Page 153 of The Secrets of Jane: Reborn

I down it right away, the tonic burning my throat as if I swallowed liquid flames. Sure enough, my body warms from the inside even though I’m soaking wet. “Tempest wants you at the wheel!” the pirate shouts.

Glancing over when Basilisk laughs, I see that he cranes his head up, the sound of pure joy contrasting the violence that’s brewing in the air. “She’s got the bloody flags raised!”

I lift up my head to gaze up at the sails that are all bright red, visible from the fires that rage in Ashfire.Yes, the bloody flags.

It means a pirate ship carries no mercy.

No. Fucking. Mercy.

J A N E

In the underdeck, somewhere in the stores, the Cinders and I are all tied up to posts. I’m the only one who has her wrists bound so tight my elbows nearly hurt from this position; the rest simply have rope around their arms. It was a glorious few seconds to see Jesper’s castle be ravaged by fire, his panic and anger like drinking fresh water after a long day in the sun.

This is what he gets for hurting those innocent villagers. For being behind the death of my mother, for giving Misery the worshippers he needs to evenattemptbuilding this empire.

The ship sways hard, the guards that are watching over us grabbing one of the many handles that now makes sense as to why they even exist—I’m just glad my stomach isn’t lurching this time.

No, this is nothing like last time, when I’d just lie with Soren in a hammock.

I shudder with so much emotion at realizing that the man looking at this ship as we left might have really beenSoren. He came for me. I don’t know what to do with that gratitude—I glance down at my bound wrists, and then at the forearm that has Soren’s mask embedded.

Can he feel me?

My body comes to life with purpose, with vengeance. It’s as if any and all fear never mattered. He is busting his ass to help me, which how am I going to repay him?

I have to burn down Darkwater, that’s for certain. So now, how do I get out of these ropes?

My eyes narrow with consideration when I see oil lanterns swaying with the waves that has us women—all but one—revealing we don’t have much experience at sea with the way we’re knocked around, even if we try to fight it.

Which gets me thinking… if I can spread oil around, it’ll splash all over everything with how much this ship moves.

If the mages are dead, then it will be impossible to extinguish.

To think that Soren will be watching from somewhere nearby keeps me alert. It's as if every few thoughts circle around him. There’s a massive part of me that wants to make him proud, to prove I’m worthy of being with someone as rough and intense as him. Almost as if this act is a part of a messed-up courtship.

I never doubted him, but I also knew I couldn’t sit and wait for him to show. I still don’t think I’ve processed that someone loves me enough to risk it all. Daydreaming about it is one thing, but seeing him actuallyshow up…

The lantern that sways fiercely never spills any of its fire, and my mind hones in on it; I glance around at the barrels, and then at the giant hooks and metal rigging. Is this the maintenance deck? They need oil for maintaining things, right? And isn’t a lot of this wood treated to keep water from getting in? I swear I remember Dad telling me to be careful with some of the buildings made out of pirate ships for that reason, because it’s flammable.

One of the women looks up at a guard and asks, “Isn’t that dangerous to have a fire lit during a storm?”

My lips press together like I’m trying to squish a bug.Shut. Up. Lady.

He blinks slowly and takes his time to face her. “Clearly, this is not normal fire.” He waves his hands around. “Almost, and I know this is hard to understand, like magic from afire mage.”

Another woman says, “Leave it alone. You want to be bound in darkness?”

“All hands on deck!” starts to make its way through the ship, our guard remaining resolute. Another comes down, “You too, Heath. Orders from Misery.”

He nods to me. “Eventhatone?”

“She’s bound in Misery’s rope. He’ll know if it’s been cut or if she triesanything.”

We’ll see.

The guard clearly has no more interest and heads to the door. When it seems like we’re actually alone, one of the Cinders asks, “Did they just leave us here?”

“What’s the worst that’ll happen? We get to know each other?” another replies.