by Sara Raasch
“Why would I tell you? What if I need to escape the castle’s dungeon again?”
“Planning to be arrested a second time, are you?”
“If it serves me.”
Lu stepped closer. Vex almost pulled away, then realized this was the closest she’d stood yet. A shiver came from the center of his stomach, spreading out, down his arms.
He stayed where he was.
“I may not know what game you’re playing, but believe me, I will find out,” Lu started, her chest brushing his. Seagulls screeched over the roar of the pier’s crowd. “As much as I don’t know you, raider, you don’t know me. You have no idea what I am capable of.”
Vex considered. “You’re right—I don’t know you. But I know who you want to be, Princesa, and that might be more dangerous to you.”
Lu’s gaze didn’t break from his. “If anything you do interferes with finding Milo and returning him to the Council, I will use that Sweet Peat concoction on something dear to you.”
She slid her knee up to the area she meant, a light graze that didn’t hurt—quite the opposite.
Vex twitched, creating a spasm in his torso that rocked him forward, bumping into her. An unbroken strand of curse words flitted through his head. He should not be so attracted to someone so set on maiming him.
He closed his eye for a second, for composure. When he looked at her, he let himself fall away, his humor and cockiness gone.
“I won’t betray you,” he told her.
She held, her eyes flitting over his face, waiting for his earnestness to break. It didn’t.
“Fine,” she said. “Now where’s your boat?”
12
THAT VEX COULD go from secretive to sincere in one breath was infuriating. When he crooked his elbow to her and said, “Milady,” Lu gave an unimpressed stare and marched down the dock.
Ahead, his crew member Nayeli stood on the deck of a steamboat, her arms out to Teo on the dock. He hesitated and looked back at Lu, briefly losing his adventuring spirit.
She smiled, grateful he could get her to, grateful she had someone whose life depended on her, reminding her of what was at stake.
But beneath that gratitude, she felt disgust at herself.
She was bringing a six-year-old into untold danger. Few of the things she had done during the war with Argrid had made her feel this . . . soulless.
Teo took her hand, and his tight grip pulled her back to herself.
“Aboard, Captain Casales!” Nayeli said, swaying like the clouds, constant bright motion that Lu suspected could all too easily give to storm. Her wild black curls accented golden skin and a softly rounded face that said she was a good part Tuncian. Unlike Vex’s, her hand was free of a raider brand, which only meant that Argrid’s Church had never captured her.
Lu squeezed Teo’s fingers and analyzed Vex’s boat.
The vessel was small, built for no more than five or six people. Red cedar had been polished and sealed for the bottom, giving the hull a dark berry color. The floor and interior were planks of teak in varying hues, depending on the state of restoration. The deck held a stack of crates tied to the starboard railing, a hatch, and, tucked up under the smokestack, the pilothouse. Within it, Lu could see a wooden helm and a table covered with maps and charts, tidily arranged.
Vex stopped beside Lu. “Breathtaking, isn’t she?”
Lu couldn’t keep the shock out of her tone. “This is your boat? And by yours I mean—”
“I didn’t steal her.” Vex leaped from the dock and landed beside Nayeli. He patted the hull, his pride undeniable. “Welcome to the Rapid Meander, Princesa.”
Lu snorted. Nayeli and Vex shared a questioning look before eyeing her, and Lu swallowed the quip she had been about to make. Their love for this boat was clear—best not to insult them before Vex had fulfilled his end of their arrangement.
Lu stepped onto the deck. As she reached back for Teo, her eyes caught something up the pier. The crowd moved with the normal bustle of midday, but two flickers of intensity peeked through like fish breaking the surface of a lake.
The closest one sprinted up the dock, footsteps hammering on the planks.
“Soldiers coming!” the woman shouted as she ran.
She dove aboard, and Lu’s presence made the woman teeter, blink, and glare. The wrinkles around her eyes said that her normal expression was a glower, but her height made her intimidating even without any expression.
The woman’s slight accent cemented the impression that she was from the Mechtlands. She was tall, well muscled, her hair yellow and her fair skin ruddy in a way that made the white brand on her wrist stand out.
