Princess of Death

by Cortney Pearson

  “Will you come with me or not?” He sounded exasperated.

  She chewed the inside of her lip. His eyes were still playful, like an eager puppy with a ball. But she detected something else there. Anticipation. Honesty. Sincerity.

  She felt herself slowly sinking. “Where?” she asked.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  Cali glanced around the gardens a final time before exhaling. Her shoulders dropped, but she kept her chin high. She couldn’t continue giving him the impression he had any kind of chance with her. “All right. How long will we be gone?”

  The twist of his lip was so endearing it nearly melted her resolve. “You can’t put a time limit on surprises.”

  You can when your best friend is dying.

  Bae guided her along the cobblestone path between dots of shrubbery just inside the palace walls. It wove around to an elaborate, paved courtyard where an oversized keyhole door in bronze signaled the exit from the palace grounds. Several squat palm trees as tall as the exterior walls marked the columns on either side of the door, and a rectangular pond interrupted the path leading to it.

  Cali did her best not to stare in equal parts amazement and inquiry, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to memorize as much of everything as she could. That way, she could find her way back if needed.

  The heat outside was stifling, but she welcomed the way the sunshine burned away secrets and intrigue. Bae was less tempting in the sunlight.

  A white carriage waited, led by a gray mare with a feathery white mane and tail, rigged and ready to cart them away. It was open to the elements, its roof trimmed with orange fringe. A single driver in a blue uniform similar to the ones the palace guards wore held the reins as he sat patiently in the driver’s seat.

  “Where are we going?” Cali asked, letting Bae help her into the open surrey. The seats were upholstered in matching orange satin.

  “You’ll see.”

  The carriage ambled down the stone drive before turning out beyond the palace walls. Stunning white villas with flat roofs, others with multiple symmetrical arches and open balconies—and some even with stairs leading right up to the rooftop—surrounded the palace. They were edged by incredible gardens that made her chest ache with the responsibility she should be undertaking at that moment.

  “Now will you tell me?” she asked. The varying architecture of the buildings intrigued her as much as the vegetation. There were tall marble columns, wide, swooping archways above doors, balconies in unusual places, and even colored glass in a few of the larger windows.

  “Just wait,” he said, an arm hanging lazily across the back of the seat behind her. His attention was on the scenery. He seemed so eager, and Cali couldn’t help the nervous anticipation strumming through her. Though it was tied at his nape, the wind played with his dark hair. “We’re almost there.”

  The surrey slowed before a truly breathtaking sight. The ocean spread before her, bluer than glass and touching the sky. The clouds were hazy and careless, floating above like dreams. Astonishingly exotic trees spread upward, while brightly colored flowers framed the sand and danced in the honey-salt scented breeze.

  Cali had last seen the ocean during a tour of her sectors a year or so before. It hemmed the Swan Tail and Wild Rose Sectors and led straight to the boundary that kept Zara from the rest of the world. Cali wondered, if she could see far enough in the distance, whether the boundary would be here, too. But the few times she’d visited the ocean, she hadn’t had the desire to so much as roll a grain of its sand between her fingers. It was different now.

  The ocean here was like Lunae Lumen’s plant life. Vital and glamorous, it called to her. She longed to feel the sand beneath her feet now, to dip her toes into the lapping waves. The ocean frothed and played with the shore, and she wanted to join in.

  Bae had stayed far too quiet since they’d left the palace. He remained silent now, but the expression on his face spoke volumes. Hunger snapped in his gaze—hunger and admiration, and something both fetching and frightening.

  Possession.

  It was almost as though the ocean were being unduly kept from him, but how that could be, Cali couldn’t fathom. He’d told her himself he was tired of sailing.

  She stood in the breezy air, feeling insignificant and yet limitless all at once. The ocean was bare and exposed, keeping her in its hold, and not one of Captain Kelsey’s ships was in sight. She got the impression if she reached far enough, she could touch where the sea met the horizon.

  “Where are your father’s ships?” she asked.

