“I think Xav is right, and there’s more to the story than we know. The more I hear about Spectrum and the Court of Yomi, the more I wonder if anything we think we know is true.”
Gunther was silent for a moment, taking in my words.
“Thank you for that,” he finally said. “I think I needed to hear that there was a possibility… that maybe… maybe there was hope.”
Clearing his throat, he changed the subject back to me.
“So, you and Clark?”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Looks that way.”
Before I could elaborate, not that I had any idea what I would say, Locke walked toward us. He looked as though he had just woken up, which meant… dread pooled in my stomach.
Which means he hasn’t heard. I shifted uncomfortably. No, this is better. Him hearing it from me.
I nodded goodbye to Gunther and intercepted Locke. Maybe it was a bad idea to talk to him before he had eaten or had coffee, but I knew someone else would tell him if I didn’t.
“Good morning. Can I talk to you over lunch?”
“Of course,” his brow furrowed, but he indicated for me to precede him.
Butterflies beat angry wings in my stomach. I waited until he got his food to sit across from him at a seat in the corner. I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous. Locke had been present for every major and minor indiscretion in my life, stoically standing by without a flicker of judgment.
I remembered his mannerisms after I had agreed to marry the prince, though. It had been clear I had disappointed him.
Will he feel that way now?
The answer mattered more than I wanted to admit. I squared my shoulders and faced him with the bravery he had instilled in me, taking one deep breath to prepare myself. He waited patiently across the table.
“Clark and I accidentally got married last night. It is, according to the captain, binding and inalterable.” It was a fight to maintain eye contact. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how a marriage got bound.
“I see.” Locke’s face was inscrutable, even to me.
“Are you angry?”
“With you?”
I nodded, swallowing hard.
“Of course not.”
“With Clark?”
“That remains to be seen.” Without touching a morsel of his food, Locke gracefully rose from his seat at the bench and strode out of the galley. I fought to keep up with his long strides, a twisting feeling in my gut telling me exactly where he was headed.
The Princess
Years of searching for answers about Levelia had earned Nell a small collection of smuggled goods and little else. She had more questions than answers and was finding it mattered less and less to her.
Sure, options for women here were limited, but did she really have anything to go back to in Levelia? Would she even survive if she did? It had been only a month since she graduated from the most elite high school in the empire. She was beginning to wonder for the first time if she could truly make a life here, not just the half existence she had been living. And then, the news of HiLa’s Tear reached her.
A crystal with the power to lead her home, to protect her when she got there. Nell didn’t know if she wanted to head back to Levelia, but she knew she couldn’t sit by and lose her only opportunity.
Getting into the museum was easy. She popped into the exhibit hall too early the first time, and the necklace wasn’t in the case yet. No matter. She knew Professor Trauman’s speech was likely to be long-winded, so that would be the perfect opportunity.
Not able to stomach the pretense of mingling while so much was at stake, she was exploring other rooms in the museum when the announcement that the Professor had been delayed reached her ears. She knew with every fiber of her being that there was more to the story. Someone else was after the necklace, and she doubted it was for a reason as innocent as getting to Levelia, a land no one here even believed existed.
It could be a simple heist, but somehow, Nell didn’t think so. Someone in this country obviously knew about the power of the crystals, and the coincidence was too great. She rushed out of the room, trying to form some semblance of a plan, when she nearly collided with her best friend.
An idea sparked in her head. She may not be able to safely get away with the necklace, but Adelaide had Locke and the most powerful father in the empire. The second the necklace was associated with her, the cavalry would descend, and anyone trying to grab it would be thwarted. This could work. It had to.
Chapter Thirty-One
CLARK
“So, marriage?” Xav questioned me a little more seriously now that we were alone.
“Yeah, I can’t really wrap my head around it, either. I mean, it happened by accident, but it doesn’t feel like a bad thing.”
“Even though you’re now co-owner of her cat?”
I hadn’t thought about the cat. My arms were already covered in tiny bite marks from the ferocious beast. I groaned, and he laughed.
“Maybe it’s a good thing. Then you can pretend that’s where the bite mark on your shoulder came from, too.” He laughed, even as I punched him in the arm.
I turned the tables on him before he could tease me further.
“Why did Gunther sign me there was a girl leaving your cabin in the wee hours of the morning?”
Xav chuckled again. He seemed happier today than I’d seen him in a while. I wondered if it had something to do with the girl, or if he really was just happy for me.
“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”
“Fair enough. Speaking of not telling, did you know Addie was planning on staying on the ship when we went back?” I asked, remembering her admission.
“No, I didn’t.” His eyes were speculative. “So, what are we going to do now?”
Something in my chest lifted at his use of the word “we.” I had been afraid that if I chose to stay with Addie, my brothers would go.
“I don’t know. Is there anything really left for us in Ceithre?”
Xav shook his head. “Gunther and I talked about this a few days ago. I think he feels the same way. We should talk to the captain later.”
I nodded. It was a good plan. We had a few more barrels to tote around. Then, we could find the others.
