Page 98 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

“The Black Abyss has grown more treacherous,” Theron gestured to the black spot staining the map between Aldara and Talmon. “If we attempt to cross it, we will not survive.”

“You know thishow?” Suspicion creased Samuel’s brow.

“I wouldn’t be a very good sentinel if I didn’t know these things.”

She bristled at his words. Something about them was so . . . strange. Odd. Familiar? She rubbed the dull ache in her temple. Aryn glanced at her, raising a brow, the tattoo on his face stretching from the movement.

Indeed, Theron was an especially intuitive sentinel. Kora narrowed her stare, raking in his rippling muscles, untarnished armour, and secret compartments woven throughout, containing his throwing knives. The way his eyes seemed to be all-seeing, ever observing his surroundings as if he could see throughto someone’s core.

She’d met a sentinel once before. They’d been a weedy, snivelling thing, turning their nose up at anything they deemedless than—which included Kora herself. She had flashed her teeth and daggers at them and sent them scarpering back to their dry kingdom.

No—Theron was certainly not theusualkind of sentinel.

“Can we sail around it?” Blake traced a slim gap between the Black Abyss and Peril Cove on the map.

Kora stepped forward to the desk, slipping between Erick and Blake, Aryn silently hovering near her as he too scanned the map. “We’ll be too close to Peril Cove,” she murmured, “and last time we did that . . .” She trailed off as she met Blake’s emerald gaze.

She’d miss that gaze. Those secret looks they would shoot each other, their unspoken connection coursing between them. She averted her stare before the cracks in her world shattered.

“What about the other side?” Theron pointed towards where the Sulfire Sea engulfed the coast of Otrovia, famous for its marshlands and swamps.

Samuel shook his head. “The Sulfire Sea is alsotreacherous. It’s like sailing through boiling water. It’ll break the ship apart before we even reach the shore.”

“And it’s acidic,” Aryn added.

“The king wants to control these islands. Fat lot of luck it’ll do him,” Samuel muttered to himself, rolling his grey eyes. “Draining us dry of—”

Theron and Erick combined threw Samuel a glare, and Kora kept her eyes glued to the map, unable to handle another confrontation as Blake hissed at Samuel about holding his tongue.

“I just don’t understand why we’re sailing again. We’ve just completed a contract,” Samuel retaliated. He’d been exceptionally quiet during the journey after the exile attack, his soul wearier than most. Samuellovedsailing. But now he didn’t want to?

“My reasons for reaching the Citadel are none of your concern,” Theron snapped. “Appreciate that I want to continue lining your pockets with silver,sailor.”

Kora blocked out the bickering as the Black Abyss captured her attention. Legend said it started as a trench, formed when the islands were cleaved apart by the gods, each island becoming a home to a strong, elemental force. The Devanian scholars never confirmed which island belonged to which deity, but Kora liked to think Aldara was Calypso’s.

Over the years, the trench had expanded deeper and wider until it eventually became the yawning jaws of death within the ocean. Any who dared to cross it would meet their demise. Sucked into it, never to see daylight again. It resulted in the unfortunate black splash of ink on every sailor’s map of the islands. The darkest part of the seas. So deep and black that sailors couldn’t see their fingers in front of them if they succumbed to its depths.

“We have to go around.” She traced a line with her finger. “Around Peril Cove, past the Calypso Islands.” Her finger moved westward, towards the Mist, before shooting northwards past the small littering of tiny islands and looping back round to the east above the Black Abyss.

“You’ll be risking yourselves between Peril Cove and the Mist,” Erick observed.

She chewed the inside of her cheek. It was a risk sailing towards Galen—towards the growing Mist. But there was no other way when observing the map . . . and something about the shrouded, red-marked island tugged at her. Beckoning her to sail to it.

“It’s the only way,” she pressed. “It’s either that, or risk the Black Abyss.”

“Those pirates may still be there,” Erick pushed back. “Last time you sailed there, you nearly didn’t make it back.”

Blake cut her a warning glance and she suppressed a glare. She didn’t need prompting about holding her tongue, too.

“We’ll follow the standard shipping routes,” Blake proposed. “We can sail under a fake flag, try to blend in with the exports.”

Theron nodded. “It’s a good idea. Sail under the guise of one of the noble houses’ goods shipments.”

“What’s to stop the pirates attacking us anyway?” Kora replied bitterly. “Besides, they’ll recognisemyship.”

“Unless we sailed with another captain?” Theron’s question was brazen. “You’re welcome to join, as a crew member.”

Deathly quiet settled as Kora peered through her lashes at the dark male. His vambraces glinted in the sun where his arms folded across his chest. If he offered the contract to another captain, it would free Blake, and push him towards the army. Her heart seized. She’d have to settle for impersonating goods shipments.