaid?”
Safira came to the rail beside me, her long hair wound into a regal knot atop her head and tied with a patterned yellow fabric that matched a long tunic.
Like the Lady de Gorm, she was dressed well, the loose trousers beneath her tunic made of rich blue silk.
“It means you’re a helpless landlubber.”
“Landlubber?” I bristled. “I’m a daughter of Aegle. I was on fishing boats before I could walk!”
“There’s no salt in your blood,” the Lady retorted, her lip curling slightly. “I can smell it on you.”
My face flushed with embarrassment. Her words were too close to those I’d heard many times before I left Aegle. There’s none of the sea in your blood—and even worse, none of our iron.
I refused to be cowed by her sharp tongue—one that underestimated me. “Be careful you never find yourself on a different ship than I am,” I said, raising my chin in defiance. “I might just summon a whirlpool and dash it to pieces. Then we’ll see who has the sea in them.”
The Lady threw her head back, laughing heartily. “I confess, I’d almost like to see that.”
“Lady,” Safira said, a note of warning in her voice.
“Pick a ship,” I said.
The Lady stopped laughing, eyeing me sidelong.
”I said, pick a ship.”
The Lady de Gorm gave me one last, puzzled look, then vaulted to the other side of the rail. “No time for your games, beachmaid. Our ride is here.”
Fuming, I climbed after her, descending the rungs towards the rowboat. Omar, the boatswain and purported engineer of the great sandships, greeted me with a laugh. “Did I miss something?”
“The threat of wanton death and destruction,” the Lady answered before I could say anything. “The usual.”
“Sounds serious,” Omar said brightly.
Stepping carefully into the boat, I flexed my hands. I’d been gripping the rungs far too tightly.
“I never joke about such things,” I replied, fixing both him and the Lady with a dark look of warning. I took my seat in the boat without any further jibes. Once Safira joined us, Omar began to row towards the quay.
Whatever I was expecting from an isle of pirates, Starfall was not it. The red flecks proved to be roses—beautiful, well-kept bushes in full bloom. They were interspersed with hibiscus plants, the yellow and pink blooms as large as my head. Bees buzzed through them merrily.
Beyond them, tidy stone buildings lined the quay, framing paved streets that defied the sandy soil.
I followed the Lady de Gorm—my nanny for the day—and the others through the streets, trying to keep the surprise from my expression and probably failing.
I’d expected Starfall to be a den of thieves and brigands in a cobbled-together town.
What I got was a vast isle with smaller surrounding isles, all of it connected by well-engineered bridges and a shockingly large city.
Despite my pirate “ladies-in-waiting” insisting I should dress my best in my purple formal gown—which after a dip in the ocean had seen better days—I opted for my discreet travel clothes. About two streets from the port, I understood I’d made a mistake.
Not only was I dressed too warmly for an isle in the southern Prevarian Sea, but I was completely underdressed.
Everywhere I looked on these cobbled streets, with their eclectic houses and bountiful shop signs, I was surrounded by princes and princesses of the sea, dressed as if to attend a royal court.
Another block, and I realized that’s exactly what they were doing.
The grand capital city of Endergeist, where I had cursed the newborn princess, had nothing on Starfall. As was fitting for such a wealthy city, everyone was well-mannered and polite—more so, perhaps, for the blades they carried on their hips or backs.
Safira noticed the way my eyes caught on the wide array of weaponry. “Don’t worry,” she whispered, “it’s illegal to draw blades anywhere in the city of Starfall.”
I shared my opinion of that with a snort.
“Why so skeptical, milady?” asked Omar, appearing on my other side so stealthily, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I kept my back to him, refusing to show my surprise. “We pirates might not think much of other laws, but the laws of the King of Pirates are absolute.”
Somehow, I wasn’t reassured.
“Wait until you see your lord husband’s transformation tonight,” Safira said with a musical giggle. “Then you’ll understand what sort of place this is.”
I was growing uneasier by the second. “The last thing I want is to spend more time with your captain,” I grumbled.
“Ah, the problem of many a married couple. Except us, of course,” Omar amended.
Now that made me turn. I glanced between Omar and Safira. “You two are married?”
“To each other, no less,” Safira said with a heartier laugh.
The proud grin Omar wore said it all. He practically beamed as he moved closer to his wife. “I think she’s heard the tales, dear, that no man can win the heart of a siren. Fortunately, I’m a very extraordinary man, and Safira is a very special sort of siren.”
With a “hmph,” I turned and continued to follow Carabosse’s crew through the cobbled streets. They’d find that the heart of an Aeglean shield-maiden’s daughter was much harder to win than a siren’s.
The deeper we traveled into the city, the more my legs, now so used to the sea, began to ache.
The wealthy, polished streets were like a labyrinth filled with riots of flowers, some tropical and others I recognized from the northern isles.
The heat wasn’t helping, either, tiring me quickly.
Like Aegle, the air was warmer than would be typical for this latitude, the waters somehow bluer.
I suspected there were trade winds and warm water currents at play.
Unlike Aegle, the soil was sandy and soft. The slight lean to so many of the buildings we passed—some jutting out over the street—attested to that.
“Impressed?” Omar asked as our party rounded the corner, heading north.
“Perplexed,” I answered.
He chuckled. “What about?”
“What’s the point of all this?”
“Wealth, of course,” Safira replied for him.
“Don’t forget power. Wait till you see the captain’s Bard.”
“He has a personal bard?”
“Not a performer, lass. The Bard—his estate. There’s one for each of the lords of Starfall.”
“Well isn’t he grand,“ I muttered, only to be forced to swallow my words.
A sprawling white villa with a red clay roof appeared at the end of the street, surrounded by sloping green fields. I knew before Omar pointed that it belonged to Jax.
All the inhabitable parts of Aegle would’ve fit on those lands, with room to spare. Why in Aestas’s name did Jax need this stupid treasure? Didn’t he already have enough?
I realized Omar was still talking. “So it’s said that the Lords of the Bards were thought to be called ‘beards’ when they reached that land, and the titles of Goldenbeard, Silverbeard, Bluebeard, Redbeard, Whitebeard and Blackbeard were born.
Pirates have been living here for centuries.
But under the pirates’ council, our people have thrived. Not bad for a bunch of outcasts, eh?”
I smiled weakly, pretending I had heard his history lesson. I doubted much of it was true. These pirate lords—Jax especially—were as crooked as the isle’s houses.
“I suppose that purple gown of Sofie’s is ruined,” I heard Safira murmur, already deep in another conversation.
“What’s she going to wear to the ball, then?” asked the Lady de Gorm, copying Omar’s trick and appearing out of nowhere. I gritted my teeth in an effort not to startle. “Can’t have her dressed like that and shaming our lord captain.”
My brows flew high. “A ball?”
“There’s no time to make her anything from scratch,” Safira agreed, “but maybe something can be hemmed.”
The Lady hissed. “I won’t be the one to touch Ama’s things. Are you going to do it?”
“What other choice is there?” Safira retorted. “If you’ve other ideas, now’s the time to say so!”
“What ball?“ I demanded.
Safira and the Lady stopped walking. Instead, they turned to stare at me. “The captain hasn’t told you?” Safira asked, concern etched into her forehead.
I pressed my hands into my hips. “Obviously not. And what’s this nonsense about a gown?”
The Lady de Gorm turned away, disgusted.
“I’ll show you,” Safira said, sounding equally grim.
That anyone could fuss so much about a gown was beyond me. Then again, nothing about these pirates made sense to me.