The Queen's Choice

by Cayla Kluver

  Though I understood her implication perfectly, I wished I didn’t. How could a little girl be so stoical at the loss of her father, a loss she believed to be more permanent than even our aunt knew? How could she contentedly throw away every reminder of the man who had raised her? These questions plagued me, even as I helped her carry the sacks away, effectively leaving Enerris in the past.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  A DAMN GOOD TEAM

  When I awoke the next morning, Shea was gone. Filled with foreboding, I tugged on my boots, worried that she’d gone off on her own like she had in Tairmor. She was less likely to be recognized here, but it was unclear whether or not the neighborhood we were in was safe, even in full daylight. It certainly didn’t feel inviting. But before my concern could send me crashing down the stairs, she strolled in with Captain Fane, bearing a tray full of breakfast items that had been thrown together by Aunt Roxy.

  “I went to the market,” she told me, though there was a hint of evasiveness in the way her gaze skirted mine. “I needed a little fresh air.” Then more surreptitiously she added, “Next thing I knew, Fane and Roxy were putting together a grocery list for me.”

  I laughed as quietly as I could at the image of a ruthless pirate making shopping requests, then eyed the captain in question, who hurled an apple at Spex. Some of the questions I’d failed to ask Zabriel during our conversation last night pertained to this man. He definitely dressed the part of a pirate, with pistols at his hips and clothing that was expensive in taste but eccentric in style, by all accounts falling short of an official uniform. If Zabriel was wanted by the law, I had no doubt Fane was, as well. So was he trustworthy? I viewed him the same way I did the neighborhood around Roxy’s house—I couldn’t say from experience that it wasn’t reliable, but my instincts told me to be careful.

  With these thoughts playing in my mind, I went to pick through the breakfast offerings before everything had been devoured. Zabriel was back from wherever he’d gone after our talk, and seemed none the worse for wear. Unlike with Shea, I hadn’t thought twice about his safety, but then, this was his city. Illumina was huddled on her bed, hoarding food like she had no idea when she’d receive another meal. I was about to grab a plate when an apple rolled by my feet. Frowning, I traced its directionality to Spex, who looked pale and miserable where he leaned against the bedpost to which he was chained. Though I wanted to hate him, the emotion was exhausting, and trying to sustain it in the face of a young man Zabriel’s age wasn’t easy. I picked up the apple and returned it, settling across from him on the floor with my own meal.

  “You like to play fetch?” he asked, taking the apple and rolling it away from me. It bruised against the cupboard and ricocheted out the open balcony door.

  “You’re just trying to get rid of me.”

  “Right you are.”

  I nibbled a piece of cheese while I struggled to decide how best to start a conversation with him. He had the potential to be an ally, despite his family’s business. He’d already given us information he shouldn’t have. If not for his fear of losing the people he loved, I was sure his instincts would put him on our side.

  “You must know,” I finally began, “that what I said yesterday is most likely true. Hastings, that bounty hunter, and whoever else has been using you think you’ve been abducted, which means you’re free of them. They can’t blame you for not doing what they say, and they can’t punish your family on your account.”

  “You’re assuming they operate by traditional rules. Under normal circumstances, that’s not a chance I’d take.” He lifted one manacled wrist and looped the chain around it, giving it a couple of tugs. “But as long as I am, quite literally, tied up here, it doesn’t make much difference what I’d choose to do.”

  “What are the stakes?”

  Spex looked sideways at me with heavily lined hazel eyes. His clothing was dirty, his suspenders torn, his hair matted. But despite his physical appearance, his spirit wasn’t broken.

  “Why in hell would I tell you that? The last time I talked to you, they executed my father.”

  “Your father was slated for the plank, anyway,” Zabriel said, hopping onto the back of the desk chair, his feet on the seat, and cutting into our conversation. “Now he’s one less thing that can be held over you.”

  At Spex’s stormy silence, Zabriel came to sit cross-legged on the floor beside me, his keen eyes narrowed as he evaluated the prisoner.

