Page 2

Chapter Two

48 hours earlier

B ryony dry-heaved over the side of the ship as the deck rocked. I held back her hair and made circles on her back in a manner which I hoped provided some comfort.

“Urgh.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I think I’m dying.”

I bit back a smile, used to her exaggerations. “You’ll be fine once the storm passes.”

“And when, pray Thalor, will that be, considering it isn’t fully upon us yet?”

“Soon.”

A dark mass of angry clouds rapidly drifted across an equally gray sea, blown by a gusty wind right into our path. There was no avoiding it. And even now, the sea fretted beneath us, lapping hungrily at the sides of the ship as if desperate for harbor. The deck was slick with saltwater spray, rocking back and forth as if inebriated. And far to the east, mist gathered. I had to hope it wouldn’t be rolling our way.

Done with her retching, Bryony fell against me with a dramatic sigh. “I fear I shall not last until soon , and if I do survive, then I’ll arrive at Merida Isle emaciated and broken, and Prince Dylon will be sure to reject me, and the alliance will die before we can breathe life into it.”

I cupped her shoulders and studied her heart-shaped face, a little pale for certain, a little green, but ethereal and lovely all the same. “You couldn’t look unappealing if you tried. He’ll be lucky to have you, vomit stained or not.”

She looked down at the front of her gown with a groan. “I’m disgusting.”

“Yes, yes, you are, but you’re also the princess of Faircaster, and therefore no one would dare say anything other than nice things about you.”

She offered me a half smile, jade eyes lighting up. “You do have a valid point.” She lifted her chin high. “I shall remain in these clothes until the storm passes. I refuse to ruin another gown.”

“Or you could just wear britches and furs? Much more appropriate for travel.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Thalia, but I’d rather not dress like a guard. If I’m to maintain an illusion of station and power on this voyage, then I must dress appropriately.”

She sounded like her mother, Queen Marla, the pompous witch, and she must have realized it too because she winced and shook her head. “I’m sorry. Mother’s been drumming instruction into me for weeks now, ever since Chamberlain Colson negotiated the deal with King Vaarin. Etiquette, etiquette, and more etiquette.”

“I doubt the sea fae have the same standards of etiquette as us humans.”

The chamberlain of Pridehaven had been assigned by Prince Adom himself to act as an envoy in arranging the deal with the Northern Sea King. A deal that would benefit us for generations to come. In the meantime, the generous monarch of Solmane had shipped enough food to last us until the contracts with King Vaarin could be signed.

Bryony sucked in a breath, her already pale cheeks going sheet white. “I’m going to be marrying a sea fae.”

Oh dear, I couldn’t let her spiral now. “I’ve heard wonderful things about Prince Dylon. He’s kind and talented. An artist and poet. You’ll like that.” Not that any of that mattered. Bryony would be marrying him regardless, for the good of Faircaster Isle and its people. Our people.

“What if he’s ugly?” Bryony’s eyes flew wide. “What if he has fins?” She pressed her hand to her heaving bosom. “Of course he’ll have fins. He’s sea fae. They’re a different breed to us entirely. Did you know their hearts are on the opposite side to us? And they have two sets of lungs? Oh, Thalia, I don’t know if I can do this.”

“You can. And you will. You’re not so shallow as to let his appearance stand in the way of making a connection. Look to his heart.”

She swallowed hard. “And what if his heart is ugly too?”

I sighed. “Then you will nurture it with the warmth and generosity of your own until it blooms.”

She blinked back tears and nodded. “Yes. I will do that. I will find a way to love him.” She managed a small smile, and the knots in my belly eased. “I didn’t know you were so romantic, Thalia.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Me? Never.” I drew my sword and held the blade up to the waning light so that it bounced off the steel edge in lethal glints. “My heart belongs to battle and the waves.”

I’d hope to make her laugh, but instead her smile wilted. “Will you truly leave on your discovery voyage?”

I hooked an arm through hers and led her away from the starboard side and toward a bench bolted to the deck. We still had a little time before the storm was overhead, and a little more fresh air would do Bryony a world of good.

“Thalia?” Bryony prompted me for an answer.

“You know I must go. And you know why.”

Although Faircaster Isle was my home, it wasn’t my origin. King Bronan had found me, an abandoned baby, at sea twenty-one years ago. I’d been wrapped in a blue blanket and hidden in a basket on a small rowboat. How the boat had survived the raging of the ocean was a mystery , King Bronan always said when recounting this tale. But I knew as soon as I held her in my arms that she belonged to me.