  “Not all the city is surrounded.” Bae gestured west. “My father’s fleet is in that direction.”

  Cali tiptoed, wishing she could see past the cliff face where the palace roosted above the rest of the city. She’d never realized how swift and steep of a drop it had. Waves crashed against those rocks. Bae directed her forward and to the side a few more steps, and then she saw the collection of sails hooked to masts.

  “Then what are we doing here?” she asked.

  Bae squinted out toward a long, narrow dock. “I wanted to sail,” he said. “And I want you to come with me.”

  He waited, keeping his hands behind his back. It was as if he waited for her approval, though she couldn’t quite place the warning burgeoning in her chest that accompanied the pause.

  He gestured with his chin and a grin. “Well?”

  Cali couldn’t help her escaped laugh. Maybe it was the tricky color of the water. Maybe it was the version of Undine Soraya had described. Maybe it was the irony that she was more separated from Darren now than his recruitment in the navy would have ever rendered them. But she was suddenly eager to set out.

  Besides, Bae wouldn’t whisk her away with him, not when his father had made such an extreme bargain with Soraya’s.

  Cali allowed him to take her hand. His fingers were rough and calloused, and the feel of them sent an ultimate thrill through her. Her feet sank into the sand. It was a delicious sensation, but it slowed their progress. Still, she was in no hurry.

  Bae seemed to be, though. He trudged with a purpose, towing her along. If he loved sailing this much, what was he doing on land trying to take Soraya’s kingdom?

  She lifted her skirts, and Bae helped her onto the wooden boards of the dock. He held on, guiding her down the planks where a smaller vessel with a single mast and two sails bobbed in the gentle waves. Its sailcloth was cream, like discolored linen. The hull was painted black, tarred, and given the name Lady Bold on the side.

  Cali’s gut cinched like a needle through folds of ribbon. She was actually doing this. She was entering a sailboat with a pirate.

  “Is this sloop yours?” she asked.

  He stood behind her. His body was warm, and his breath feathered across her neck as he replied. “It is. Can you swim, Princess?”

  Cali twisted slightly to see him. Heat blazed from his glance, and the excitement there was contagious.

  “Yes,” she found herself saying. “But—will I need to?”

  “Just a precaution.” He winked.

  “And we won’t go far, will we?”

  “I wouldn’t dare,” he said, guiding her onto the deck with a hand at her back before stepping down himself.

  Chapter 13

  A tropical breeze swirled Cali’s dress and stroked her neck. She was grateful she’d had the maid put her hair up. The boat swayed beneath her feet, not enough to unbalance her, but just enough to slow her steps. At Bae’s insistence, she sat on one of the short benches on either side of the mast.

  She surveyed the water. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

  Bae seated himself beside the tiller, one hand resting on its length and the other on his thigh. He stared out at the ocean, not so much as an observer, but more like a conqueror. A sense of ownership resided in that gaze, but there was something more, too. Respect. He appeared to be at home.

  “I think that every time I board a ship. And thanks to you, I can again.”

&n
bsp; What did he mean, thanks to her? At least she wasn’t as transparent as she’d been in the gardens. Sure, she hadn’t spent all that much time near the sea, and it was becoming clearer by the day what a terrible actress she was. But at least her admiration this time had been believable. Besides, she was leaving tomorrow, if things went as planned. Bae and his father would find out who the real Soraya was once Cali was gone.

  The thought made her slightly sick. What would happen when she was gone? What would the Kelseys do to Soraya when they found out they’d been deceived?

  And what about Soraya’s suspicions? What if her father was in on whatever ploy was going on with the pirate king?

  Wind caught the sails, and Cali laughed at the spray of water and the pull in her stomach as the boat picked up speed. It wasn’t too fast, but enough to be exciting. After a while, he lowered the sails to allow them a more leisurely pace.

  “This is how you grew up?” she asked as he took a seat beside her. Though he seemed content, his fists were clenched on his knees and he darted glances around as if expecting an enemy ship to appear any second.