  “I know exactly what the stakes are, my friend,” he resumed. “It used to be about spotting Fae in Oaray, but now you believe that if you turn me in, your mother, brother, and sister will be released. Is that right?”

  Spex glowered at him. “How could you know that?”

  “Leo Dementya was at your father’s execution. I don’t get information directly from him, but I do cultivate a few sources in my line of work. The heavyweights in the Territory talk, and I make a habit of listening. Word is that more hunters will soon be executed.”

  Spex shifted onto his knees, cheeks paling even more, if that was possible. “Then you know why you have to let me go.”

  Zabriel hung his head in a show of silent sympathy, then met Spex’s gaze.

  “Whoever’s behind this business is manipulating you, and it’s time you understand how these people work. Your entire family is condemned, and that’s not going to change. Governor Ivanova’s stance against Fae hunting is solid, and your mother and siblings have been duly convicted and sentenced to death. Your handlers have just been bending the rules, delaying the inevitable in order to string you along. When you stepped out of line, they let your father’s sentence be carried out. They’re going to do the same thing three more times—use you, get what they want from you, then let the plank claim its victims.”

  Spex’s face flitted through a variety of emotions, and for a moment I thought he might retch. But he clenched his jaw and stubbornly shook his head.

  “Someone in the government’s involved in this. That means they can get my family out of prison.”

  Zabriel squeezed his temples in frustration and tried again.

  “I’m sorry to break it to you, but delaying an execution is a whole lot easier than overriding someone’s sentence. Only the Governor can extend a pardon, and I don’t see his hand in any of this. Clearly someone with connections is involved, but everything they’re doing is carefully calculated not to draw the Governor’s notice. And that includes using Evernook Island as their base of operations. They’re eventually going to step out of the way and let justice take its course. They won’t have a choice, and they’ve known it from the beginning.”

  “Are you saying Spex will be executed, too?” I mumbled, my eyes widening, for this possibility had not occurred to me before.

  “Depends on his sentence. By my reckoning, our friend here was never convicted of Fae mutilation. Am I right, Tiny? He’s the youngest, and I suspect his only involvement in the family trade was spotting. You don’t kill off someone with a rare talent like that.”

  “So what?” Spex snarled, putting his forehead none too gently to his knees. “Being right about that doesn’t make you right about the rest of it.”

  “Just give it some thought.” Zabriel shoved his plate and the food that remained on it toward Spex. “I think your family is damned if you cooperate and damned if you don’t, so you might want to consider if there’s good reason to keep helping Hastings and Opal. Maybe it’s time to get back at them for jerking your chain.”

  Spex smacked the lip of the plate, overturning it as though to show he wasn’t powerless. “Seems to me you’re the one jerking my chain at the moment.”

  “It might seem that way, but I don’t gain anything by lying to you.”

  My cousin stood and offered a hand to me. “Come on, Anya. Let’s give Spex some space.”

  I nodded, letting him pull me
to my feet, my thoughts chasing one another like a dog in pursuit of its tail. What would I do were it my family at risk? Cling to feeble hope despite the logic of Zabriel’s arguments, and continue to undertake a task I knew was wrong? Or accept the inevitability of my loved ones’ fates and hit back? Either way, I’d end up living with tremendous guilt. I shuddered as I crossed the floor to join the others, for one thing was clear: whoever was behind the Fae mutilations, the manipulation of Spex, the abuse of the Sepulchres, and whatever else was part of this scheme, was heartless and utterly self-serving. Evil was loose in the Warckum Territory, and it was up to us—a mistreated and confused fourteen-year-old, a maimed Faerie, the daughter of a fugitive, two pirates, and possibly a Fae-hunter—to stop them.

  * * *

  By the next afternoon, plans were in order for our attack against Evernook—Zabriel and Fane had been organizing the operation long before the rest of us had come into the fold. At their request, the group of us met upstairs to learn the roles we all would play.

