Noelle was a blur as she crawled over to the hatch and stood. Pine had to quickly lean away, nearly toppling back, or else be headbutted. “Where. Is. Ducot?”
“He’s—”
“I’m over here.” Ducot could barely be heard, coming from what Eira assumed to be the back of the ship, judging from its sway.
“You…little…” Noelle snarled through clenched teeth. She put both of her hands on the deck and jumped up.
“Oh, Mother above,” Alyss groaned.
“The fieriness of Firebearers really isn’t an exaggeration,” Varren appraised with awe. “Thank goodness she’s on my side.”
Lavette and Cullen were still stuck in their staring contest. Neither moving. Well, this is off to an exceptional start. As the only one not stunned, or trapped in surprise or frustration, Eira went to the opening next.
“Wait a minute, I didn’t say you could leave the hold,” Pine blubbered as Eira pushed him out of the way with a hand on his shoulder, scrambling up in the same motion.
“—lied to me!” Noelle had pinned Ducot against the back railing. The other pirates seemed too amused to step in, allowing her to verbally berate the man.
“Noelle, I—”
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out the truth? Did you think me that ignorant?” Noelle and Lavette couldn’t be more different in how they were handling difficult news. So many types of rage, and all of them on display.
Though, a key difference being Noelle, unlike Lavette, might actually be in love.
“I would never think you were ignorant.” The glowing dots on Ducot’s brow scrunched in the middle. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell you, or wasn’t going to, it’s just that—”
A wave crashed into the side of the boat, rocking it and no doubt drenching their friends still in the hold below as the crest washed across the deck. Adela arrived with fanfare, gliding atop the water. In the sunlight she looked unnervingly ghostly. Her hair so light it was nearly the color of bleached bone. The water collected at her missing arm and leg, solidifying to ice. Adela swept her hand across the railing, collecting the moisture and condensing it into her usual cane.
“I believe that I cannot abide by you accosting my crew.” Yet, even as Adela spoke, she wore her usual smirk. Amusement glinted in her eyes.
Noelle looked over her shoulder and her glare briefly transformed into shock—but only briefly. “This is a lovers’ quarrel; it doesn’t concern you.”
Eira blinked. Even Adela seemed taken aback for a second. The pirate queen laughed, tapping her cane on the deck.
“Anything involving my crew concerns me.”
Yet Noelle didn’t step away from Ducot. “Listen, Pirate Queen, I’m sure you’re going to threaten me within an inch of my life—or worse—no matter what I say or do. So you’re just going to have to wait a minute while I get this out.”
Adela arched her brows as Noelle turned back to Ducot. Her eyes bounced over to Eira, who could only shrug. The whole situation was strange and surreal. But the one thing it emphasized was that Noelle was a force of nature. The woman could stop a hurricane with a stern look if she wanted.
“Now, you listen to me, Ducot, and listen well,” Noelle said firmly. “If you have anything else you need to tell me, you do it in the next few days. If I’m still alive, of course. But when I told you I wanted to know you—all of you—this is what I meant. No secrets. No lies. No shame.”
“I wasn’t sure if you would accept this part of me,” he said softly, sounding almost scared.
Eira glanced around, wondering if anyone else was as uncomfortable as she was. This felt like a moment that should be only for Ducot and Noelle.
But none of the other pirates were bothering to hide the entertainment they were getting from the couple.
“You know, I thought even a blind man could see this…I care about
you. All of you.” Noelle reached forward and took his hand in hers. “What if you find out something you don’t love?”
“Then we’ll broach that when it comes.” She shrugged. “But I’ve yet to see something.”
“Even that I’m a pirate?”
“Women are usually pretty into dangerous men.” Noelle smirked.
“Even my scars?” The whisper was so faint that it was almost lost to Alyss and Varren scrambling from the hold. Lavette and Cullen not far behind.
Noelle cupped his cheek with her other hand and leaned forward. She planted a kiss right on the white, gnarled flesh of his face. “I think they make you look dashing. And really fit with the whole pirate look.”
“Well, I do hate to interrupt this touching display…but there is the matter of killing you all I need to get on with,” Adela said dryly.
“You really do have a heart of ice, boss.” One of the pirates sniffled. He seemed…genuinely moved by Noelle and Ducot’s display of affection? What kind of deadly pirate crew was this?
“And you have one of rose petals and feathers, Krut.”
“I take that as a compliment.” Krut wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
Adela sighed and ran a hand through her wispy hair. “Men like you and Ducot soften my heart of ice. Fine, fine, I can see which way the wind blows. Our captives can stay alive a bit longer.”
“You said you would let us go,” Eira insisted.
“Once more, I never said when or in what condition.” She smiled thinly. “Don’t push me, Eira. I am not a woman you want to test.”
