Chapter 14 Sofie
Chapter fourteen
Sofie
“There’s something I haven’t told you,” Jax whispered in my ear as the music paused between dances.
This did not shock me. The man was nothing but secrets—and I should’ve expected nothing less from a brigand like him. What did surprise me was that, despite myself, I was having a wonderful time.
Jax was an excellent dancer. Somewhere between goblets of rum-tinged punch, I had started to notice how handsome he looked besides.
While I was growing more unkempt with each dance, my skin gleaming with sweat to rival my sparkling gown and strands of red hair flying free, he seemed more refined. More dashing.
And a little stiffer.
“What now?” I demanded, sure he was hiding some grand complication from me.
Even as I braced for it, his response still took my breath away, more than any fast-moving dance I’d stumbled through.
“Just before dawn,” he began, “Goldenbeard’s staff will begin snuffing the candles. When the last lantern goes out, tradition dictates that the pirate lords and ladies must declare a seawife or seaspouse. They are to be a faithful companion for a period of one year, until the next pirate’s ball.”
“And then what happens to them?”
Jax inclined his head towards the pair of thrones—one significantly smaller than the giant gold monstrosity at the center of the dais.
“If it’s agreeable to both parties and the sea allows it, they return to the next pirate’s ball to renew their faith with each other.
” He cleared his throat. “It’s a very old tradition, from a time when some pirate lords were said to have fought over the same seawife.
After the bond is sealed, everyone goes their separate ways in the darkness, supposedly as a way to avoid bloodshed. ”
Was I imagining it, or did Jax the Bluebeard look almost…bashful?
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked, tightening my grip on his shoulder as the next dance began.
“A couple must find each other in the dark and seal their bond with a kiss.”
My eyes widened. “You’re going to kiss me?”
Jax sighed at me. “Say it a little louder, why don’t you? Remember, you’re my wife. We’ve kissed countless times.”
My face was instantly burning. The number of times we’d kissed was the correct number: zero. Dewspell had a bounty out for his capture, for chaos’ sakes! I wasn’t going to kiss an enemy of my home.
“Follow my lead,” he said, sounding as though this was actually reassuring. “You’ve been doing it beautifully all night.”
As if to emphasize that point, he twirled me in time with the other dancers. For once, I didn’t even stumble.
“Jax…why in the old gods’ names did you bring me here?” I asked, already out of breath.
“You’re quick enough. Haven’t you figured it out yet?”
The fact that I hadn’t was only frustrating me more.
Jax’s nostrils flared as he laughed. “Allow me to explain.” He spun me again, then grasped my waist to lift me a good six inches off the ground, returning me to the dance floor lightly.
Just as he’d told me, I noticed Goldenbeard himself—our mysterious masked host—returning to the dais.
If I wasn’t mistaken, he was using a bit of wind magic to extinguish the candles in one of the chandeliers.
“Everyone in this ballroom knows my tale,” he said. “Pirates are terrible gossips. They know exactly what I’m looking for. And while the location of the isle where the Queen of the Sea is located changes each year, there’s an easy way to locate it.”
“What?” I asked, already suspicious.
“By following me, of course. Something Blackbeard has been doing for the last five years.”
I couldn’t help a glance at the slim, proper looking man with glasses as he guided the young woman in gold around the dance floor. “Then why would you…”
Jax leaned in so close, his lips brushed my ear, giving me a shiver I wanted to blame on the intruding wind magic. “While he’s here dancing, my crew is hobbling his ships.”
Hobbling ships? I didn’t really want to know what that meant. I imagine it involved a certain amount of bloodshed.
“I thought fighting was forbidden here.”
“It’s against the rules in the city,“ he said, pulling me close once again. Once more, his breath on my ear left it tingling—and me blushing. “But we’re pirates. Goldenbeard himself knows we don’t follow rules if we don’t have to.
The bay is technically next to the city, not in it.
And anyway, I found a convenient way to get at what Blackbeard holds most dear. ”
“Treasure?” I asked.
“His ships.” Jax shook his head at my ignorance. “See that young lady in the gold?”
“I do.” She laughed giddily as she danced, as if Blackbeard had just whispered something in her ear. She was rather pretty, and far too young to be with that pirate.