  “It’s straightforward,” Zabriel began, inviting us to gather around a map he had spread upon the desk. “Captain Fane and part of his crew will raid the Dementya ship and steal the cargo. The rest of his men will cause a distraction on the island’s shore, as though an invasion is under way. That should draw the guards away from the warehouse.” He pointed to the sections of the map that were relevant to the different facets of the plan. “In the meantime, Anya, Shea, and I will land on the opposite side of Evernook and sneak into the fortress.”

  Illumina brushed her hair aside, preparing to interrupt, and Zabriel met her eyes.

  “I’d like you to stay here, dear cousin, and keep an eye on our prisoner.”

  Illumina’s mouth opened and closed, and an angry flush colored her cheeks. “You’ll take a human with you, but not your own flesh and blood?”

  Everyone stilled, her commentary as divisive as ever, but especially unwelcome during a time when we needed to be united. Zabriel was first to recover, and he gave her a caustic look.

  “I’m taking Shea because I think she can handle herself in a fight, and because I’d like to keep one member of our family out of harm’s way.”

  “Thank you for your thoughtfulness,” Illumina said with a sugary-sweet smile. “But perhaps you ought to consider that I’m the only Faerie here who has an elemental connection. I think that could be of more use to you than another gun.”

  Not about to be bumped from the mission, Shea threw her hands up in protest.

  “Anya and I have been through a lot, and we make a damned good team. I don’t think this is a good time to split us up. Tell them, Anya. Who do you think should go with you to the island?”

  I grimaced. I would have preferred Shea’s company, but Illumina had a point. “She is a Fire Fae. That type of magic could prove useful.”

  “Well, I don’t care. I’m going to that island if I have to swim there.”

  “Great,” Zabriel snapped, punching the surface of the desk. “I’m going to end up handling all the amateurs.”

  “Two of them are your cousins,” Shea shot back, “so the only one you ought to handle is me. And that’ll only happen in your dreams.”

  Zabriel chuckled, caught off guard. He turned away for a moment to rub his hands over his face, and I glanced between the contentious pair, considering for the first time that their bickering might hide an attraction. Composure regained, Zabriel mussed his hair and leaned over the desk, his bowed head hiding his smile. I caught sight of a chain under his collar, but it was silver instead of gold like Evangeline’s, and I cocked my head, not having noticed it before. As though obeying my curious gaze, the chain’s heavy ornament slipped forward and fell through the open top of his shirt, hanging for a second in the air before he automatically replaced it. It was his royal ring, ruby stud bracketed by golden laurel leaves. He might be hiding it, but he still had it.

  “What do you think, Captain?” Zabriel asked, oblivious to the fact that anything had transpired in the past second, though for me, the world had shifted.

  “I’d take Shea with me if you Fae want to stick together. We can chain the lad up real tight and leave him in Roxy’s care.”

  “My name is one goddamn syllable,” Spex grumbled from behind us. “Can’t anyone around here remember it?”

  “I’m not above putting you back in the cupboard while we’re gone,” Zabriel cautioned, and Spex laid his head against the bedpost in surrender.

  “Would I be on your ship?” Shea queried, addressing Fane.

  “Yes indeed. And there’ll be plenty of action.”

  “I’ll go with you, then.”

  “Now that things are settled,” Zabriel jumped in, “the captain and I will go downstairs to talk to Aunt Roxy and send final instructions to the crew. Join us after you’re dressed.”

  He motioned to a stack of dark clothing, then he and Fane departed. After sorting through the items, which belonged to some of the sailors judging from their generous sizes, we slipped them over our regular leggings and tunics. I glanced at my companions, wondering if I looked as much like a child in her parents’ garments as they did. And that reminded me of the gift Thatcher More had given his daughter.

  “What about your pendant?” I said to Shea. “We might run into Sepulchres. It couldn’t hurt to have it with us in case it really has some power.”