When he recounted that tale, every time he said those words, a rush of warmth would course through me. A sense of belonging, but it always faded beneath Queen Marla’s withering glances and sharp words. The king might have adopted me, but his queen never accepted me, and I’d learned not to call him Father in her presence.

Bryony and I were raised as sisters, but I was never a princess, and truth be told, I preferred it that way. I’d chosen the guard and the sword over petticoats and corsets.

My discovery voyage had been planned for almost five years. It offered me the freedom to take to the sea and discover where I’d come from. But the fracture of our alliance with the Rootborn of Thyrealis Isle and our failing crops kept me home.

I was King Bronan’s voice across the seas. And as his ambassador, he’d needed me to secure a new alliance. I’d finally succeeded with Prince Adom and Colson’s help.

“You will come and see me, won’t you?” Bryony dropped her head to my shoulder. A gust of icy wind slapped at my skin, whipping tendrils of my dark hair out of my braid and into my eyes. I brushed them away before attending to Bryony to do the same for her. “Thalia, promise me you’ll come back to Merida,” she insisted.

I’d been her protector, her shadow for as long as I recalled. But the past three years had taken me far from her to distant isles as I’d sought aid for our people. She’d survived without me then. She could do it now.

“I’ll come visit, I promise.”

Her face fell, but she didn’t press for more. My sweet sister might be a little spoiled, but she’d never been selfish.

A fat raindrop hit my cheek, then another, and a moment later, the deck sang beneath the downpour.

The crew yelled out instructions to lower the sails, to hold the helm, and although part of me ached to join them, I turned away, taking Bryony with me below deck and to safety. I had only one duty on this voyage.

To protect Bryony with my life, for without her, there would be no alliance, and without the alliance, my people would surely starve.

* * *

Once Bryony was safely ensconced in her chambers, her lady’s maid busy preparing her a bath, I hurried to my own quarters to change out of my wet clothes. This time tomorrow we’d be in view of Merida Isle—a lush paradise and our new home, once the alliance was sealed, of course.

It had been more than a century since humans had inhabited that land, back when the Northern Sea Realm had brokered a deal with humans. The sea fae would excavate human technology from the depths of the sea; in exchange, the humans would provide them with brides.

It seemed that the sea fae suffered with infertility, something my people had never had an issue with, and something which was now killing us.

The council of elders called our fertility a gift, but the younger generation knew it as nothing but a curse. More bodies meant more mouths to feed. But if our fertility was now a curse, it was one that could be gifted to a race that needed it.

Royal marriage to the sea king’s only progeny would allow the Northern Sea Kingdom to benefit from the ancient blessing that had been bestowed upon our people over a hundred years ago. Bryony carried the gift of fertility in her veins, as did all Faircaster royals. Fertility that had blessed our people in turn. The Northern Sea fae were also connected to their royal bloodline, and so by marrying King Vaarin’s son, Bryony would be ushering in a new era, not just for the Northern Sea fae, but for us all.

Once the ceremony was done and the marriage consummated, the contract would be forever sealed, and then…then I would leave for my discovery voyage.

I pulled on dry pants and a fresh tunic and twisted my hair into a knot. My stomach grumbled, telling me it was time for the evening repast.

I made my way down the corridor to Bryony’s quarters, swaying side to side with the ship because the storm was overhead now, the howl of the wind audible even below deck.

I rapped on her door, but it was Lissa, her maid, that answered, her expression etched in concern.

“Is she still feeling sick?”

“Oh yes, miss,” Lissa said. “Terribly so.”

I slipped into the room and crossed to the bed hung with gauzy nets to create an illusion of opulence. Queen Marla was all about appearances, but anyone with an eye for ships could tell that the Marilise was on her last legs. Even then, the queen had been incensed when Father gifted her to me.

“Consider it the dowry that I know you’ll never use,” he’d said.

He knew my heart lay with the sea. Still, I’d be lucky to get a full discovery voyage out of the Marilise .

I drew back the netting to find Bryony lying on her front, her face turned away from me.

“How are you feeling, Bry?”

“I want to die…” she groaned.

“I’m assuming you don’t want supper, then?” She gagged, and I pressed my lips together. “All right.” I softly stroked her silken hair. “Would you like me to stay with you tonight?”

She turned her head toward me, her eyes dull and dark. “Will you tell me a story?”

