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And beneath my feet, Harpy stirred.

“Take me with you,” I impulsively said to the Mereish pirate. “You need a Stormsinger. Don’t waste this opportunity. Run now, take me with you, and I’ll call down a storm to secureourescape.”

She held my gaze for a moment, then sniffed and brushed the mouth of the pistol at the fur lining of my gown. “What I need is this. So pretty.” Switching into Mereish, she snapped something at her crew.

Hands grabbed at my belt, jerking it loose, then pulling my overgown away. I fought back but there were too many hands, tugging and pushing and digging into my hair.

Then my gown was gone and my accosters retreated. Cold rushed over my skin and I gritted my teeth, watching as the Mereish pirates bundled my fine clothes away.

Left in my shift, stays and petticoats, I clasped my arms around myself. So many eyes. My knife, absent. Grant, Demery and Athe out of reach. I had my magic, but what would wind or snow do against a point-blank shot?

The Mereish woman smiled in pleasure. “There, now my new dress won’t get bloody.”

“Captain?” Demery called from midships, no hint of tension in his voice.

“I am deciding,” the other captain called back.

“I’ll help you get away,” I insisted. The bloody knife at my throat was gone, but the pistol was still leveled at me and her finger rested on the trigger. “I’m a prisoner, can’t you see that? Save me, and I’ll help you.”

Her startled smile and the crinkling about her eyes told me that I sounded naive. Good. The less of a threat I was, the more opportunity I’d haveto…What?Make a nuisance of myself and get killed? Take advantage of whatever Harpy was up to?

As if in response to my thoughts, I felt something slip into my hand, down at my side and partially hidden in my petticoats against the cold. I felt the brush of something elsetoo—cool,smoky flesh against my fingertips. The pirates around me did not appear to notice.

I tried not to show my confusion.

“Your mage is trying to barter for her freedom,” the Mereish captain informed Demery. “Perhaps I’ll take her with me, what do you say? You let me and mine return to our ship, with the mage, and we’ll be on our way.”

“Leave the mage and you can have your lives,” Demery answered. “You have my word. We’ll pretend this unfortunate incident never occurred.”

“Do you have a surgeon?”

“Yes, would you like him?”

“Indeed, I would.”

I wrapped my arms across myself, making a show of shivering, and felt at the object in my hands. It was wooden, light, sharp and narrow. A shard of wood.

Movement tugged my eyes to the side of the ship. The glimpse was momentary, but I saw Harpy standing by the ship’s rail, her clutch of fans dangling from her belt, and herface…Shewore my mother’s face, exactly as my childhood memories recalled. I was struck by how alike we looked, my mother then, and I now.

The Mereish captain saw the ghisting too. She whirled, then spun back to me in sudden, blatant panic.

“Ghiseau!”she shouted. The Mereish word for ghisting?

No time for thought, fear or second-guessing. I lunged.

She pulled the trigger.

I twisted around the gun. I felt the rush of heat as the spark met the pan and powder ignited. Smoke burst into my eyes.

I knocked her pistol arm aside with the quick, sharp blow Grant had taught me and drove around her. My free hand found her hair, the other put the stake to her throat, and then there was silence.

“Surrender and you’ll live,” I said, pressing the tip of the stake into the thrumming vein at her throat. My eyes burned with smoke but my heart slammed at my ownaudacity—Ifeared it, and I relished it. “Make one more move and you’ll die.”

She chose to live.

USTI—The most powerful nation on the Winter Sea, the Usti control the entirety of the Usti Island Chain, the Northern Continent and Tithe. They are a governing force in neutral waters, remaining impartial to all Aeadine–Mereish conflict and ensuring the continuation of trade and growth in the Winter Sea in times of peace and war. Originating from various lands, this people group is both hardy and spiritual, revering the gods of their assorted ancestors and numerous Saints. See alsoUSTI ISLAND CHAIN, USTI NEUTRALITY.

—FROMTHE WORDBOOK ALPHABETICA: A NEW