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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Celeste awoke to the sound of banging. Her heart pounded a furious rhythm against her chest as she sat upright, her head just missing the bottoms of an array of coats. The thin cover she wore was twisted up around her legs. It was dark, so she couldn’t guess what time it was, but she knew it had been hours since she had gone to bed. She knew this because once again she had tossed and turned. Every time she felt herself falling into sleep’s embrace, she began to feel the hands of the guard upon her body, the knife against her skin, and she would jolt awake, sweating. But she must have fallen asleep at some point, because she distinctly remembered having a nightmare in which Kiyami had grown fangs and tried to rip out her neck.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The noise shook the little room. It sounded as if it came from the wall she shared with the captain’s quarters. A wave of anger rolled through her, and she hammered her fist against the wall. One, two, three times. Silence. Then

Bang. Bang. Bang.

He was insufferable. Celeste let out a frustrated sound and slammed her palm against the wall three times.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

His muffled voice came through the wall. “Stop making noise! You’re waking me up!”

She wished she could yell back. You woke me up! But instead she lay down and muffled her frustrated scream with a pillow. Soon , she reminded herself. Soon it’ll all be over, and I can go home.

* * *

Raiden did not speak to Celeste the following day, nor the day after. Save for waking her up in the middle of the night to yell at her for being loud. Each night she wished she could scream that she couldn’t help that she was having nightmares. And each day that passed without her learning anything new about the treasure made her more anxious. Should she just kill him to get it over with? Return to her siren form and visit the island herself? But in her gut, she knew there must be something else. Something that had to do with the king.

Countless times, Celeste felt Raiden’s heated gaze on her back and would turn to see him glaring at her, suspicion rolling off his broad shoulders in waves. And every time she would meet his glare with one of her own. Whatever had caused his sudden attitude shift remained a mystery to her. Not that they were exactly friends before, but at least he spoke to her. And although part of her was relieved to no longer have him pestering her with his confident grin and cheeky jokes, it was hurting her chances to learn anything useful. Raiden was as temperamental as a flame. One moment his light was steady and warm, and the next he was a raging fire, burning down everything in his path.

And one small part of her, a part she did not wish to acknowledge, missed the attention.

Celeste really hated that part.

On day three, Raiden requested she look over the map again to see if they were making good progress. The conversation was stilted, and not because Celeste couldn’t talk.

On the fourth day at sea, Bastian spotted another ship.

“It’s a cargo ship,” he reported. The crew gathered around to hear more, but Celeste was more interested in what Bastian was holding than what he was saying. Bastian peered down a beautiful golden tube that was larger on one end than the other. When he lowered the object from his face, Celeste reached out a hand, excitedly asking with her eyes if she could take a look. It had become a somewhat normal occurrence in the past couple of days. If anyone found it odd that their navigator was constantly excited over various tools and objects, no one said anything. With a smile, Bastian acquiesced, placing the shining golden tube gently into Celeste’s waiting palm. It was surprisingly heavy. When she placed the small end in front of her eye, as Bastian had, she found the horizon as close as if she could reach out her hand and touch it. With a hum of excitement, Celeste turned and began to scan the seas around them, searching for the cargo ship.

“Must be coming from Port Warren,” Raiden said.

Celeste had never seen Port Warren, but she knew it was south of Romsey. It was known for being a larger and wealthier town than Port Romsey, a destination for traders. She turned her head once more, and finally saw it. The cargo ship. Due southwest of them and heading north. Huge white sails puffed up like clouds around it, and a blue flag fluttered near the front. She wasn’t sure how Bastian knew it was a cargo ship. Was the flag the indicator? Or perhaps the type of ship? After looking around a bit more, and seeing nothing of interest, Celeste handed the object back to Bastian.

“Kiyami, change course. I’d like to say hello,” the prince said with a smile. The one that reminded Celeste of a shark.

“Yes, Captain,” Kiyami said.

Bastian grinned. “Shall we prepare for boarding, Highness?”

“Oh yes, certainly.”

Bastian shouted the signal, and the ship whipped into a flurry of energy.

“At last some action!” said Torben, practically skipping down to the berth. “And here I thought this be the dullest crew I ever had the misfortune to be stuck with.” He slapped Oakes on the back at his own joke. Oakes laughed, if only to please his superior, as the two jogged lightly downstairs. As if they were chittering dolphins, ready to play.

Nasir, however, looked stricken. His usual calm exterior melting into a cool panic. “Boarding? I thought we were simply picking up treasure.”

“If this was a simple voyage, why would we need a surgeon?” Kiyami said.