The haphazardness of Vex’s crew wasn’t a surprise. They were unaligned, after all, but it still left Lu in a state of awe. One of the reasons unaligned crews were so rare was that raiders with different heritages seldom got along, let alone well enough to be crewmates.
Vex motioned between her and the Mecht woman. “Edda, Lu. And that’s Teo.”
Introductions complete, the deck unraveled in a flurry of motion.
“Nayeli! Unmoor the Meander. Edda—the furnace have enough fuel for now?”
Edda gave him a cutting look that said, Do you have to ask?
“Excellent. Oh, Princesa, you might want to—”
Lu had snatched Teo into her arms the moment Edda had raced down the dock, but at Vex’s words, she sat him on the deck.
“What do I need to do? Will we make it away from the pier in time?”
Edda paused, climbing the pilothouse. “The pier? They’re coming on steamboats, barricading the harbor.”
But Vex connected it first. He pulled out a spyglass and moved to the port side, rocking the Meander as he planted his foot on the railing and lifted the glass toward the pier.
Lu followed, directing him to the pocket of intensity she had seen in the crowd.
After a beat, Vex lowered the spyglass. “What was it you said earlier? Shit?”
“Who is it?”
“It seems Pilkvist has found us.” Vex flew back into the pilothouse, attacking the gears and nobs along the wall. “Nayeli!”
“Unmoored!”
“Edda?”
“Waterway is clear!”
Lu shouted over the chaos, “What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing!” Vex yanked on a lever, twisted the wheel, and sent the Rapid Meander heaving away from the dock.
Lu toppled backward. Teo clung to the bow, screeching as the boat glided for the open waters of Lake Regolith. But through the roar of the Rapid Meander’s engine came a sharp burst of sound that Lu knew by heart: gunfire.
Lu clawed her way across the deck and pulled Teo down.
He dropped onto his backside. “Lu, raiders are chasing us! We’re on Devereux Bell’s boat! And we’re raiders now, too!”
Lu ignored him to look over the railing. The Rapid Meander sailed across the narrow expanse of water between their dock and the next one. Through the gaps between the moored boats, Lu saw men running up the dock, barely keeping pace as Vex punched the boat faster.
Their appearance marked them as raiders—tattered clothes, weapons across their waists and up their chests, various traits speaking of Mecht affiliation: blond hair here, wooden toggles in another’s beard, boots made of crocodile skin. One fired a pistol, the shot landing in the wall of a boat. They’d never be able to aim with the steamboats in the way—but once the Rapid Meander cleared the docks, it would be open for the few moments it stayed within firing range.
Lu scrambled in her satchel. Sweet Peat . . . Narcotium Creeper . . . ah, finally.
Sometimes Grace Loray’s botanical magics worked well as they were. In this case, an unaltered Variegated Holly leaf would be fine.
Lu bent onto her knees. Teo hunched next to her, suppressing giggles into his palm.
The part of Lu that had spent her childhood doing this—fighting to survive, not just live—had propelled her to this precipice, where she was holding a d
eadly botanical plant and staring at her friend’s brother.
In that moment, she saw herself, younger, staring up at her father with an innocence she had lost because of situations like this. She saw herself holding a pistol, and she could still hear the echo of the blast, see the spark that had punched light into the shadows of the jungle even though her father had sworn it would be dark.
“That tree, Lulu-bean, there,” Tom had told her. “Wait for movement. I’ll force him out. This isn’t on your shoulders, you hear me? Fire at the first movement. You won’t see a thing, I promise.”
Lu froze now. The only thing she could move was her eyes, which she lifted as the boat sped on, until they barreled into open water. The Mecht raiders stumbled to the end of the dock.
Cold sweat beaded across Lu’s forehead. The leaf in her hand weighed more than she could bear, and her fist sank to the deck.
I’m doing to Teo what my father did to me.
I don’t regret that life! It helped the war!
But—her heart broke—I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Something thumped behind her. Lu whipped around to see Nayeli on a stack of crates, holding a fistful of plants.
“Everyone, remain calm,” she announced. “I’m about to blow some shit up.”
