That wasn’t the only thing bothering her. Captain Kelsey said he intended to use Soraya to tear down the boundary. But if Undine cursed Bae for trying to enter, if a horrible disease had come from Cali’s own father’s attempts to destroy it, whatever those had been, why did the captain think Soraya’s magic would be any different?
“Soraya?” Cali asked.
There was a pause. “I’m here,” the other princess said, sounding so weary it hurt. Cali didn’t blame her. Her cousin had just watched everything in her world be taken from her. Her father. Her kingdom. Her home.
“Are we alone?”
“No more talking,” a gruff voice she didn’t recognize said.
“Roland?” Cali asked. “Are you Roland?”
“I said shut it!”
Cali refused to listen. “Where are you taking us? I am Caliana, Princess of Zara, and I demand to know what’s going on.”
She felt the man slide forward, spreading a hint of sweat and something pungent like a residue of garlic on his breath. A sticky hand gripped her jaw, angling her face upward. Cali attempted to wrench free, but he tightened his grip.
“I don’t care who you are. You’ll keep your yap shut if you know what’s good for you.” He shoved her against the seat.
Soraya let out a whimper. “Roland, please.”
“You, too,” he said, but in a much different tone. Cali waited for the sound of a struggle, but he made no move against Soraya. At least there was that.
If only they hadn’t blindfolded her. If only she could see where they were going. Carriage wheels ricketed over cobblestones. The way was bumpy, and she rocked into Soraya more than once.
The restraints around Cali’s wrists were beginning to pull at her shoulders and bite into her skin. She attempted to wrench her arms apart, trying to wriggle free from the ropes, but it only burned, chafing at her skin.
Cali had known something like this would happen, yet she still couldn’t believe it. How could Bae and his father do this?
The carriage slowed to a stop, and the squeak of hinges announced the opening of the door. The chirp of gulls replaced the racket of the carriage wheels, and the smell of salted sea air swept into Cali’s nose. Other noises bustled around her, but she could only focus on one undeniable fact.
They were near the ocean. Was Bae here as well? Was he planning on sailing with them, since they had Soraya?
The blindfold remained around Cali’s eyes. When she kept her steps slow, trying to tread carefully on the unfamiliar land, she was shoved forward more than once. She plodded reluctantly up a narrow incline that seemed as if it were made of wood, if she had to guess, from the sounds her feet made when they struck it. It wobbled slightly. A gangway, maybe, probably onto the pirate captain’s ship.
“I can’t do this,” Cali said, wriggling against the grip at her elbows.
“Shut it,” snapped her less than friendly guard, shoving her forward again.
Noise crackled all around them. Sounds of men working, lifting heavy things, calling out orders, laughing. Gulls continued squawking above their heads, and something rolled and rumbled on the wood, but it couldn’t have been wheels. Barrels, perhaps.
“Put the princesses in the captain’s quarters.” Cali was roughly pushed, careening into another man who smelled as though he hadn’t bathed in weeks.
“Princesses, did ya say?”
She didn’t like the tint of twisted curiosity in his voice. “Get your hands off me,” she said, trying to sound like royalty instead of the scared little girl she felt like at the moment.
“Not till I get yeh where yeh need to go,” the smelly sailor said. Jerking her by the elbow, he dragged her in a different direction. Cali longed to see, to know where she was being herded, but not even a speck of light penetrated the blindfold stealing her sight. Soraya squeaked several times, but said nothing.
A whoosh of air alerted her to a door being opened, and Cali was unceremoniously shoved through it. “Be sure yeh don’t touch anything,” the sailor ordered before slamming it shut again.
Cali pulled once more at her hands, which were still tightly bound behind her back. Sounds were muffled behind the closed door. If only she could see where she was.
“Soraya? Are you in here?”
“Yes.” Her cousin’s voice was strained. Weary. Devoid of hope. The sounds of shuffling filtered through, followed by a hefty thump.
“Soraya! Are you okay?”
“I’m—fine,” she stuttered, her voice far too breathy. Was she hurt?