  “On much larger vessels than this one,” he said. “We sailed the edges of the sea, to distant lands where I saw many curious things. I’d stop for tutoring lessons, and then we’d be off again.”

  “Tutoring? In what?”

  “At times, my schooling was more formal, but we usually arranged for my tutors to join us on our adventures. My mother insisted I be well read and educated.”

  “You loved her, didn’t you?”

  He squinted across the sea. “I did.”

  Though she was sure he tried not to show it, Cali suspected the admission was painful to him somehow. She suddenly wondered what kind of woman his mother was, to have married a pirate. She must have been well educated herself since she’d wanted it for her son as well.

  “I’m sorry she’s gone,” Cali said. And she meant it. She’d never lost a parent, but she could imagine how difficult it would be.

  “The wind is changing course.” He stood and adjusted the sail, then took his seat near the tiller again. It stuck forward into the open space between the two benches. “You want to join me, Princess?” Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about his mother any longer.

  “In what, sailing?”

  “Come here.” He offered her a hand, and she rose to take it. He held her, steady and strong, guiding her toward the posterior of the ship. The wind gusted past them, rocking the sloop just slightly. “This is the perfect swell,” he said. “If we wanted to go faster, you’d raise the sail and capture that wind, to have it direct your rudder.”

  With her hands in his rough, knowing grip, he stood beside her, an anchor all on his own. Unintentionally, she pressed against his chest to keep her balance.

  He unwound the rope from a wooden peg. The sail gradually gaped. It took to the wind, rocking the boat and knocking Cali into Bae again.

  He slipped his firm hand around her waist to keep her steady. It fastened her to him now. “How well the sea looks on you,” he said quietly, as though they had a reason to whisper.

  His body was warm, his gaze captivating. When she shook away loose tendrils of damp hair from her eyes, he gently stroked her temple, guiding them the rest of the way away.

  If she were being honest, the sea looked good on him, too. His dark hair tousled into his eyes, swirling with the wind and giving him a wildly abandoned and delicious appearance. She burned with his nearness, with the feel of his skin, with his legs offset to keep them both upright.

  His eyes flicked to her lips, and she found hers doing the same to him. His mouth had just the right amount of pout. It would take nothing at all to tip her face closer. To press hers against his.

  “Why do you want Lunae Lumen?” she asked, needing something to distract her from indulging in him.

  “Would it truly be so bad?” His voice was the perfect pitch, low and meant only for her. “To have me by your side?”

  “I hardly know you. Instead of making threats, why didn’t you make a proposal to me? Or hold a tournament for my hand? That way we could have had more time. We could have gotten to know each other first.”

  His brow creased. “You would have me hold a tournament?”

  “It’s a gift from—the goddess Undine.” She’d almost said your goddess. “It’s tradition. To ensure royal daughters born to that union are instilled with magic. It’s only princesses who hold them, as only princesses are ever born. I’m surprised you don’t know about it.”

  Her cheeks heated. She’d phrased it carefully, unwilling to bring herself to say our daughters.

  His jaw twitched. “I know of the marriage tournaments.”

  “But?” she prodded.

  He kept his arm around her but focused his attention elsewhere. “But they aren’t necessary.”

  She opened her mouth to ask why when something struck the underside of the boat, swaying it harder than it should have. Bae gripped the rope, holding tightly to it to keep himself from falling over the side. Cali toppled onto him, hurrying to push herself away the minute the rocking ceased.

  “That was no wave,” she said, peering into the water.

  Bae braced himself on the rigging, scanning their surroundings as another thud cracked against the underside of the boat, knocking Cali from where she stood. She hit her knees hard, water soiling the thin skirt of her dress, making it cling to her legs.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “Impossible,” he muttered. But instead of searching the water for their attacker, he glowered at her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  A third attack hit the boat. Cali released a squeal. When she rose, she spotted something large and scaled in the water. It circled their boat, its actions seemingly deliberate. Her body stiffened.

  “What is that thing?”