“I’ll see that they learn the ropes,” Ducot said quickly, interjecting himself into the conversation.
“Ensure that they do,” Adela said with an ominous note. “All of my crew must earn their keep.” The pirates shifted. There was some discomfort at the mention of them being part of the “crew” and some approving nods at the sentiment. “Now, Eira, give me your wrist.”
Eira held out the hand that had the shackle around it. She could only assume that was what Adela was after, as the other wrist had no reason for
the pirate queen to be interested in it.
From a pocket on the inside of her worn, double-breasted coat, Adela fished out a small key. She unlocked the shackle, placing it in a larger pocket on the outside of her coat. The motion seemed to almost challenge Eira to take it.
Adela’s fingers remained closed tightly around Eira’s wrist, as hard as the iron. The pirate queen leaned in slightly. “Don’t get any ideas. I still have your friends under my control.”
“I’ll stay in line.” There wasn’t a choice, for now. “Good, now come with me,” Adela said to Eira alone.
Adela’s cane collapsed into a puddle of water. The river rose to meet it, flowing over the edge of the vessel and onto the deck. Her leg, and opposite arm, melted as well, becoming one with the water. It supported and lifted her up, carrying her back over to the other nearby boat, which looked no more suspicious than the one Eira was on.
Eira walked over to the railing. She was aware of everyone’s eyes on her. Not just on this boat, but the other as well.
“Show me some of that magic that everyone said was mine reborn,” Adela called over.
Eira dug deep, searching for any scraps or flickers of power. She only needed a little. Just a bit… If she could close a channel, then she could open one, too. At least her own.
She held out her hand at the water and scrunched her brow. Rise, she commanded, rise as ice. Freeze. Do something!
But the water did nothing other than continue to lazily lap alongside the ship. The currents were calm. There wasn’t even the whisper of power underneath her fingers.
“Eira…” Cullen said softly, full of pity. “Do not test my patience,” Adela warned.
When everything in her wanted to hang her head, Eira stood a little taller. She forced herself to stay upright against the weight of shame. “I can’t.”
“What?”
“I can’t,” Eira repeated.
The water rose once more at the other vessel and, in an instant, Adela loomed over Eira—the vessel beneath Eira rocking from the currents created by the waterspout that supported the pirate queen.
“I lost my magic,” Eira admitted. “I lost it fighting Ulvarth—leader of the Pillars—right before he blew up the coliseum with flash beads. I closed his channel and mine with it.”
Eira waited for Adela to mock her, to be disappointed. Flashes of her parents overlapped with the pirate queen. She had failed one. Why wouldn’t she fail another?
But instead, Adela smiled, wider than Eira had ever seen. Her eyes gleamed. “Oh, you are an interesting one, aren’t you?”
Before Eira could respond, Adela made a scooping motion. The water resembled the pirate’s palm as it rose. Eira was pulled off her feet by the sudden current. She fell back into Adela’s watery, magic hand. They glided across the river to the other vessel. Eira was gently deposited on the deck, in a perfect upright position, left soaked and amazed.
“How did you manage to get just the right upswell of water?” Eira couldn’t stop herself from asking. “It was enough to support me, but not enough to make me uncomfortable, or send me flying.”
Adela shifted her shoulders, subtly adjusting her stance, the movement like a preening bird. “Many would be horrified to hear you praising my skill.”
“Any who wouldn’t praise it would be lying.” Eira’s mind was still on the magic. “It wasn’t cold, so you didn’t use ice to thicken and strengthen the water at all.”
“No.” Adela held out her icy hand, her cane growing from her palm. “Was it a sort of reverse whirlpool under me?”
“Child, it was nothing but power and control.” Adela started toward the aft of the vessel. The boat was similar to the one Eira had just been on, except this had a larger cabin space, more of a pleasure barge than a trader’s vessel.
Eira knew Adela wanted her to follow, but her gaze was drawn back to the first boat—where her friends still were. If she followed Adela into the cabin, she wouldn’t even be able to see them any longer. But she also couldn’t do anything from here to help them.
“My friends—”
“I said they would be kept alive, for now, did I not?” Adela stopped with an air of impatience.
“And what about their things?”
“You should know when to stop while ahead, Eira,” Adela said coolly, making it clear she wouldn’t be pressed on the matter any further.
Eira had no choice but to put her trust in the pirate queen, as wretched as that felt. So she followed behind. The other pirates on this vessel were new faces and they regarded her warily from where they lounged on the deck. Even though none of them were posed in a particularly aggressive manner, Eira could sense danger coming from every direction like invisible daggers hanging in the air.