“Nay!” Vex shouted from the pilothouse. “We’ve a kid here now, all right?”
“Sorry. I’m about to chaotically rearrange some shit up.”
“That wasn’t the problem—” Vex started to say at the same moment Lu cried, “Don’t—”
But Nayeli waved her hand by her ear. “Can’t hear you. Explosion’s too loud.”
She reared back and let a bundle fly. It smashed onto the dock, but all that came was a series of pops and sparks that caught the raiders’ clothes—Hemlight. Relatively harmless, not lethal, it leaped to life in flashes of orange that kept the raiders well occupied as the Rapid Meander flew beyond reach.
Up the harbor, a Council boat approached, the sigil of Grace Loray rippling beside the smokestack. It was no doubt forming the blockade Edda had mentioned, the one full of ships searching for Vex. But he and his crew would be far enough away by the time it reached these docks.
The Rapid Meander blew by other boats. One cluster looked, at first glance, to be another Council patrol. The largest vessel in the group of six flew Grace Loray’s flag—but before Lu shouted for Vex to avoid them, she realized it was an extraction group, one Council boat keeping watch as the half dozen civilian craft anchored around it sent divers into the lake to mine magic plants. Bubbles pocked the surface of the lake, marking diving bells far below.
Even so, Vex steered the Meander away from the group. Twelve or more Grace Loray marines often manned patrol boats, making sure law-abiding citizens accounted for every plant taken from the lake or riverbeds.
But no one gave the Meander a glance, and Vex pushed the boat faster, taking them east, away from New Deza.
Lu melted to her knees, calming enough to go over her mistake. Why hadn’t she thought of Hemlight? Why had she gone for a plant that would kill the raiders? Was that truly her instinct again, after all these years?
No, she told herself. She hadn’t reached for a lethal plant when confronted with Branden at the castle’s gate. She could find Milo without losing herself.
Lu shook it off and stood, leaving Teo to stare at the water in fascination as she walked up to the pilothouse’s window. Through it, she fixed Vex with a stare. “What next, raider?”
Vex could feel Edda glaring at him from behind. Lu glared at him ahead. Off to the side of the deck, Nayeli folded her arms, waiting, though not glaring. Yet.
Lu wanted him to use his resources to find the missing Argridian. Only one thing came to mind, one group who had access to the single best tool on the island for locating people.
But going to them for help would really, really piss off Nayeli.
Vex cleared his throat. “Introductions,” he said instead. “Nayeli’s our resident diver and detonations specialist. If you need anything retrieved or blown up, she’s your girl.”
Nayeli beamed and winked at Lu.
“And Edda.” Vex motioned over his shoulder. “Our muscle and engine expert.”
Edda scowled. “You haven’t said who she is.”
Vex studied Lu for a beat, thinking. “She’s . . . an investor.”
Lu blinked, probably surprised he hadn’t said something unsavory. “I’m Adeluna,” she added. “Lu. I’ve hired your captain to find Milo Ibarra, a missing Argridian general.”
Edda’s brows rose. Her eyes slid to Teo, bent double over the bow, screaming, “A shark! A shark! I saw a shark!”
There were no sharks in Lake Regolith.
Edda’s emotion sputtered into sympathy. “Ibarra your husband?”
Lu gagged. “No. He’s—”
Vex handed the wheel over to Edda, but he paused halfway to the hatch. Sure, Ibarra was an Argridian diplomat, but Lu’s revulsion seemed . . . personal? He waited, but she froze as if she either couldn’t figure out the next words or couldn’t force them out of her mouth.
Edda shrugged. “Keep your secrets. But know that if you endanger this crew, I’ll throw you overboard.”
Teo whipped back from the railing. “No, you won’t!” he declared. “I won’t let you!”
A grin stretched Edda’s lips. Vex teetered back a full step. Edda only ever smiled after a satisfying brawl—and that smile wasn’t this smile, soft and nearly sweet.
“Edda. You all right?” Vex asked.
Edda’s smile vanished. “Brave kid,” she said, and focused on the horizon.
Vex chuckled. The hatch door banged into the deck with a thud, and he dropped down the ladder without a word.