  Shea gave me a cantankerous look, one hand clutching the looking glass that hung around her neck. “It’s just a keepsake, Anya. You said yourself that magic can’t be infused into objects.”

  “I’d take it if I were you,” Spex interjected in a singsong tone. “I know what I’ve seen, and it’s made a believer out of me.”

  “No,” Shea persisted, and I fought back the urge to mock her defiant expression, not understanding her objection.

  “We’d just be borrowing it.”

  “It’s important to me, Anya. It was my father’s. What if you lose it?”

  “Enough.” It was Fane who had spoken. Our arguing had blocked the sound of his footsteps on the staircase. “One shiny bauble is not going to make a difference one way or the other in tonight’s outcome. Now let’s get going.”

  Without another word, Shea, Illumina, and I grabbed our travel cloaks, which were darker and more conducive to concealment than the pair of vibrant capes gifted by Gwyneth, and went downstairs with the captain to join Zabriel and carry out our missions. Shea paused and gave my hand a squeeze before she went out the door with Fane, perhaps in apology, but more likely out of fear that she wouldn’t see me again. My heart raced, but it wasn’t for my sake—I was bizarrely calm at the prospect of being in danger myself, but I couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to her. She was only here out of friendship, with nothing personal to gain or lose. None of us could predict what this night would bring, but if all of us made it back, it would be some kind of miracle.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  EVERNOOK ISLAND

  Zabriel, Illumina and I set out that evening like we were on any other stroll across the shorefront, but as we left behind the military vessels and trade ships, the seedy establishments in the area were replaced by boarded-up shacks, some releasing a stench like fermenting excrement. I covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve, wondering how Zabriel and Illumina could stomach it. Zabriel seemed annoyingly at ease; Illumina at least had the decency to look disgusted. Her nose was upturned as though it might escape the smell if only she could get it high enough.

  At last we came to a boat that was little more than a dinghy, bobbing in weed-heavy water and slackly tied to a rotted stump sunk into the sand. It had one redeeming quality, and that was its ability to carry us away from the filthy shore.

  “This is the best you and Fane could do?” I asked, hating the idea of being afloat in that tiny, unsteady vessel. I’d feared the oc
ean would swallow us in Leo Dementya’s schooner—in this skiff we would be little more than an appetizer.

  “Fane is doing a lot better,” Zabriel answered. “But that’s because he’s running distraction. Once that cargo ship is looted and fails to show up on schedule, whoever’s in charge at Evernook will send a few bodies to investigate. I’m hoping the island isn’t well staffed and most of its population will be looking the other way when we tie up. It wouldn’t do us any good to arrive in a freighter, waving a pirate flag, and draw them all back, now, would it?”

  “No,” I grudgingly admitted, pulling my cloak tighter.

  “This boat’s a surprisingly reliable little thing—I promise.”

  Zabriel held the dinghy level while Illumina and I boarded, then hopped in after us. I sat in front as lookout, leaving him to row. Though I no longer possessed my connection with the water, I still had a certain insight into its whims. With the unpredictable tides around Evernook, I was the best person for the job.

  To our surprise, the water in the bay was quiet tonight, which would normally have been a good thing. But I fretted that someone would hear the rhythmic rippling of Zabriel’s paddle as we glided nearer to Evernook and be alerted to our approach. I need not have worried. Out of the west a light flashed, breaking the tranquility, and a boom shattered the air.

  “Cannon,” Zabriel explained, rowing a little faster. “That should stir things up.”

  “Does that mean Fane is in trouble?” asked Illumina.

  “Not at all. The captain does this for a living. My guess is his men have already overrun the transport ship’s crew and seized the cargo. Now they’re just announcing it to the world and giving us a chance to sneak onto the island.”

  “You killed the transport crew?” I blurted, nausea swelling under my words.

  “I haven’t done anything. I’m here with you. But there is a mission at stake, remember. We’re pirates, not keepers of the peace. Fane will do whatever he deems necessary. Hell, he tried to kill me when we first met.”