The interior of the cabin was lavish, though small. It was all queen and no pirate. A short stair down gave enough room to stand. Two lanterns hung from the ceiling to the left and right. One was directly over a small bed piled with furs and quilts. The other was over a desk flanked by two narrow bookcases, dowels running the length of the spines to keep them in place during inclement weather. Though, nothing about this vessel suggested it was made for the seas, and Eira suspected that it didn’t face too many violent swells in the river. At the very back, two tall and tufted chairs were positioned on either side of a small table where a stack of familiar journals were set out.
Adela motioned to one of the chairs. “Sit.”
Eira did as she was told. “What do you want with me?” In the back of her mind, the question of, Are you my birth mother? still burned. Adela had seemed convincing when Eira had first asked, but perhaps…too confident? Adela had made it clear that there were risks to her surrounding having a child, and then there was the matter of keeping Eira alive when all common expectations surrounding the pirate would’ve been for Adela to kill her… Eira could read into every action Adela took seven different ways.
“Today, I want you to tell me what in these journals you read. We will start there.”
“Start?” Eira arched her eyebrows as she reached for a journal, skimming through it. It was one she hadn’t had a chance to pore over as much and she set it to the side.
“It is still a few days to Ofok, the current in the river is not fast, and the winds are fairly stagnant.” Adela rested her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm, staring listlessly out at the water passing by through the portholes.
“And you will let my friends off in Ofok?” “Annoy me further and I will be certain not to.”
Eira pursed her lips and grabbed for another journal. It opened easily to the pages she’d studied to the point of nearly being able to recite the words scribbled across them. Eira rested it on the table, tapping on the page. “I spent a lot of time studying how to freeze people solid without killing them.”
“What did you think of it?” Adela leaned away from the journal after skimming it only for a second.
“I thought it was…dark,” Eira admitted. “At first, it seemed so cruel that it would be something I would never use.” She slowly looked up from the page, meeting Adela’s eyes. The pirate queen’s gaze was as passive as always.
“But then you did use it,” she finished softly.
“Then I did,” Eira echoed. “It is a grim and fearsome magic. But it is also…elegant. The idea of keeping someone alive in a frozen state without harming their internal organs. Of knowing just how far the body can be pushed and how long it can be held… It is a fearsome skill.”
“And you did it well, I heard.” Adela lifted the journal off the table, placing it in her lap. She flipped through the notes with a nostalgic smile that didn’t match at all with the horrors of the magic she was reading about.
“You heard? Ducot?”
She nodded. “And others from within the Pillars.”
“You were working with the Pillars, then?” Nausea passed over Eira. Just when she’d thought that perhaps Adela was someone to be reasoned with…
“If I had been working with the Pillars, wouldn’t I have sailed you right back to Warich and left you in their hands?”
Eira considered this. “Perhaps you want me to have a false sense of security around you to extract information. I have no guarantee this isn’t all a long play at a game I can’t yet see the end of. Perhaps the Pillars want me in Ofok for some reason and you wanted to ensure you at least got your journals out of the exchange.”
Adela closed the journal with an exasperated sigh. “I am not working with the Pillars, but I make it a point to have eyes and ears everywhere. Though, I do commend you for your suspicions. Expect everyone is out for themselves, Eira. Always. That’s your first lesson for today.”
“For today?”
Adela continued as if Eira hadn’t said anything. “Now, to the hold with you. Since I know your channel is closed, there is no need for the shackle.”
“But—”
“Crow!” Adela called.
The door promptly swung open, revealing a young woman with raven hair, cut short around her ears. She had light brown skin and an ear that was more gold than flesh from all the cuffs and hoops she wore. “M’lady?”
“Put her in the hold and throw enough scraps down that she doesn’t starve.”
Eira stood as Crow approached. She could see she didn’t have a choice and wasn’t about to be manhandled. Shreds of dignity were all she had, but Eira was determined to hold on to them with all her might.
“May I go back to the other boat, at least?”
Adela waved her away. “I can’t be bothered to fetch you every morning.
You’ll stay here.”
Every morning? Eira didn’t have a chance to ask before Crow was pushing her out with a shove on her shoulder. Adela clearly had plans for her. But what they were…Eira wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
The entrance to the hold on this vessel was very similar to the other—a board with some holes bored into it, lifted from where it rested flush with the deck. But the hold itself was much smaller and Eira could hardly sit up. As Crow replaced the opening, Eira was forced to lean back onto her elbows, wedged between crates and sacks.
“Sleep well,” Crow said with a smile, even though it was still morning.
Eira lay back and closed her eyes. She folded her hands over her stomach, feeling the rocking of the waves. Ducot was with their friends and he’d done a good job so far in looking after all of them. Eira didn’t have a choice but to trust he would continue to do so.
In the meantime, she would do her best to make the most of her time. She focused on the sound of the water lapping up against the hull. Ebb and flow. Just like the magic she reached out in search of.