Jax kept his voice low and close, adding to the flush on my cheeks from dancing. “Her name is Marigold. She helped us earlier.”
My eyes widened. “In exchange for what?”
Jax laughed. “Now you’re beginning to understand our ways.” He managed to shrug while still performing the next part of the dance, arching his arm so I could pass under it. “I offered her a berth on my ships—a chance to be a real pirate, and not just a pretty seawife waiting at the port.”
“What if she told him? What if it’s a trick?”
“Don’t worry, pet. I always have a backup plan.”
The song ended. The room grew darker. Suddenly, I was almost gasping for breath. “Jax. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“A shame, for the plan is already afoot. Relax and come along for the ride, Sofie. It’s all I’ve ever asked of you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ground myself and resist the urge to pull at the threads of chaos all around us. “All you’ve ever asked is for me to risk my life for your stupid treasure.”
“The last dance,” Goldenbeard announced, his voice wavering on the conjured wind he used to carry it. “Be ready, you lovers, for it is a short one.”
I was beginning to feel faint. “I need to sit down.”
“There’s no time.”
The musicians struck up the tune, something lively I would never keep up with. I began to sway…right into Jax’s enveloping arms. He was holding me close, not even bothering to lead me in this dance, as if he did not want to risk our separation when the lights went out.
The embrace lasted only a moment. Jax stepped back. No, staggered back was more like it.
My head whipped between him and the passing dancers. There was Blackbeard and the young woman with the golden dress, twirling away at the dance’s breakneck speed.
Jax reached into his jacket with a groan. When he pulled his hand out, his fingers were covered in blood.
“Jax!”
“Captain!”
Omar and Safira materialized from the whirling crowd, rushing to Jax’s side. As if they’d done this a hundred times before, each ducked under one of his arms, helping him to walk.
“Get your cloak, Sofie.”
Like a fool, I just stood there, staring at the growing bloodstain wicking across his shirt.
“Sofie,” Safira said, putting a little siren compulsion in her voice.
That got me moving. I ran from the ballroom, not caring who I bumped into. I could feel the chaos building inside and around me, and so I put it to practical use. My cloak flew past a startled servant and about a dozen pirates lingering in the foyer, dropping neatly into my hand.
I pulled it on, fumbling with the clasp. My hands were shaking.
Jax, Omar and Safira were already behind me.
“I can run ahead, or fetch a healer,” I babbled. “I’m terrible with healing magic, but I could try.”
“There’s a plan, Sofie,” Jax said, his voice strained. “There is one rule we pirates of Carabosse never break.”
Omar and Safira said it in unison. “We don’t deviate from the plan.”
“It’s how crewmembers get killed,” Jax said more quietly.
I practically tripped getting out of their way. “The others—”
“Are already in place. Keep walking, Sofie. Better yet, run.”
Once Omar and Safira had helped Jax down the front steps to the palazzo, they slipped out from beneath his arms and began to run themselves. I gaped at them, shocked they would abandon their captain—until I realized he was running, too.
And yanking my arm to follow him.
With a gasp, I found myself stumbling alongside him. But we weren’t headed for Jax’s “Bard.”
We were cutting straight through the heart of Starfall, towards the docks.
The Lady de Gorm was waiting at the quay, untying one rowboat before hopping into another. The boat already started to drift before Safira reached it, diving into it with a siren’s unnatural grace.
She steadied it long enough for Omar to join, then Jax, and then Omar was lifting me in. I nearly lost a shoe in the water.
At that point, I didn’t care. I could barely breathe. Dawn was coming, the sky tinting red and purple. The lighter it got, the more obvious the dark patch on Jax’s shirt became.
When we were halfway to the ship, Omar rowing while Safira tried to help Jax, a woman’s voice sliced through the night, growing increasingly higher pitched the further the rowboat went from the shore. A lone figure was running through the port, stumbling from breathlessness.
“Marigold,” I cried. “You’ve left without her!”
“Quiet,” Jax hissed, the cords of his arms straining in the moonlight as he removed his jacket.
Somehow, his shirt wasn’t as bad as I’d have thought, as if the bleeding had slowed.
“You made a deal with her,” I insisted. “If you leave her behind and Blackbeard learns what she’s done, he’ll kill her!”
