The next morning, Adela didn’t summon them for training. The day started almost leisurely. Eira had hardly slept more than a wink. But, oddly, she didn’t feel tired. She expected she should have.
Especially given all the events of the previous day—how exhausted she was following the battle with the lutenz of Carsovia.
But Olivin’s hands—his mouth had given her life. The energy she’d lost had been restored to her and then some. Her skin still tingled from where he touched her. Even as the others began moving, she lounged in her hammock, blinking lazily into the morning’s first light.
Her breath hitched when they locked eyes. Olivin gave her a slight smirk and said nothing, starting for the galley. Eira wore a smile of her own as she finally roused. It was as if she had a delightful secret meant for only her.
She spent most of the day on deck. When it was clear that Adela wasn’t going to lead them in morning training, Eira took charge and guided her friends through their usual paces. No one seemed to question her stepping up to the task. Everyone did exactly as she told them.
After lunch, they continued along with regular tasks they’d been helping with. Eira was beginning to learn the ins and outs of the Stormfost. She was familiar with how the riggings sounded when the winds shifted and either the sails or magic guiding them needed to be adjusted. She could almost feel the slight groan, deep within the ship, as if it were in her own stomach, when the rudder met resistance from unexpected currents. Without thought,
instruction, or permission, Eira exerted a little bit of magic to influence the seas beneath them and get the vessel back on course.
The day was sunny. Beautiful, really. The air out at sea was crisp and clean. The horizon seemed to whisper possibility no matter where one looked.
Yet…one significant piece was missing to it all. Adela.
So, as dusk settled and her friends were deep in a game of bones the crew had taught them—an absolute riot of fun—Eira excused herself. She was going to dare to head straight for Adela’s cabin, but ran into Crow first. The pirate gave her a knowing look and Eira shifted course to fall into step with her as she crossed to a nearby railing.
Eira rested her elbows on the rail next to Crow. “Is she all right?”
Crow jolted upward, brow furrowing. “How dare you even suggest that she—”
“Fine.” Eira held up her hands and took a step back, trying to signal she hadn’t been looking for a fight—or to insult Adela. She leaned her hip against the railing and gave Crow a stern look. “I won’t ask the obvious. Instead, I’ll just wait for you to tell me the answers you know I’m looking for to the questions you’re already suspecting I’ll ask.”
Crow snorted softly and shook her head, gazing back to the horizon. “I’m waiting.” Eira folded her arms over her chest.
“You really are a piece of work.” Crow sighed. But there was a slight smile on her lips and a knowing look to her dark eyes when she turned them back to Eira. “You’re just like her, you know that?”
Eira said nothing and waited. Perhaps she was channeling some of Adela’s energy in that moment. But it yielded results. So she hardly had any reason to be discouraged from doing so in the future, despite Crow sounding frustrated by it.
“She’s fine,” Crow said, finally. “But yesterday was harder than expected on her.”
“Alyss is a talented healer. She could—”
“No,” Crow interrupted firmly. “Adela doesn’t like an audience to her weakness.”
“I can understand that, truly.” Eira allowed some of her own insecurities to seep in so Crow would know she was being serious. It seemed to work. “But it’s sometimes necessary to depend on the people around you, especially during the hard times.”
“You try telling her that.” Crow snorted.
“I will,” Eira said quickly. “If you don’t stop me.”
Crow straightened, looking down the bridge of her nose at Eira. For her part, Eira simply waited, staring up at the woman in a silent challenge. She allowed her statements to speak for themselves.
A low chuckle rose from the back of Crow’s throat. “Well, this was a fun talk, but I think I should go to bed now.”
Eira glanced at the setting sun. It was far too early for bed. “See you in the morning.”
Crow headed for the crew’s quarters. Eira took her leaving as permission. She went straight for Adela’s cabin—none of the other pirates even so much as looked twice in her direction—and knocked on the door. There was a faint but dramatic sigh that was heavily forced to be audible through the door.
And then, “Come in, Eira.”
The door swung open, pulled by the pirate queen’s power. It was almost comical how well they knew each other’s magic by now. All day, without consciously realizing, Eira had subconsciously noticed the absence of Adela’s magic and had made necessary adjustments on her behalf. Just as Adela had known in less than a breath that it was Eira standing at the door.
Eira didn’t bother with her usual chair. Instead, she crossed to the bed and boldly sat on its edge as the door clicked shut behind her. Adela arched a brow, but didn’t object to the proximity.
“Is it magical, or physical?” She gave Adela a hard look. “Because if it’s magical, then I will assess. If it’s physical, then I’m getting Alyss, and that’s that,” she said matter-of-factly, hoping to convey with her tone alone that it wasn’t up for discussion.
“Looking after the pirate queen, are you? What would your empire think?” Adela adjusted herself in the bed, somehow seeming taller despite still lying down.
“I don’t care.” Eira shrugged. “For all I know, Vhalla, Aldrik, and Vi all died and the Solaris Empire is in chaos.”
“They left their spare behind—what’s his name?—Romulin, I think?” Adela mused, clearly trying to deflect.
“Magical, or physical?” Eira repeated, not about to allow Adela to distract them for long.
“Magical,” Adela said with yet another dramatic sigh.
“Very well.” Eira held out her hand over Adela’s chest, as if she were reaching right for her channel. It hovered in the air. The pirate queen stayed silent, for once not scolding her for tying a physical act to the use of her magic.