All at once, the crew descended into chaos, each of them shouting above the other and arguing. Nasir insisted he remain with his husband, despite Bastian’s order that the surgeon stay behind to take care of the wounded. Others bickered over who should lead the charge. All the while, Torben’s voice below deck could be heard shouting excited orders at Oakes to “grab more weapons” and “get the gunpowder.”

Celeste stood in the center of it all, still as a stone against the tide. Whatever boarding meant, she didn’t think she’d like it.

“Enough,” Raiden said.

The crew quieted.

“My orders are not up for discussion.”

With this, the humans dispersed, going about their duties to prepare the ship without another word. Celeste, unsure of what her role was in this situation, remained beside Kiyami, watching as she turned the great wheel. If Celeste had learned one thing in the last several days, it was if she remained by Kiyami, the humans assumed she was doing her job, and no one would bother her. For the most part, Kiyami didn’t require much direction. The path was simple enough, which meant Celeste had plenty of time to relax and overthink harebrained plots for uncovering the prince’s secrets.

Now Celeste’s thoughts were busy trying to uncover what boarding meant. Why are they preparing the weapons? If it’s just a cargo ship, wouldn’t that mean it’s not a threat? The minutes passed quickly and slowly at once. Each moment felt eternal, with the tension thick in the air, and yet the cargo ship grew rapidly closer. Although they were working, the crew continued to bicker as the hot afternoon sun beat down from above.

“We’re gaining!” Raiden said, a feral excitement burning in his eyes.

“Do you have a weapon, girl?” came Torben’s gravelly voice as he approached her.

Celeste shook her head.

“I thought not,” Torben puffed out his chest. “I did you the favor of grabbing a few necessities.” He handed over a thick leather belt, on which dangled several holsters. Celeste accepted and secured it around her waist using Torben’s own belt as an example. “Here’s your sword”—she sheathed it—“your pistol”—she tucked it into the front of her belt, as Torben had—“and a dagger.” It was small and simple, with a pretty wooden handle and a sharp blade.

After nearly a week of seeing such weapons on the others, Celeste finally held them herself. Excitement filled her, mixed with a thick sense of foreboding. Sparring was her favorite part of training, but it was just that, training. Sparring was poised, calm, a game of wits. The real thing was brutal, like being caught in an undertow and fighting for breath. And in the end, you were left with wounds you didn’t know how to heal.

“Make sure to hide the dagger,” Torben instructed. “Somewhere that won’t hurt you, and you can reach, but also where someone else won’t find it. You never know when you might be captured and will need to cut someone’s eye from their skull!” He looked particularly gleeful as he said this last part, as if recalling a fond memory.

Celeste’s skin turned a shade green at the thought. She hadn’t actually killed anyone before, and she had hoped that her first and only kill outside of the Chorus would be Raiden.

The Red Revenge closed in on the cargo ship, only a few lengths away.

“Man your stations!” came a shout.

“You do... know how to use these weapons, right?” Torben asked, peering at Celeste’s face. Celeste pushed her fears away and put on a confident smile.

“That a girl.” Torben patted her shoulder. “Don’t want you dying and all, since we don’t have another navigator. Good luck!” And with that he strode away, barreling through the crowd forming near the starboard railing.

“Don’t shoot until I give the orders, Torben!” Raiden shouted after him, but Celeste was certain he wasn’t listening.

As the ships approached, Kiyami turned the great wheel in time to pull up against the cargo ship. The Red Revenge towered over its very sails, throwing a dark shadow upon the frantic crew as they shouted and passed around weapons. Torben and the others began to cheer, pounding their feet against the deck. The sounds rose into a terrible crescendo. As their captain approached, they parted and faced him, growing silent.

“Board the ship,” said Raiden.

A guttural roar exploded in response. The metal sound of drawn swords rang. Then a large plank fell between the railings of the two ships. The crew of the Red Revenge surged toward it. But as they climbed on, a large man from the opposite crew put his hands on either side of the plank, pushing. The board was slipping sideways an inch, then another, when out of nowhere a great axe flew across the gap and sank with a wet thud into the man’s face. He fell, dead before he hit the ground.

With a whoop of triumph, Torben sprinted over the plank. Nasir’s intimidating frame closely followed his husband. Apparently, Bastian had lost that argument.

Celeste sprinted to the side of the ship where Raiden stood to get a better look, tucking her dagger safely into the folds of her skirt. But as she did, a bullet flew past her ear.

“Get down!” Raiden ordered, and for once she couldn’t argue.

As Torben reached the end of the plank, he was met with three men, their swords drawn. Although they outnumbered him, the men hesitated, clearly nervous to engage him after seeing what he had done to the first man. Without hesitation, Torben jumped over them, rolled across the floor, and pulled his axe from the man’s face. As they stared at Torben’s dripping axe, Nasir picked one of them up from behind and flung him into the other two, knocking them all into a heap and clearing a path.