A quick scuffle abovedecks, and Teo came hurtling through the hatch. Vex scrambled to catch him, and the squirming kid landed a stray kick to his temple.
“Ow!” Vex plunked Teo to the floor and rubbed his head. His vision blurred for a second.
Damn—with his strength, the kid would make a good raider.
“Sorry!”
Lu climbed down the ladder with more grace. She dropped beside him and took note of Teo first, then their surroundings.
The hall was so narrow, Vex could touch both walls with his elbows. Two of the three doors were open, showing bunks in each. The space was dark and cramped and smelled of fire—either Nayeli’s fault or the engine—but god, there was no better place in the world.
“My bunkroom,” he said, motioning at it. “Nayeli and Edda’s bunkroom. Privy’s in their room. Through here, we have—” Vex kicked into the last door, a thick iron barrier meant to withstand the engine’s heat. “Engine room.”
He ducked inside. He’d spent the better part of two years on this boat, but the warmth of the well-fed engine slapped him upside the head. Lu followed and staggered back, gasping—he gave her an apologetic shrug.
Against the right wall, a pile of coal sat in a bin, while the furnace glowed orange in the opposite wall. A cot was tucked up in the corner where Edda slept during long night trips.
That gave Vex an idea. Oh, Lu would hate this, but he wasn’t sure he’d forgiven her for the This balm might heal you, or it might be poisonous. Have a good day now.
“Coal, furnace.” Vex pointed out the things as he said them. “Coal goes into furnace, boat functions.”
“What?” Lu asked.
Vex pointed again. “Coal. Furnace.”
“Why do you—” Realization hit Lu. “No! I am not shoveling fuel for your boat while—”
“While what, Princesa?” Vex propped his arm on the open door, its short height letting him bend close to her. The heat of the engine room brought out sweat on his brow, and he saw it on Lu too, beads of condensation rolling down her face. “We aren’t a quarter of the way across Lake Regolith. I doubt Pilkvist will leave his territory, and I’m guessing the Council is still searching New Deza, but the more space we put between your pursuers and us, the better.
”
Lu winced, didn’t tremble or shudder or anything that showed weakness. No doubt she’d stirred up considerable chaos when she’d freed him.
“They aren’t after me,” she said, regaining herself. “And that’s your plan? Sail us into Lake Regolith—and then what? I hired you for a purpose, and I expect you to deliver, raider.”
She glanced back at Teo, who was busying himself by singing some soft, mildly depressing song and seeing if he could hop from the doorway of one bunkroom to the other.
Lu leaned closer to Vex, which shocked him enough that he almost missed her question. “You’re Argridian,” she whispered. “Is that how you will find Milo? Do you have connections?”
Let’s not delve into that particular detail yet.
“No, Princesa. I’m going to use . . . other means. Ever met Cansu Darzi?”
Lu shook her head.
“Good. She’s a pain in the ass. But she’s the head of the Tuncian syndicate in Port Mesi-Teab, and they have a certain magic that might help us find Ibarra.”
“There’s no botanical plant that can serve as a tracker—”
“Not a tracker. It’s—well, it’s complicated. Trust me. I may be a raider”—he said it with exaggerated disgust—“but I adhere to a certain standard of integrity. Since you broke me out of jail, I’m guessing you don’t have anything to contribute to this search. So be useful.”
He waved at the furnace again, and when Lu looked at it, Vex shot out into the hall. He got halfway to the ladder when he noticed Teo behind him, walking in a jolting, awkward way.
Vex blinked. Was the kid trying to mimic his walk?
If so—did he really walk that weirdly?
He looked back. Lu stepped out of the engine room, already frowning.
“Eh, c’mon, kid,” Vex said. “You know how to navigate?”
“No!” Teo chirped.
“Never too early to learn.”
Vex hefted Teo up and attached him to the top few rungs of the ladder to avoid frantic scrambling. Teo climbed to the deck as Lu shot forward.
“Stop—Teo! I’m not leaving you alone with a raider!”
Vex snapped a hurt look at her. “You think I’m a bad influence?”