Locke’s booming voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Boy, we have some things to talk about.”
I nearly groaned out loud. The man who was more a father to Addie than her own, and also one of the most generally terrifying people I had ever met, was walking straight for me. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that, even with all my training, Locke still scared me.
I braced myself. Locke wasn’t much larger than I was, but he always managed to make me as though he were ten feet tall. Addie was at his heels, mouthing the word “sorry” over and over.
“I hear you’ve married Ms. Kensington. What do you have to say for yourself?” His tone was as unreadable as his stony expression.
I wondered if he was waiting for me to say it had been an accident. “I’d say I’m a lucky man,” I said instead. “I’ll also say I will protect her with my life, just as I promised you on the boat on the way here.” I held my breath.
Addie’s mouth had dropped open, and she didn’t seem to notice. Locke grinned and clapped me on the shoulder. Hard.
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” Then he laughed outright, turning to Addie. “The answer to your second question is also no. He will live, Ms. Kensington.” Locke turned back to wherever he had come from.
“Huzzah,” Addie laughed. She peered up at me through her eyelashes, a deliberating expression gracing her features. Then she spun around also, heading back to where she had been sitting with Gunther earlier.
He grabbed her hand in a reassuring way, and she leaned into him. It was strictly platonic, but I couldn’t help myself. I waved my arm to get his attention.
“Watch yourself with my girl, little brother.” I said it loudly, more for her benefit than his.
&nb
sp; “Technically, Mr. Kensington, I believe it’s you who belongs to me.” Addie’s small smile felt like a victory.
Yes, things could certainly be worse, I thought, watching her and Gunther casually conversing. If I had ever given a passing thought to a serious relationship, it had always concerned me that no one would understand my brothers or fit in to the family we had created. Addie managed it seamlessly. My brothers loved her, genuinely. It hurt to imagine that the man I had thought my father to be would have loved her also.
Later, we convened in the captain’s cabin. Nell was conspicuously absent. Addie sat by me on one of the beds, but not as close as she had at lunch when Locke was not in the room. I scooted in, and she narrowed her eyes at me.
I smirked, and her gaze turned more heated than accusatory. It hit me that she hadn’t been hiding her expressions from me lately. The thought warmed me. I would have to experiment with this newfound power over her.
Locke cleared his throat pointedly, and she turned back to him with a faint blush on her cheeks. Rather a different story than the girl who teased my brothers and laughed at the captain’s insinuations.
I’ll have to give her hell for that later.
The captain outlined the situation as we knew it, including the fact that Levelia was Addie’s best chance of getting that necklace off without risking her life back on Central. Finally, she concluded.
“The trip is not without perils. We will have to navigate the Tempest Sea and face uncertainty in Levelia itself. If everyone is willing, however, that is my proposed course.”
“What about the danger to you and Nell?” Addie asked.
“There will be risks, that is true. However, if you consent to go, we will have a way of getting home undetected that will mitigate the danger substantially.” She paused, then added. “In truth, this is our only chance to get home, to see if my daughter is alive. Nell and I have discussed it, and we would both like to go, if you consent. However, Nell has asked me to convey that the danger of going to Levelia could be as great or greater than that of returning to Central, even for you. So, the choice is yours.” SuEllen’s eyes were carefully neutral as she watched for Addie’s response.
Addie looked to me, a question in her gaze. I tried to hide my surprise. She had a habit of making decisions without consulting anyone, and it meant a lot that she felt like this was our choice, rather than solely hers.
I pondered it. She was shackled by that necklace and constantly in peril from those who sought to use or kill her for it. Central Island was familiar, but we were being looked for. Levelia was an unknown, but it was well away from everyone hunting us. Her face was unreadable, but she had said before that she wanted to stay with the crew. No one spoke while Addie and I searched each other’s expressions.
“If you’re in, I’m in,” I finally said.
Relief washed over her features, though she tried to hide it. Then, I caught a glimpse of something else and wondered if she was remembering when she had said those words to me. Was that only this morning? I averted my gaze before the others noticed.
“All right. I’m in.” She looked evenly at the captain, who turned to my brothers.
Xavier and Gunther exchanged a quick nod.
“Where our brother goes, we go,” Xav said.
I nodded my thanks, and we all turned to Locke. He gave a grin that was almost feral.
“I couldn’t have you young pups having all the fun without me.”
It was settled, then. Though I had been thinking about it for a couple of days now, it seemed crazy that in the space of five minutes, we had agreed to venture to a land we had only just learned existed. My scar tingled at the adrenaline coursing through my veins at our new plan. It felt crazy, but that was my specialty.
“Well, I’ve got things to do,” said Xavier when we were in the hallway to our rooms. He had accompanied us down here to finish our conversation.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like not your business.”
I started to drill him further, but Addie put a hand on my arm. He fled back up the stairs while I was distracted.
“Leave him alone, Clark. You’ve got things to do, too.” She smirked.
I leaned down to kiss her, and was surprised when she didn’t pull away, even in front of my brothers.