Finding Adela’s channel and manipulating it was now second nature. It only took Eira a second to have a firm grasp of it. A second more and she had it widened a little. Eira positioned her magic in such a way that it could be held open for a bit longer without conscious thought, and then retracted her hand.
Adela breathed a small sigh of relief. “Even if it’s only a temporary fix, that is a significant improvement.”
“Good, hopefully it can help restore your strength and be more than temporary.” Eira remained seated on the edge of the bed. Adela stared up at her and she stared down at the pirate queen. Waiting. Expectant.
Another sigh. “Out with it, girl.”
“How long have you been struggling?”
The second she said it, Adela shot her a glare. She shouldn’t have overstepped. Eira knew it. And yet…she didn’t feel panicked or nervous about doing so. Too many things had added up. She’d seen too much.
“I am not your concern.” The statement was meant to dissuade her, of that Eira was sure. But it sounded tired, almost gentle. “I am the pirate queen—”
“And you are tired.” “I can rest.”
“Fine, you’re old.” Eira smirked.
Adela blinked, snorted, and shook her head. “You really are a precocious child.”
“Guess where I got it from?” Eira shrugged. “I am not your mother.”
“I’ve learned that blood has little to do with being a mother.”
A slight smile cracked Adela’s lips. “Perhaps, but who would want a crusty old pirate queen as their mother? I’m more likely to stab you than kiss you.”
“Ah, good, you’re just like so many I’ve known.”
Adela snorted again. Even Eira smiled slightly. Then Adela’s face relaxed and, possibly for the first time, the pirate queen looked every one of
her years. The fine lines in her face seemed slightly deeper. Her eyes a little more sunken with all the weight of everything she’d seen.
“I thought that I would be young forever.” Adela’s eyes drifted toward the windows out the back of the vessel. “I thought the elfin blood was strong enough in me that I would live to a hundred, easily. A hundred and fifty, even, as they can.
“But time is an impossible mistress to read. One moment, she’s off gallivanting. And then next moment she’s knocking down your door, taking residence in your bones and haunting your dreams. She’s sneaked up on me…” Adela sank farther into her pillows with a sigh. “Despite my best efforts to let the world believe the contrary, I am not immortal.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for the obvious.” Adela rolled her eyes. “I was the one being unreasonable, looking for a way to make it so. I can freeze whole islands, but not time.”
“How bad is it?” Eira’s voice had dropped to a whisper. Adela had always seemed like a legend in the stories. More myth than woman. Seeing her as flesh and blood somehow made Eira feel vulnerable.
Adela barked laughter. “I’m not dead, yet, girl. A sentimental fool in my waning years? Yes. Does my back crackle like dried leaves every time I stand? Also yes. But dead? No.”
Eira ventured a slight smile. “You’ll be terrorizing the seas for many more years, still.”
“People would kill you for wishing that.” “I don’t care about ‘people.’”
“I suppose you don’t.” Adela gave her the most genuine smile she’d ever seen from the woman and then looked to the windows. “But there is something about time, and age, that makes one…think. When I lost my leg, I didn’t heal the way I used to. The call was a closer one than I’ve had in years. I made a mistake. And these questions began to haunt me… What was it all for? What will be left after I am consigned to little more than dust?”
“You will live on for centuries in myth and legend,” Eira said softly. She didn’t know what compelled her to do so, but Eira reached out and touched Adela’s hand gently. The pirate queen, much to her shock, didn’t retreat.
“I will. But what of the people who have given me their lives and their loyalty?” Adela continued to stare out at the vast ocean they were leaving
behind. “What of my ship? Of all the treasure I have gathered? Was it merely for stories and tales that will disappear off the lips of people who are dead and gone after a generation? Do I want to leave myths and fear that fade with time? Do I want to have something else be my legacy?”
Eira didn’t know. She’d never much thought of legacies or of what happened “after.” She’d been so focused on surviving that it seemed foolish to worry about what she’d leave in the world when her final Rite of Sunset was performed.
Adela sighed in the wake of her silence. Somehow, she felt like she’d let the pirate queen down by not having a solution. But Eira didn’t know what else she could’ve said or done. What more there was to offer.
“Look at me, growing sentimental in my age.” Adela had a note of disgust with herself and withdrew her hand from Eira’s, but surprised her when she patted Eira’s knuckles. “For now, we focus on the task at hand. We continue training, you and I, and exploring our theories and plans.” Plans that Eira still felt like were more wishful theories than practical. “We keep working. Seeing all you and your friends can do so that way I may properly exploit your powers. And in a few days more, we’ll dock.”
“At the outpost you mentioned?” Eira clarified. “Black Flag Bay?”
Adela nodded. “When we arrive, you and your friends may disembark and get anything you need. It will be our last stop before we arrive at Carsovia. As long as you are with my crew, no one will bother you.”
“Understood.”
“After, you will deliver me the head of my nemesis.”
Eira nodded and stood, hearing the dismissal between Adela’s words. When she glanced over her shoulder, Adela was back to staring out the windows. The words echoed in Eira’s mind as she suspected they continued to in Adela’s as well.
There was more to the pirate queen than the myths had said. She was not just a legend, a ghost, or a curse…Adela was a woman of flesh and blood. One with dreams—albeit bloody and questionable ones. But one who had also looked after her crew and built an empire of her own across the seas.
Looking back, Eira wasn’t really sure what she had been expecting when it came to Adela. But she was glad this was what she’d found.