“Keep talking. I’ll come to you.”
“What do we do, Caliana?” Soraya asked, adding fear to the mix of her emotions.
Cali moved slowly. Sliding one foot forward, then another, she tested the space the only way she could. “You need to use your magic.”
“I—can’t destroy the boundary. I’m not powerful enough.”
“The captain thinks you are.” Cali collided with the other princess, the smell of smoke and singed hair encompassing her. Carefully, Cali knelt before her, then crawled around her legs just far enough for Soraya’s hands to brush Cali’s hair. “Can you reach around and pull my blindfold off?”
Cali waited while Soraya fumbled around. Finally, she found the edge of the blindfold and pulled.
Soraya came into view as Cali blinked, eyes adjusting to the light. The other princess appeared completely exhausted, slumped against the foot of a bed, resting her head on her arm. Her own eyes were covered by a dark cloth. Cali fought against her restraints once again, but her hands were still tightly bound.
“Are you okay?” Cali asked, searching her cousin for signs of injury.
“Magic—” Soraya said. “It wears me out sometimes when I use too much of it. I can’t destroy the boundary, Caliana. I’m not s-strong enough.”
“Hang on.” Cali blinked, taking in the space around them. It was larger than she would have expected a chamber on a ship to be. A bed piled high with decadent pillows atop blood-red velvet blankets scrolled with black paisleys was lodged near a window that bubbled out and overlooked the sea. Several swords were attached to a crest hanging upon the wall. A few cabinets and chests took up the rest of the area. One hung open, spewing clothing in different shades of fabrics.
Another weapon was propped near the door. Its hilt was bland, the silver tarnished. “There’s a sword over there,” Cali said, making her way to it before turning her back to the blade. Careful not to cut her own skin, she knelt, lining the ropes binding her wrists against its sharp edge, seesawing her body to move the strands back and forth across the steel. After a few tries, the blade cut through the rough fibers.
Exhaling in relief, Cali twisted her wrists free, shaking them out, amazed at their rawness from being bound for such a short amount of time. Red marks laced around her skin, stinging and fresh.
“Are you freed?” Soraya asked.
“Yes.” Cali tried the knob a few times, but it would budge. She retrieved the sword and returned to her cousin, removing her blindfold and cutting through the restraints binding Soraya’s hands as well.
The minute she was freed, Soraya folded deeper into herself. Wrapping her arms around her chest, she slipped her head from the foot of the bed to the floor, curling her body in. “I’m s-so sorry you’re caught in all of this,” she whispered thinly.
“Never mind that now. Let’s figure out how to get out of here before a guard—or worse, Captain Kelsey—returns. You can’t use your magic?”
Soraya sniffled, wiping her cheeks as she stared off at nothing. “Not again, not so soon after using it twice today. I can only access a small allotment at a time and—”
“It’s okay,” Cali soothed, rubbing her shoulder. Soraya had already dealt with enough. She didn’t need Cali pressuring her now, too. But she couldn’t allow herself to give up, either. “I’ll see what else we can find in here.”
Soraya perked up at this. “Like what?”
Cali did her best to keep her voice
calm. She couldn’t tell how, but she sensed Soraya needed reassurance. After a day of shrieking, of nightmares and death, Soraya needed calm. “That door is locked, so we need a key.”
Cali began opening cabinets and drawers, searching the disarrayed contents for a key or even a map of the ship’s outline. She found a leather book within one drawer, and a large bottle in another cabinet. The captain’s liquor, no doubt, though several smaller phials filled with a clear liquid sat positioned in holders to one side.
The sun hung lower in the sky, casting an amber glow through the bubbled window and dusting ocher shadows on the room’s surfaces. Her heart likewise sank in her chest. What more could she do? Darren was as good as dead. And if she went back without those plants, so was she.
Heavy footfalls struck outside the door, followed by a key being jammed into the lock. Cali hurriedly shut the cupboard and held the leather volume behind her back, heart chugging in her chest. Soraya scrambled to sit up, seeming to have to force the strength into her arms.