“Two minutes,” I said, my lips close to hers. I had to talk to Gunther first.
“One,” she countered with a nip.
I’d have given her anything she asked for at that moment, but she pulled away and swaggered to the cabin. I turned to Gunther.
“Thank you,” I said, “for staying with me on the ship.”
“Where else would I go, Clark? I care about Addie, too.” Gunther’s face was so sincere, and my heart warmed. He was always a better brother than I deserved.
“Oh, hey.” He reached in his pocket. “Give her this, will you?” He pulled out her sister’s locket, pristine and shining.
“You’re the best, Gunther. Ready to tell me what you were doing out so late you noticed Xav’s company leaving?”
He grinned. “Nothing so exciting as you. Besides, need I remind you, you never told us about Addie at all. We just had to make deductions from your going into destroyer mode when you thought she was in danger and the extremely subtle way you came out of the same cabin in the morning.”
Was my attraction to her that obvious all this time?
“Fair enough.” I clapped him on the shoulder.
I turned to leave just in time for a disgruntled meow to sound outside our cabin door. I looked beseechingly at Gunther, who laughed before taking the cat into his cabin instead.
He really was the best. That taken care of, I went to meet Addie in our cabin. She was already on the bed when I walked in, feet propped up on the wall and reading a book. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen her look so casual, so unguarded. She turned large brown eyes on me, and I almost forgot about the locket until it dug into my hand.
“Gunther sent this for you,” I said, holding it out.
Her expression changed minutely, a small pinching around the eyes, the biting of her lip. She stood up and held her hand out, and I wound the locket around her wrist for the second time. This time, I didn’t have to pretend it was an accident when my fingers lingered on her skin.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, already suspecting she would deflect.
Her face didn’t change, and I prepared myself for her change of subject. Then, she surprised me. She took a deep breath and released a flood of words.
“When we were young, my sister and I wanted nothing more than to get to the Ever Falls. After she died, I kept a small piece of her ashes, swearing I would still take her there when I went.” She settled onto the bed, and I sat next to her. “It became the only thing that drove me from day to day. You weren’t wrong that time you said I had given up on living. I was only surviving for that day.” Addie stared at the wall, both her voice and face free of emotion.
I remembered the words I had hurled at her all those weeks ago. Even then, she had been able to get under my skin, whether I had wanted to admit it or not. I waited for her to continue, not daring to move or speak or do anything that might make her change her mind about talking.
“I had a deal with my father that I would go when I turned eighteen and he would pay for it. When I ditched out on the ball the Emperor threw on the anniversary of her death, my father declared I had broken it. Looking back, I think he was trying to force me into marrying into the imperial family.” She shook her head, still absentmindedly spinning the gears on the locket. “He had been pushing it for years, but my father is a master manipulator. I played right into his hands, coming to him with a new deal. I would marry the prince if I got my trip first, alone, and he funded it.” Her brow crinkled. “He was weirdly relieved about the whole thing.
“That night, at the museum, I already felt suffocated and trapped. I think that’s why I didn’t feel more scared when you took me, didn’t fight h
arder to get away. In some ways, it felt like a rescue, even then.” Addie looked up at me, a small smile breaking through her mask.
This, I realized, meant more than a casual declaration of feelings. Addie offering up pieces of herself without me having to pry them out of her was nothing short of a miracle. I took her hand. Instead of pretending she didn’t need the comfort, she squeezed mine back.
“When I was taken, I did cross the Ever Falls, and right around my eighteenth birthday, but I couldn’t bear to let her go. I was so,” she paused, looking back at the wall, “alone. I couldn’t lose her, too.”
Her inflection didn’t change, but I knew what it had taken for her to admit that. I also knew that if I acknowledged it, she would run from this room faster than I could chase her. Instead, I made her a promise.
“We’ll go back there. And you won’t be alone this time.”
Now her mask was completely gone, replaced by an expression I couldn’t quite read. Hope and doubt and longing all flitted across her features until she settled on the latter.
“All right. I’ll hold you to that.” She moved until she was straddling my lap. “Now that’s settled, I believe I said you had things to attend to.” She paused for a moment, letting me read the emotions blazing in her eyes before she moved in to kiss me.
I thought maybe I was beginning to understand her, the way she spoke without words. Addie would never wear her heart on her sleeve for the world to see, but she was showing me herself in bits and pieces. It was more than enough.
I kissed her, finding I didn’t mind this way of communicating one bit. She deepened the kiss, pushing me down to the mattress.
That time, when I held her, she felt somehow more delicate, yet stronger and even more beautiful than before.
The Princess
Adelaide was in danger, and it was all Nell’s fault. She had gone to check on a noise she heard when a masked man attacked. By the time she escaped, her best friend was gone, and so was the necklace. The latter part hardly seemed to matter now. Nell was always figuring things out a step too late, like how much more important her friend’s life was than a way home. Like how dangerous putting the most powerful crystal in the world on her best friend would be.
The Tempest Sea Page 23