One by one the crew stormed across the plank, jumping into the fight. The color drained from Celeste’s face as she watched. The humans were killing each other. But she didn’t understand why.

Raiden joined them and was halfway across the plank before a member of the other crew disentangled himself from the battle and saw him. The two made eye contact, and Celeste could swear recognition dawned in the crew member’s eyes. Panicked, the man ran to the plank and pushed. Raiden leaped backward as the plank gave a great lurch. As the crew member pushed again, Raiden heaved a great sigh, turned, and sprinted back toward the Red Revenge , leaping just as the plank slipped from the cargo ship’s railing and fell into the water below. Raiden hit the deck, rolling to avoid the impact. Beside him he saw Celeste, who alternated between sticking her head over the railing to watch the action and ducking to avoid stray bullets.

“You,” Raiden said, peeling himself off the ground and getting to his feet. He leaped upon the railing of the ship, pulling a rope into his hand. After a tug to make sure it was secure, he extended a hand toward her. “Come with me. Unless you have something better to do than help your crew.”

It was the first time he had spoken to her all day. She scowled and looked at his hand. But thankfully she did not recoil. With a steadying breath, Celeste took his hand and allowed him to hoist her onto the banister beside him. Raiden wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her tightly into his chest. The feeling wasn’t pleasant, but she did not tremble as she had before. Perhaps these days at sea had helped somewhat. Even the bruises had begun to fade.

“Hold on tight,” he said, and Celeste begrudgingly wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt utterly ridiculous being carried into battle by a human man . The fabric of her dress, a light blue one she had borrowed from her room, flapped like a sail in the breeze.

“Jump,” he said.

And together, they leaped.

The rope creaked as the two went careening through the air. If it weren’t for Raiden’s arms around her, she would have enjoyed the feeling. They passed over the gap between the two ships in an arc. But as they neared the farthest point the rope would reach, Celeste realized with a lurch that it was still shy of the other ship’s deck.

“Jump!” he shouted.

There is nothing to jump off! She wanted to scream at him.

Raiden let go of the rope. He wrapped his now free arm around her as their bodies continued to move, sailing through the air toward the banister of the cargo ship. Celeste pulled her arms away from Raiden’s neck, reaching them toward the ship as she fell. They wouldn’t make it. They weren’t close enough.

But at least I know how to swim.

Their bodies smacked against the side of the ship, but they didn’t fall. Dazed, Celeste blinked up into the smiling face of Nasir. The tree of a man towered over them, holding Raiden by the back of his coat. Celeste let out a sigh of relief.

“I got us over here in one piece, didn’t I?” Raiden grinned.

As the words left his lips, a sword raised over Nasir’s shoulder. Celeste sucked in a breath, but before she could cry out, a familiar axe came sailing into view.

“You get away from my husband, ya lobcock!”

It hit its target handle first, sending the man and his sword stumbling backward. With one swift movement, Nasir hoisted Celeste and Raiden over the side of the ship, depositing them on the floor. He turned, pulling his cutlass from his hip, to join his husband. Together, the two made quick work of the man and his sword.

Celeste got to her feet. The clanging of metal rang out around her as swords collided again and again. It was barbaric. It was violent. It was— exciting . Unlike the last skirmish Celeste had found herself in, this seemed much more an even fight. Although the reason for their fight still remained a mystery.

“Look out!” Oakes cried from behind. Celeste unsheathed her sword and turned just in time. Her blade collided with another, interrupting a blow aimed for her back. She grinned. This sword was very different from her spear... but at least some things remained the same.

“Aren’t you pretty.” The man’s one beady eye roamed her body while the other remained hidden beneath a black patch. When he grinned, he bared rotting teeth, one of which was missing.

Celeste grunted and thrust the sword toward his heart. He knocked it out of the way.

“Why are all the pretty ones so angry?” He laughed.

Sailors like him were why she suspected many women weren’t on ships. She swung her sword again, aiming for his neck, letting all her anger and pain roar to life within her.

He blocked it, but barely. The smile slid off his face, and he lunged. She tried to block, but the handle of the blade was strange in her hand. The sword flew from her hands. She tried to run after it but stopped when a blade touched her throat.

“Maybe I’ll keep you as a pet,” he said, his rancid breath hot against her face.

Celeste grimaced and kicked. She intended to hurt him, even throw him off-balance. What she hadn’t expected was for him to double over, crying in pain and holding his crotch in his hands. Humans, apparently, had a weak spot.

Retrieving her sword, Celeste found Raiden before her. The wind tousled his dark hair and played with his billowing white shirt. He looked every inch the fearsome prince.

“You make a better pirate than I thought,” he said.