We don’t pull free from Chaos Isle until darkness falls over the ship, and the sea suddenly grows calm, fog moving in over the water. The ship is eerily quiet. Casualties are many, including Silas, who must have gone overboard during the fray, leaving me with Rocco as my remaining guardsman. Bella is gone, too, no longer tied to the mast where we left her. I haven’t seen Gwyn, and I’m afraid to ask after little Anya, but I hear from Lochlan that Rian’s lieutenant is patching a hole in the galley with her daughter at her side. There’s a gaping hole in the deck where Marchon died, and most of the railing is gone along the bow. Apparently there’s another hole belowdecks, but nothing below the water line, which is why we haven’t sunk. Most of the surviving crew have retired to catch a few hours of rest, and I’ve told Rocco to do the same, but there’s no chance I’m sleeping anytime soon.
At midnight, Tessa has spent hours patching injuries and stitching wounds, and I convince her to rest as well, but I head above to find Rian.
He’s at the helm again, which shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. I have no idea where things stand between us, but I haven’t been tied to a mast again, which seems promising.
I stop at the top of the stairs that lead to the helm. “Permission to approach, Your Majesty?”
“Very funny,” he says tersely. “What do you need?” “I was hoping you might finally be honest with me.”
“You mean after your countrymen killed my navigator?”
I flinch. I hadn’t fully considered that regardless of who sent those ships, Kandalan forces really did attack his crew and kill his people.
But Kandala isn’t the only country at fault here.
“Yes,” I say. “After you hid your identity, lied about your motives, and your countrymen killed my guardsman.”
He looks over. It’s too dark to make out much of his expression, and I wish I’d brought a lantern.
“You should have stayed out of that room,” he says.
I study him. He might be a strong sailor, but if any of his story is true, he hasn’t been the king of Ostriary for long. I wonder how much of what’s happened on board this ship could boil down to his inexperience. “And you should have approached Harristan as a king intending to establish a trade agreement with a neighboring monarch. Regardless of what you think of me, my brother is a reasonable man. He would have listened. He would have negotiated. My very presence here should be proof of that.”
He glances over again, and says nothing.
“You brought me on board with the intent to begin negotiations between Kandala and Ostriary,” I say.
He snorts a bit derisively. “And how do you think that’s going?”
“I’m standing here, aren’t I?”
I wait. Water slaps the hull down below.
Eventually, Rian sighs and runs a hand across his jaw. “You said I should have approached your brother as myself. I thought about it—but at first, we didn’t know King Harristan was in power. What I said about King Lucas was
true. There was bad blood between Ostriary and Kandala, stretching back decades. The old king may have been my father, but—” He scoffs. “The old king was a lot of people’s father. I was raised as distant kin to royalty. Even when he died, I didn’t want the throne. But everyone else did, and the islands started to turn on each other. I truly didn’t speak many lies. I really did sail the waters looking for survivors. I just wanted to help. One of those men was Captain Blakemore, and I learned his story. I met his son. I helped him rebuild this ship, and we helped more people. I gradually formed a crew, and as we helped more and more people, they began begging me to defend them. Before long, I had people on every island swearing allegiance, begging me to make a claim for the throne. But Oren Crane still held the southern point, and everyone was tired of fighting. We were desperate for steel to rebuild. I promised the people that I would seek a new trade agreement with Kandala, but everything I knew from Captain Blakemore warned me to be cautious.” His voice has grown a bit hollow, and he stops there.
“What happened?”
“Oren tried to stop us from passing. He attacked the ship. The real Captain Blakemore died in the battle.” He hesitates. “Oren took his wife and son prisoner.” Another hesitation. “But I took his daughter. Bella.”
“As insurance. So you can get back.” “Yes.”
I think about this for a while. “That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t just say who you were.”
“Again, I thought about it. Truly, that was my plan. We docked in Port Karenin first, and that was easy. The Dawn Chaser could fly under the flag of Kandala, so no one gave us a passing glance.” He pauses, then looks over. “And there, we learned of the fever sickness that seemed to be
destroying your country—as well as the harsh penalties for theft and smuggling Moonflower, since you believe it’s a cure.”
“But you had Moonflower!” I say. “If you didn’t know about it, how did you know to bring so much?”
“I didn’t bring it as a cure,” he says, looking at me like I’m crazy. “In Ostriary, we recognize Moonflower for what it is—a poison.”
I roll that around in my head and say, “How is Moonflower a poison?”
“When you boil the stems,” he says. “It causes the fever and the cough. That’s how I’ve been able to keep Bella subdued. If you do it long enough, it can be permanently debilitating, but I only needed a few weeks. Making an elixir of the petals will generally reverse the effects.”
I’m pressing my hands together over my mouth. I need Tessa. I need her knowledge.
But Rian is talking. I need to stay right here.
“Are you saying the people of Kandala are poisoned?” I say quickly. “How?”
“I don’t know—but I admit to being curious when I learned that two full sectors are almost solely dedicated to growing Moonflower now—and there seems to be quite a wealthy trade to be had in selling petals to cure the ‘sickness.’ All Captain Blakemore knew was that the attempt on Harristan’s life was thwarted when he was young, but it wasn’t until later that—”
“What attack on Harristan’s life?”
“Your Consul Montague tried to poison him to force your parents into demanding a higher price on steel—but Ostriary felt betrayed and refused to barter. Maybe Montague figured out a new way to make silver … or someone did.”
Consul Montague—who later tried to assassinate my parents.
I run my hands through my hair.
Not only do I need Tessa, but I need Quint and Harristan, too.
I need to be back in the Royal Sector.
But now I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean.
“All this time, you thought we were poisoning the people?” I say sharply. No wonder he hates me so much. Locking people in a room, indeed.
“I wasn’t entirely sure,” he says. “King Harristan was so invested in a new source of Moonflower that I didn’t believe it was him. I suspected you for quite a while—but then you and Tessa were almost religious about ensuring your people took Moonflower tea once you climbed on board. But it’s obviously someone in your inner circle.”
I still can’t make this make sense in my head. “For what purpose?”
Rian shrugs. “To prevent an uprising? It’s clear one is brewing anyway.” He pauses. “Once we docked in Artis and I learned of your reputation, it was clear to me that we could not begin as equals. Your country is overrun with sedition and sabotage.”
I can’t even argue the point. He’s right. “So now what?” I say.
“Now I’m going to do exactly what I said I’m going to do. We’re going to dock in Ostriary. You will grant me a trade agreement—or I will hold you for ransom and demand one from Harristan.”
“But—but I saved your life.”
“I wouldn’t have needed saving if those ships hadn’t followed. As far as I’m concerned, that was an act of war.”
I almost can’t believe I’m hearing this. “So you’re going to retaliate from your broken-down ship?”
“I don’t need to retaliate. I need steel. Again, I have been mostly forthright from the beginning. I don’t care about Kandala. I have no desire to go to war. Neither of our countries can sustain it. I need steel. You need to help your people. I will not get embroiled in your political scheming. Trade or not, but you have until we dock to make your decision. For now, we just need to get past Oren Crane.” His expression is tense. “With a ship that’s taken heavy damage, a hamstrung crew, and no Bella to trade for safe passage.”
“When will we reach his territory?” I say. “It’s my territory,” he snaps.
“Fine, when will we reach your—”
I break off when I hear a distant whistle, and then a flaming arrow comes sailing out of the darkness to strike the sail.
Rian swears. “Right now.”