“It was a pirate’s deal,” Jax said with a snort, followed by a groan.
“Stop moving,” Safira scolded him.
Still half-twisted towards the quay, I went still. “You’re hurt.”
“Probably from lifting you during that dance. You make a better anchor than you do a dance partner.”
“If you want my help, you should mind your tongue!”
“You, help me? Perish the thought.”
“Unlike you, my word means something. I might be terrible at healing magic, but I can still do…something!”
“I’m touched by your concern, but I’m fine, pet. I took the tiniest of knife wounds. Probably from a pen knife. Typical pirate’s ball. I wasn’t the only one with a plan.”
Another scream, this time of desperation, came from the dock. I turned back to find Marigold’s figure bent double, then straightening. She was trying to pull off her voluminous gold gown to swim after us.
“If you leave her here, she’s dead,” I repeated, the pitch of my own voice rising. “That’s why she’d risk swimming through a shark-infested bay. That’d be better than whatever Blackbeard would do to her.”
“You do like to answer your own questions,” Jax said, voice flat.
He was in pain.
“Go back for her, and I’ll heal your wound.”
His teeth flashed in the moonlight. “Never. It’s not part of the plan.”
“Even if you turn around and retrieve her, you’ll make better time. She’ll probably be happy to row for you.”
“Wouldn’t trust her to.” He gasped a little, the movements of the oars faltering. “What use have I for a woman who’d betray me?”
“Must be why we get along,” I snapped. “I’ve always made it clear I’d toss you overboard the first chance I got.”
“Mm, yes, from the second day I knew you.”
“Go back for her, Jax, or I will make your life so miserable you’ll wish you’d never set eyes on the sea!”
A laugh bubbled up in his throat, then abruptly cut off. His voice was papery when he spoke again. “I’m twice cursed, thanks to you. What more tricks do you have up your sleeve?”
“Do you want to find out?” I hesitated. We were getting too close to the ship. “You’re losing a lot of blood, aren’t you?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine. Turn back, Jax. I’ll row the boat myself.”
“I never deviate from a plan. Never. That’s how good crew get killed. Good people.”
“Wives, you mean?”
His refusal to answer said it all. I stood in the boat sharply, not caring how it rocked.
“Watch it!” Jax barked.
I wasn’t the “beachmaid” they all thought I was. I knew how to move in a boat. I turned back toward the shore, where the figure still stood, quivering as if she couldn’t convince herself to jump into the bay no matter how many steps towards the edge she took.
I focused on the rose bushes somewhere behind her, feeling rather than seeing them.
“Put your dress back on!” I shouted across the bay.
The responding voice was so quiet over the lap of the water, I doubted we’d heard one another. Still, I raised my arms, coaxing the life in those bushes into a frenzy as I reached into them with my chaos magic.
It was enough. Slowly, then at the speed of a loping run, the roses grew into a briar, twisting together, rising higher and higher. The thorned bramble flattened into a bridge shape at my prompting, creating a path wide enough for one person to walk with relative ease.
The bridge shot forward, wavering until I was forced to anchor it into the bay, the salt hardening rather than destroying the vines. Buds formed on the sides of the bridge, black and blood red roses blooming in defiance of the salt spray.
The bridge shot towards the rail of Blue Moon, wrapping the polished balustrade as the crew cried out in alarm. The quay turned into a wild, flowering bramble in the blink of an eye.
Chest heaving, I returned to the bench of the rowboat with a satisfied smile. “There’s one of my tricks,” I said to Jax.
“Remind me never to give you flowers,” he grumbled, as if he could not begrudge me the awe he was trying and failing to keep from his voice.
I glanced over my shoulder to find Marigold’s silhouette stooping as she hastily put on her shoes. The moment I saw her start to climb the briar bridge, I turned my attention back to the looming side of Blue Moon.
“Take the other oars,” Jax ordered Safira, slowly easing himself from the bench toward me. “I don’t want Marigold getting to the ship before we do.”
Safira took her place wordlessly, guiding us the rest of the way to the ship in unison with Omar—but not before I ensured Marigold had made her way across.
Jax might not keep his promises, but as long as I was forced to travel with him, I would keep them for him.