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“Why haven’t the bodies been recovered?” he asked.

“The laws forbid us from approaching the Wasting Corals, my lord. And as you can see, the corals have expanded. The ship is well beyond our reach.” She gestured to the lime-greensmudges underneath the water. “We have no aerial support, and even if we did, the ship is unstable. It’s too much of a risk to endanger thefiileeand it’s against the law.” The captain rubbed her leg, a permanent repercussion from the Warlord’s War.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Raziel grinned. There was no one more devoted to the law than Eliah. “I agree with you. I would not risk thefiilee, but we need to recover the bodies. They should be returned to their families. Do you have a dinghy?”

“We do, my lord.”

“Then we shall make use of it.” The thought of traveling over the Wasting Corals in a tiny boat made him feel sick, but it needed to be done. Raziel steeled himself. “Only those who are experienced swimmers will travel with us. We need four men in addition to me and Valen.”

Eliah blinked athhim. “We work on a ship, my lord. We are all excellent swimners.”

Raz smirked, balancing on the balls of his feet as the ship rocked. “How right you are.”

Valen stepped closer to his side. “I don’t think it’s wise for you to go.”

“I must see this through.”

Skye’s tail flicked from left to right as he turned to his bonded. “You cannot come with me this time.” The feline huffed, biting at his shirt. “I know you don’t like it, but there’s no other choice.”

“All ready, my lord,” Eliah called.

The king strode across the starboard side of the ship. He slung a leg over the railing and nimbly descended the rope ladder. Once his feet touched the bottom of the dinghy, he quickly sat and picked up an oar. Three other people joined him in the boat: an older man with a long salt-and-pepper beard, a boy who was as gangly as a sapling, and a young woman withher hair shoved into a faded knit hat. He frowned as she kept her gaze averted from his as if looking at him was painful.

Valen plopped down next to him, and Eliah shoved away from the ship. Raziel’s stomach flipped, and he gritted his teeth as the little boat bobbed and Eliah positioned herself at the rudder.

Raz could do this. The ocean wouldn’t be the death of him. He’d survived its claws before.

Sweat dampened his brow as they began to row toward theZephyr. Water splashed over the edge and onto his hand. He barely kept from flinching.

A mouth full of water. Too much pressure...

“Steady all,” Eliah called. The little dinghy passed over the Wasting Corals border. “Keep your paddling shallow, ya?”

It was eerily silent as they made their way to theZephyr. The chartreuse coral rose from the depths below, at first peeking out of the water and then rising like deformed sculptures.

“How did they get this far?” Raz murmured. The ship must have plowed over several hundred feet of coral before crashing. “Was there a storm?”

“Not the stormy season,” Eliah muttered, redirecting the boat around a large chunk of broken coral that looked as if it was oozing water.

“Then what happened?”

“We don’t know. No one in their right mind would come near the corals, especially a fishing vessel.”

That was his thought as well. He exchanged an uneasy glance with Valen as they neared theZephyr.

“Coven, scale the ship and toss down a rope,” Eliah commanded.

“Aye, Captain,” the young woman replied. She gathered up a lasso of rope and tossed it over her shoulder as the captain navigated the boat next to the ship.

“Be careful.”

The young woman nodded, her eyes still averted from Raz. His heart leapt when she jumped from the dinghy, rocking the small vessel onto the side of theZephyrand slamming her blade into the ship. His jaw dropped as she scurried up the side in record time. She disappeared over the railing and began tying off the rope.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Eliah commented.

“She has skills,” he admitted. Someone with reflexes like that should be a rider.

Coven tossed the thick rope down, and Raz stood.