Although a year older than me, Bryony had always fallen into the little sister role. I kissed her sweaty brow, then mock-grimaced, which made her smile. “Whatever you want, Your Majesty. I’ll be back after supper.”

She grabbed my hand as I made to stand. “No. Not Your Majesty. Never to you, Thalia. You’re my heart.”

Damn her, she was the only person in the world who could make my steely heart melt. I squeezed her hand.

“Very well, sister . I’ll be back in an hour.”

“I love you,” she called out as I reached the door.

I threw a smile over my shoulder. “Love you more.”

* * *

The mess hall was filled with rambunctious laughter as guardians filled their bellies with food and ale. But the merrymaking died when I entered the room. I swept a stern gaze over the gathered, noting the barrel of ale, probably already half-drunk by now. Yes, it was the night before we made land, and yes, I had agreed to two barrels being brought on board for the ship, but I expected decorum from my guard.

“Chief.” Tomas pulled out a chair next to him.

Ruddily handsome with a mop of dark curls, Tomas was a heartbreaker, but he hadn’t succeeded in breaking mine.

I took the seat; it would be rude not to. Someone plonked a plate of grub in front of me.

Fish. Again.

We’d run out of meat last week. But this was our last supper before we set foot on land, so it hardly mattered.

“How is our princess?” Berand asked from across the table.

“The sea is not kind to her.”

“Let us hope the sea fae are.”

Low murmurs of agreement drifted around the room. Bryony was well loved by all, and although we needed this match, we worried for her happiness.

“Alliance or not, if they harm a single hair on her head…” Berand left the threat unfinished so that we could each complete it as we wished in our minds.

One of the oldest in the guard, Berand held sway over the men, and I’d made sure to make a friend of him when promoted to chief over him. I’d since learned he’d had no yearning for the role anyway. He’d become my mentor over the past year. But he was due to retire. This was his last voyage, and I’d miss the old man.

Someone filled my cup with ale. Sweet and refreshing. I allowed the knots in my belly to slacken. Knots that had formed a day ago, a foreboding that should be satisfied by the arrival of the storm but remained like a stubborn itch at the back of my mind.

I shook it off and tucked into my meal as the conversation started up around me once more, less boisterous now, but lively, nonetheless. As much as we loved being at sea, we loved coming home to land more because it was only there that we could crave the waves once again.

Someone pulled out a pack of playing cards, and a game began at the end of the table.

“Have you considered my offer?” Tomas said softly from beside me.

Ah, his offer. “I have.”

“And?”

“The answer is still no.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t give you what you want. You’d be wasting your time.”

“Isn’t that for me to decide?”

I chewed my mouthful and swallowed. “No.”

“Dammit, Thalia?—”

“Chief. You will address me as Chief.” I fixed a glare his way, and his jaw ticked.

I hated that he was in love with me. Hated myself for the moment of weakness a year ago when I’d succumbed to desire. I’d been promoted to chief since then. I’d kept my distance, kept the boundary, but Tomas was insistent.

“Nobody cares if we’re together,” he whispered.

I glanced across the table to find Berand’s eyes on us. Oh, he knew. The old man knew everything.

The mess hall door slammed open, and Pippen, one of the deck crew, burst in. “Black sail! Coming in fast.”

Ice rushed through my veins, panic making a fist around my throat, but I held my calm. “How long before they’re on us?”

“Less than an hour, maybe forty minutes, if that.”

“We have no valuables on board,” Tomas said. “No jewels or coin.”

“We have a princess,” Berand snapped. “One that can be traded or ransomed. Do you not think the news of the alliance has spread?”

We’d done our utmost to keep it quiet, but… “They can board us, but they won’t find her here. Berand, Finnius, you’ll take the rowboat and sail ahead. Use the mist to the east to hide you.”

“They’ll go searching when they don’t find her on board,” Berand warned.

I rose slowly. “No, they won’t, because she will be on board. At least they’ll think she is.”

“You’re going to pretend to be her?” Tomas said. “Thalia, that’s insane. We should go, all of us. There are two row boats, and if we?—”

“Enough!” How he ever made it on to the guard was beyond me. “If the ship is empty, then they will search the seas for certain. Bryony is our people’s hope. She must be protected at all costs.”

“Then let me go with her,” Tomas implored.

How had I ever deigned to sleep with this weasel? “You? A man who was ready to run just now? No. You’ll stay here and prove your worth as a guard.” I strode to the exit. “Grab your weapons and prepare for battle.”

The sea looters wouldn’t know what hit them.