Vengeance of the Pirate Queen(72)

A precious moment. One that I feel might just change the course of my life.

If we make it off this island.

Jadine and her helpers start on breakfast. Kearan adds more wood to the fires.

I add more hope to my soul.

I thought all I had to do was reveal my secret truths and then I would be rejected. People would hate me. Kearan would hate me, and the choice would be made for me. I wouldn’t have to decide if I like this thing that has blossomed between us. This feeling I get whenever he is near.

But now? Now I do have choices to make.

Just not until I get this crew safely out of here. Not until I know whether I live or die.

Otherwise, it’s a moot point.

I feel myself stealing glances at Kearan as the morning goes by. The crew eats and the women on watch are switched out with fresh eyes. Dimella takes roll, and Captain Warran tries to hide his disdain.

Yet I cherish every time Kearan’s eyes meet mine. I relish in those brief connections until it is time to go to work.

“Listen up, you lot,” I say. “It’s time we got off this island.”

“Has the queen been spotted on the horizon?” Dimella asks.

“No, but we’re not going to wait around for her.”

“Why should we need to wait for your queen to arrive before leaving?” Captain Warran interrupts.

There’s no dancing around this issue any longer. What’s Warran going to do at this point? Leave?

“Our ship sank same as yours, but it is of no matter. There’s—”

“You don’t have a ship!” the captain thunders. “All that talk of rescue and your noble pursuits, and you don’t even have a way to get us off this bloody island? Bloody pirates! You lot—”

Kearan steps in front of the man, blocking him from my view. I can’t see the look he gives the other captain, but it finally shuts the man right up.

“The Drifta have a ship,” I say. “We’re going to steal it. We know the general direction of where it struck from. We’ll find it, we’ll take it, and we’ll never look back.”

“We’re going to steal something?” Nydus asks, the prospect clearly exciting him.

“Pirates,” Shura reminds him. “Besides, the natives stranded us here in the first place. It’s only right they be our means of returning home.”

“Indeed,” I say. “Pack up camp at once. We won’t be returning. Be ready to move out within the hour.”

Everyone leaps into movement, letting down tents, packing up the food, dousing the fires. Even amidst the flurry of movement, I catch something out of the corner of my eye. I turn, seeing a figure stride away.

Though I’m not perfectly familiar with the crew of the Wanderer yet, I’m certain that man isn’t one of theirs. No, it was one of the undead, and he’s been called away elsewhere.

Threydan surely knows of our plans.

We don’t have much time.

Roslyn reloads pistols while the adults do the packing. We make quick work of it, getting everything loaded up in under thirty minutes.

And then we move. Dimella takes the front with her compass, leading us back the way we came. Roslyn stays at my side, holding my hand. Kearan stands on the other side of her. Near me, yet not so near as to mean anything by it.

“I really want my papa,” Roslyn says.

“Of course you do,” I say.

“But he was so overbearing, Sorinda. I thought I would want a break from him for years and years after the way he treated me. But I don’t. I wish I could see him this very moment.”

I squeeze her hand. “You will see him again. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Do you think he will be immediately cross with me? Or do you suppose he’d let me hug him first?”

Kearan takes her free hand, shifting the load he carries to his other arm. “He’ll be so happy to see you, he’ll forget there was ever a reason to be cross.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“It’s what I would do if I were missing a daughter.”

“His happiness over seeing me returned won’t last forever. He’ll do something afterward.”

“Probably skin your hide,” I offer.

Roslyn shrugs at that. “It was worth it.”

“What was?”

“This adventure. It’s worth whatever punishment Papa has for me.”

“This was an adventure I could have—” I cut myself off. I was going to add done without, but I realize that’s not true. How can it be? When this journey gave me hope for my own future and clarity on the past. When this journey drew me closer to a man I otherwise would have been able to ignore.

“You’ll have to work hard to earn back his trust, though,” I say instead.

“Probably, but at least I won’t have to listen to him forever!”

“What do you mean by that?” Kearan asks.

“Alosa says I’ll be old enough to fight with her crews when I’m thirteen.”

“Yes, I’m sure your papa will let up then,” Kearan says sarcastically.

Roslyn doesn’t seem to notice.





THE DRIFTA’S VESSEL IS easier to find than I anticipated. The natives dock her not far from where we sank, between a jutting cliff side and an iceberg bigger than any building built by Islanders. From the inside of the island, looking outward, it’s not hard to see how we missed her.