Captain Kelsey swaggered in, all smugness and satisfaction. Several of his crew peeked over his shoulder, attempting a glimpse at the princesses, but he slammed the door, blocking their view.
“You can’t keep us in here,” Cali said, keeping her hands behind her back. No need for him to know she’d freed herself yet.
“Unfortunate turn of events,” he said. “King Emir’s daughter staying hidden and forcing another to take her place. Her father’s untimely death.”
“At your hand,” Cali spat.
Kelsey didn’t deny it, or even seem surprised she knew.
“Things haven’t gone as I planned. Therefore, I’ve had to make adjustments.”
Cali was fuming. “Your adjustments have nothing to do with us. I demand you release me. Release us both this instant.”
Soraya focused on her. Cali wished she would say something. Anything. She wished her cousin could access her magic again and blast this blackguard into ashes.
“This boundary is a nuisance, which I intend to rid the world of.”
“It will do you no good,” Cali said.
“The destruction of it would open trade between Lunae Lumen and Zara, for one thing.”
“We’ve survived this long without any open trade,” Cali said. “There’s no need for it.”
Kelsey quirked an amused brow. “Zara has managed surprisingly well without it, true. But my son told me of the wonder you held at seeing such exotic birds and flowers while here. Blood-red parrots, macaws with splashes of blue and green on their feathers. The finest silks and chiffons for your dresses. Passion fruits and mangoes, the most succulent pineapple imaginable. These and many finer things would be available to your kingdom through expanded trade. Think of what you could offer your people, Princess. Many of them have never seen such gorgeous delicacies. You could be the most revered princess to rule yet.”
Cali’s mouth watered at his descriptions. Lunae Lumen had many fine things to offer, that was true. But it was no reason to tempt Undine’s wrath. Besides, what good would such delicacies do for her people if they all died from the curse her own father had somehow afflicted them with?
“There is no valid reason to keep the boundary closed,” he concluded, plowing right over her proclamation.
Something about his explanation felt off. He wouldn’t go to these lengths just to keep his son able to sail and himself unrestricted from other lands. There was something else. Something he wasn’t telling her.
“My people are dying,” Cali said. “If you take down the boundary, you’ll spread the disease everywhere else, too.”
“I’m not worried about any disease.”
A soft voice crawled from behind Cali, though it sounded a bit stronger than the last time Soraya had spoken. “You’re wasting your time with us.”
“Am I, Soraya?” He turned his attention away from Cali to crouch before her cousin. “Am I wasting my time? You’ve been pleasantly silent. No glowing orb to fire at me this time?”
Soraya’s shoulders rose and fell. Her lower lip trembled, turning white with suppressed rage. She sank to the floor, spent.
“Magic and its required sacrifice… Such a toll. So much power must be exhausting,” Kelsey said, feigning pity. “I’m sure you’d like to rest. Wouldn’t you, Soraya?”
“We don’t have time,” Cali shouted. “My people are dying, Captain. My infirmary is filled with good, loyal people whom I’ve known my whole life, each dying on their sickbeds. Before you killed my uncle, I heard you in that room. I know you have a cure. Where is it?”
Laughing, Kelsey rose to full height. “Even if I had one, I wouldn’t share it with you.”
Oh, he had one. He’d admitted as much himself. “Perhaps, Captain, the one you should be bargaining with is me,” Cali declared.
“You? What could you possibly have to offer me?” His eyes trailed down her dress and up again. Cali felt as though she’d suddenly been dipped in acid. Handsome or not, this man was revolting to her.
“Before I came here, I was to be crowned princess. My father was going to step aside, willingly move into his retirement, and continue to mentor me while I took over the duties of ruling the kingdom. Let me speak with him. We have jewels and more treasure than you could possibly imagine.”
She only hoped what she offered was true.
“Give me the cure. Allow me to return home right now, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure you get paid.”
