Page 60

Reva turned her attention to Rency, who lounged against the pillar with arms crossed over his damp tunic. “Rency,” she said in her coldest tone, “you stand accused of treason and kidnapping.”

The pirate captain’s mouth slackened, and he drew himself stiffly to attention. “Wait—what?”

“How do you plead?”

Rency’s sun-weathered skin took on a sickly hue. “Now, Reva—”

“Rency.” She cut him off with a swipe of the hand. “I’m going to give you one chance to redeem yourself. You claim you’re not a pirate, so it’s time you proved it.”

His eyes narrowed. “And how do you propose I do that?”

Felix cleared his throat again but—for once—kept his mouth shut and let Reva do the talking.

“I am requisitioning the Andromeda for a special rescue mission.”

Rency’s eyes pulled into even tighter slits. “And who, pray tell, will I be rescuing?”

“Felicity.” Felix said the name as if it were a prayer.

Reva pursed her lips to suppress a smile at the lovesick tone in the prince’s voice. “She’s been sold into slavery by an unscrupulous person who shall remain unmentioned. All you need to know is that your duty is to find and rescue this young woman. And when you do—if you do—I’ll sign a royal pardon and not hang you.”

“Now, Reva, I don’t really have time to rescue more damsels in distress. I have a business to run, you know.”

“No, you’d prefer to kidnap the young ladies instead, I’m sure,” Reva said around a heavy sigh. For once, couldn’t he be the honorable person she hoped might lurk deep, deep—very deep—inside? “This girl needs your help. Is it so much to ask you to set aside your pirating for a few months to bring her home? In exchange for not being hanged?”

“Can’t we just hang him?” Jareth whispered under his breath. “I prefer that plan, honestly.”

Reva shot him an amused look. “I’m sure you do, but poor Felicity would prefer to be rescued, I think. I realize that you and Rency seem to be confused on this point, but girls generally prefer freedom over imprisonment. We don’t usually find kidnapping enjoyable.”

Jareth’s cheeks reddened, and he avoided her gaze.

“Well?” Felix demanded, one hand on his hip, the other holding onto his sword as if he had no idea what to do with it. “Are you going to do it or not?”

Rency didn’t answer immediately. He made them wait and—judging by the smirk tugging at his mouth—enjoyed it. “Very well,” he finally said, tossing his hands up as if he’d lost all patience with the lot of them. “I’ll be the bigger person and rescue the poor, enslaved maiden.”

“Excellent!” For the first time, Felix offered a genuine smile. “When do we leave?”

Horror clawed at Rency’s expression. “I beg your pardon…we?”

“Oh, yes, didn’t I mention that you’ll be taking Felix with you?” Reva asked casually, unable to suppress the satisfied smile tugging at her mouth.

The adrenaline of the battle and the exhilaration of surviving made everything seem hilarious right now. She felt like she could throw back her head and laugh for no reason. And then cry herself to sleep.

She wished she could be a fly on Andromeda’s hull so that she could enjoy every minute of the upcoming rescue mission. Rency deserved every minute of torture Felix would inflict upon him during their long, long, hopefully very long excursion.

The pirate captain looked ready to burst out of the few buttons holding his shirt onto his torso, but before he could argue, footsteps pounded against the battlement behind them. Reva turned to see her new captain of the guard rushing toward her.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Your Highness,” he said around labored breaths. “But we can’t find the regent. She’s disappeared.”

Anxiety replaced the heady exhilaration Reva had been experiencing since defeating the kraken. “What do you mean? I left her on the balcony…” She ran to the edge of the battlement and peered down toward Cassandra’s rooms far below.

But the balcony was, indeed, empty.

From this distance, Reva couldn’t even see the blood spatters that might be the only remaining evidence of the fight between her and her stepmother a few minutes earlier.

Her stomach tightened and a chill tingled over her skin. “Search the entire castle—the entire island, if need be,” she said hoarsely. “I want her found.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The guard’s footsteps clomped away as he left to do her bidding.