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The guilt in my stomach spread, swallowing me up. There was no one stopping me, no one standing in my way. Was I really selfish enough to let my father hang without even trying to stop it? The thought made me sick. I held Sebastien’s gaze, unable to mask the anguish that raged through me like wildfire. Aberdeen had crossed oceans to find me. The gods only knew how she’d done it, but here she was. Even if I was cruel enough to turn my back on that, I couldn’t do it to Father. Never to Felicie.

‘All right,’ I breathed, my words hitching on the panic that swelled in my chest.

‘No!’ Golde burst out, rushing forward, but Aron grabbed her wrist, holding her back. I met his gaze, the hurt in it piercing me like a knife through the heart.

Aberdeen shot me a sharp glance, but her iron grip on my wrist disappeared. ‘Good.’

‘Hold on,’ Mors said, striding forward, the lines of his forehead deeper than ever.

‘She’s my sister,’ Aberdeen said, staring down the old man until he stopped in his tracks. ‘She belongs with me.’

‘What d’ye know about where she belongs?’ Golde snarled, shaking off Aron’s hold.

Aberdeen glowered at the first mate, unruffled. ‘I’m not leaving without her,’ she said coolly.

The scrape of Golde’s sabre in its scabbard cut through the silence. ‘What makes ye think ye’ll be leaving at all?’

‘Golde,’ Sebastien warned quietly.

My heart clenched. How could I simply walk away from him, from this, knowing any day now my crew would sail straight into a war of their own? How could this be the end?

The battle raging in my chest made it impossible to breathe. Don’t let me go.

Sebastien’s eyes were like chasms in the world breaking apart around us. He shook his head, almost imperceptibly, telling me what I was too afraid to ask. There was no other way.

I turned back to my sister, struggling to breathe through the pure dread that choked my throat. ‘How are you even here?’ I asked, eyeing the crew behind her. How was this even possible?

Aberdeen blinked. ‘I came to rescue you.’

‘I know, but Father, Felicie . . .’

‘I used what little gold we had to get to Bray, to buy passage to the capital to find them,’ she explained brusquely. ‘But the ports were riddled with pirates. And, funnily enough, it was your name on all their lips. I was so convinced you’d be dead, but . . . I had to be sure.’

Even with Felicie in danger, even when she should’ve given up on me, she hadn’t. I swallowed.

‘I knew you’d do anything to help me save them.’ Her words were so edged they sounded almost like a warning.

‘Of course I will,’ I croaked, the words grating on my tongue like sand. A heavy sigh of defeat sounded behind me, but I couldn’t be sure who it came from. ‘Just let me say goodbye.’

Aberdeen’s eyes narrowed again, darting around at the crew. ‘We don’t have time, Aurelia. We have to go.’

The urgency in her voice sped on my racing heart. I’m not ready. Not yet.

‘Please,’ I whispered, meeting my sister’s eyes and hoping that, for once, she’d understand me. ‘Just a little while. I need to get my things.’

Things – I had nothing here but them.

I could see the confusion clouding Aberdeen’s eyes. How strange it must be, to find me standing firm in the circle of the crew. The old man, the unruly pirates, the savage first mate. The Heartless King himself.

I’d seen the danger in them, once. I saw it still. But there were too many memories fogging the months since we’d met that it was almost impossible to remember.

Aberdeen relented. ‘One hour,’ she said tersely.

One hour. After that, I didn’t know what she’d do. But for Felicie’s sake, I didn’t want to find out.

27

Istared out from the window of my old chamber, the faint glow of candlelight leaking out into the inky night sky. The galley bobbed on the black water, pulling away from the Blood Rose with Aberdeen on board. She’d dragged together some kind of rescue mission from the gods only knew where, using money we didn’t have, just to find me. To save me.