Captain Kelsey removed his heavy coat, placed the tricorn hat on the lavish bed, and folded his arms. “Certainly. Give you what you seek, allow you to return to a land which I cannot enter, and just hope you’ll keep your part of the deal? Not likely,” he scoffed.
“My people are dying!”
He examined the tattoo of a mermaid inked onto his hand. “That matters little to me.”
Cali’s blood pumped. How could she make him understand? She slid her eyes to Soraya, but the other princess remained deadly silent, fear written all over her as she slumped against the foot of the bed.
Cali would get no help there. Along with whatever shock Soraya was dealing with, she appeared too weak to stand. “I will keep my word,” Cali said.
“I don’t want your jewels, Princess. I have enough treasure to last me a lifetime.”
“Then what is it you want?”
He yawned, as though this was the most boring conversation he’d ever had. “Right now, I want my chambers. Lovely as you both are, I have no wish to share them with you.”
“But Soraya—”
“Will be in my way.”
He strode to the door, opened it, and spoke to someone Cali couldn’t see. “Get them out of here. Take them below.”
Her thoughts scrambled, but she couldn’t think of any other argument, no other way to get him to let her go, before a gruff sailor with a prickled black beard and dirt-stained skin hooked an arm around her waist. Another with a shaved head and a spike in his ear wrangled Soraya in an embrace as well, and the two sailors lugged them out of the room, only Cali struggling against their hold.
Chapter 19
Cali blinked out the stabbing sunlight as the men carted her and Soraya onto the deck. Sailors lugged crates on their backs from the gangplank toward a trap door to Cali’s left. Several stopped to stare at the girls. The men looked more than rough around the edges. Their clothing was dingy and weatherworn, and several sneered with yellowed teeth while they fingered the weapons at their belts, as if two captive princesses were some kind of threat.
Or treat.
Some crates, labeled with words such as perishables, were heavy enough to require two sailors to bring them aboard. Others carried rope, bundles of tarp, and still more crates. Men and women also traipsed on board with nothing but packs on their backs. Probably sailors and servants who’d been allowed a few days’ respite on land during the captain’s negotiations with King Emir.
How could Captain Kelsey be so determined he’d destroy the boundary wi
thout caring about the effects it would have? The destruction of that boundary would expose the rest of the world to the necrosis.
Hannah’s death replayed Cali’s mind, along with the countless others suffering in her palace infirmary. The shocking, bloodshot eyes, the speckled blemishes all over their skin, the terrible foam emitting from their mouths before their bodies began to spasm and their spirits were given over to the sea witch.
If only Cali could speak to her father, or even to Lyric. An itching sense of urgency clawed through her core. She couldn’t remain on this ship. But she also couldn’t go home without the cure.
Another pair of boots hammered their way up the gangplank, and Cali glared at Bae’s carefree swagger, his confidence belying the curse he himself admitted would trail him during this venture simply because he was setting out to sea.
“Scoundrel,” Cali muttered. Bae had stood by while Soraya’s kingdom was taken. He’d been all sugar and sweet cream until the truth revealed the blackness inside of him. His eyes captured hers across the deck. The villain had the nerve to smirk at her. To burn the air with his glance and reach a set of fingers to his brow in salutation.
He was boarding now, when he knew of the curse surrounding him? Those finfolk had been relentless. They’d stopped at nothing to get to him. Not until Cali had managed to distract them.
“We’re in trouble,” Cali mumbled to Soraya. Especially if the crew meant to bring Soraya belowdecks, too. Didn’t they know how weak her cousin was? She couldn’t ward off any attacks, not now!
“What do you mean?”
“Shut it,” the brawny sailor gripping Cali’s arms snapped, yanking on her so hard her shoulders felt as if they were pulled out of their sockets.
“Easy now, Dutch,” Bae said, approaching them. “Those are princesses you’re dealing with.” He said it mockingly before taking a bite from an apple she’d just noticed he held. With another devilish grin, he strutted past, not bothering to speak a word to either Cali or Soraya directly.
“Princesses now, are ya?” Dutch said.
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