Chapter 24
HAZEL
Two ships from The Nayte Brigand flanked our formation, and I could only imagine how terrifying we must have looked from above.
The ships looked as if they were built from the salvaged remains of centuries' worth of oceanic debris, constructed from ships destined never to return from the sea. As they solidified around us, the diamond formation of the Talassi warriors never faltered, and soon the bottom of my father’s steamship came into view.
My heart thundered faster as we approached, and I thought of all the things I wished I could say to him.
I wouldn’t have time for pleasantries, but the fear and hatred I felt for the man burned inside of me like a hot iron.
I’d been beaten, tortured, captured, and forced into too many situations because of him, and I hoped by the end of this visit that I would plague his nightmares.
A low rumbling sound flowed through the water around us, and I realized the Talassi were starting to sing. The vibrations stilled the water, making the path ahead vibrantly clear, and their collective voices grew into the most mesmerizing, haunting sound I’d ever heard in my life.
Maki had told me to shift as much as I possibly could prior to this part of the journey.
If I stayed in my full human form, I’d be susceptible to their hypnosis.
That thought alone was enough to give me nightmares, so I’d focused all my energy into shifting everything I’d learned so far.
I leaned into Maki as we pressed forward, and soon we surfaced near the hull of my father’s ship.
A spark of strange energy coursed through my body as soon as air hit my face, followed by pelts of rain and the sound of thunder above.
“Is this you?” I whispered to Maki.
“Both of us,” he smiled softly. “It’s mostly me, but your anger is fueling the storms.”
I looked up at the sky in awe. Dark clouds swirled around each other, accented by lightning as sheets of rain poured over the steamship.
Talassian magic didn’t make much sense to me, and I wasn’t sure it ever would, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
And it gave me a sense of pride to know that I was useful, even in a small way.
The Nayte ships surfaced abruptly, rising from the sea as water sluiced down the battered sides of the boats. They flanked my father’s ship, tossing lines across the space in between as the Talassi latched onto the sides.
Between the storms raging, the ominous sound of the Talassi voices, and the violent shouts from the top deck of Lord Emerson’s ship, I was utterly terrified.
Men from the Nayte crew slipped along the ropes, crawling onto the steamship like insects.
Within minutes, rope ladders were tossed over the sides, and Maki and I were climbing up the hull before I could catch my next breath.
By the time we reached the railings, all of the Talassi had shifted, and The Nayte Brigand had rendered most of my father’s crew unconscious.
Or they had succumbed to the hypnosis of the Talassi song.
My father, however, emerged from his quarters, breathing heavily with a scowl on his face as he watched ghastly apparitions overtaking his ship.
“I’ll make you all pay for this!” He shouted. He was clearly outnumbered, but that didn’t seem to scare him.
A hand grabbed my waist from behind, and I looked up to see Draya, his face twisted into the most intimidating expression I’d ever seen. We stepped in front of my father, who was still standing, though swaying from side to side, and I wondered if he would try to attack.
My question was answered as Maki and another Talassi warrior appeared behind him, tying him to a post beside us.
“What are you doing here?” He seethed, spittle flying out of his mouth as he recognized who I was.
“We tire of playing your games,” Draya responded.
“We?” He chuckled. “I don’t know how you ended up with this wench, but she’s been dead to me for years.”
“I sent you letters!” I said, the words flying out of my mouth before I could stop them. “I sent you so many letters from that horrible asylum! Month after month, and I know they were mailed. You had to know I was alive! Or did you just not care?”
“Both statements are true, child,” he sneered. “Your mother was a dishonest whore, and she put the family’s reputation in jeopardy by harboring a child with magic for so many years. Once she was out of the picture, I needed you gone so I could resume my life without the headache of–”
His words were cut off as Draya raked his claws across my father’s face, leaving him with three gaping wounds slashed from his forehead to his cheeks.
“You’re lucky my Queen gave orders not to kill you,” Draya spat out. “Or I’d throw you overboard just like your men did to your daughter. Her spirit is far more honorable than yours will ever be.”
A glint of silver flashed under the moonlight, and Maki yanked a knife I hadn’t noticed my father brandishing from his bound hands, slamming the hilt against the back of his head.
“That should keep him quiet for a bit,” he scoffed, tossing the knife into the sea. “I’m not sure how he’s immune to our song, but I have no problem smashing the skull of anyone who speaks to their child that way.”
Draya was eerily still beside me, and I couldn’t tell if he was radiating anger, fury, or annoyance.
I squeezed his forearm, trying to bring him back to the present.
Time wasn’t on our side, and we had work to accomplish.
After a moment, he seemed to gather himself, and we entered my father’s chambers.
A small group of us crowded around the table in the center, peering over his ever-moving atlas.
The map sat atop an oval table made of oak, and blue stone covered most of the base as a representation of the ocean.
Pale blue light shone through, reminiscent of the stone within the Talassi capital, and figurines moved on their own in the lines and shapes of what I assumed were his fleet’s routes.
“There’s some form of magic in this,” Draya declared as he watched the map pulse with the currents of the ocean.
“I’ve never seen his maps look like this,” I added. “They were always paper when I studied them at our estate in Whitethorn Bay.”
Maki and Draya examined the map further, picking up the figurines of ships and frigates, and I noticed a familiar iridescent shimmer to them.
“Take one,” Draya commanded. “I’m afraid he’s used parts of a Talassi tail to create this atlas. And that would make his imprisonment of Prince Inaki far more useful. Who knows how many of us he truly has under his thumb.”
When I realized what Draya was implying, my stomach lurched. My father was imprisoning these beautiful creatures, and using their body parts for… merchant trade routes? He deserved to die.
We studied the map further, and I noted a particular stop receiving much more traffic than it should have.
“That’s Akala,” I said, frowning. “Ships are traversing to and from there, but I spent two years at that wretched place and never saw a single boat moor at the harbor.”
“Fascinating,” Maki said, and Draya frowned.
“How much of the island did you explore?” He asked.
“Only the side of the cliff where the asylum is located,” I said. “I didn’t have much of a chance to venture elsewhere. But they said the island is uninhabited, aside from the hospital. It’s small, and beyond the cliffs is a rocky shore that only leads to more ocean.”
“I believe they weren’t telling you the whole truth, love,” Maki said, and Draya shot him a strange look at the nickname.
“That wouldn’t surprise me,” I replied, almost laughing. At this point, I didn’t have any emotions left to feel. This man had sentenced me to what he hoped would be my death. He could have been stopping at the island frequently, and I had never even known.
One of the Talassi had brought some form of seaweed to draw on, and once he finished we quickly exited the quarters. My father was still unconscious, and Draya spit on his limp body as we passed.
“It’s time to go,” he said, wrapping his arms around me and hoisting me up against his chest. “You’re coming with me, this time.”