  “It’s the finfolk.”

  “The what?” What were finfolk?

  Bae made his way to the mast, working the ropes with haste to erect it completely. It caught the wind, giving the boat another hard jerk, and he lost his grip on the rope before he could secure it.

  He managed to catch the rope and tie it off. Once done, he lifted the seat and removed a short-bladed cutlass from within.

  “What are you doing?”

  He spoke with his attention on the ocean. “Ready your magic, Princess.”

  Undine’s wrath, she had no magic. What did he expect her to do?

  A fin spoked through the water, swimming in faster circles around them. It pulled the vessel hard, tumbling her into Bae.

  “Your magic, Princess,” he commanded.

  Cali fumbled with the pouch, yanking it from her sopping skirt pocket. The strap was stuck—she couldn’t get it free, though she wasn’t quite sure what good a little bit of sparkle from the glitz foil would do. At the very least, it might make Bae think she actually had some.

  A grisly hand clamped the boat’s side. Its slimy fingers were connected by webbed flesh, and the gaunt, scaled form of a man with the head of a fish rose from the water, dripping with seafoam. It snarled, opening its mouth to reveal razor-sharp teeth reminiscent of fangs. A bladed fin flared from the back of its head, continuing down its spine.

  “Princess,” Bae ordered, swinging at the finfolk. He slashed hard against its gruesome face. It let out a guttural cry, and gore sprayed onto the deck.

  Fear plugged Cali’s senses. They were going to die. This creature was either after them or their boat, and it would clearly stop at nothing until it got what it wanted.

  Cali yanked the pouch free only to lose her grip on its strings. In her panic, the satchel slipped from her grasp. She willed it to land on the deck, but another hideous webbed hand the color of swamps and sickness gripped the railing near Bae, nearly upending the boat, and the pouch of glitz foil sank into the sea.

  “No,” Cali cried. She lost her balance, cutting her hand against the edge of the bench. Blood poured, hot and red, but she barel
y felt a twinge underneath her panic.

  “Do something,” Bae yelled.

  She pushed to her feet. “Like what?” It came out in a plaintive cry, her fear leaking out into the salt-scented air.

  Cali had no magic. She couldn’t very well command these creatures to leave them be. Frantically searching in the benches for another weapon, for something they could use, she instead came up emptyhanded and out of ideas.

  When she took in the scene before her, despair crawled up her throat. More finfolk were flocking to the hull, blindly grabbing for Bae, their eyes clouded and unblinking. He kicked one, slicing at another, fighting for his life. Cali braced herself, waiting for them to climb the sides where she stood, back by the tiller.

  But none of the finfolk even seemed to notice her. One managed to grasp Bae’s arm, but he ripped free and struck the finfolk in its fish-like face. Others emerged, swaying the boat, tearing at its planks. If Cali and Bae didn’t do something, the creatures would tear the boat apart piece by piece. She and Bae would end up pulled beneath the ocean’s depths.

  But the finfolk didn’t seem to care about her.

  They were only after Bae.

  “Princess…” he called again.

  “Give me your shirt,” she yelled.

  “Now really isn’t the best time!” He kicked the face of another finfolk. It let out a guttural roar as it flew into the water.

  “Shut up and give it to me,” she demanded.

  He yanked the fabric over his head. Tossed it to her. Cali bent for a shard of broken wood. The finfolk froze, their fish eyes blinking in confusion. Several sniffed the air, disoriented, thrown from the scent of their prey. They muttered eerie rumbles to one another—guttural, chugging noises in the caverns of their throats. Their heads swept from Bae to Cali and back again, as if they weren’t sure which direction to attack.

  Cali wrapped the shirt around the plank, braced a foot on the bench, and then hurled the shirt and plank out as far as she could into the churning sea.

  The change was instantaneous.

  One of the finfolk called out with that same, otherworldly chug before leaping overboard. The rest turned like dogs to a thrown bit of meat, following their leader. They dove in its direction, spearing away like bullets.