I clutch at my chest, nails digging in, trying to claw whatever it is out of me. Set it free. The thing trapped inside and so desperately pounding to be released.
Then, through it all, my mother’s voice calls, “If you are the mighty Princes’ Bane, then you should be able to steal this prince’s heart even without your voice. Without your song.”
I try to cling to consciousness, but the ocean is choking me. Salt and blood scrape down my throat until I can only gasp and thrash. But I hold on. I don’t know what will happen if I close my eyes. I don’t know if I’ll ever open them again.
“If you want to return,” growls the Sea Queen, “then bring me his heart before the solstice.”
I try to focus, but my mother’s words turn to echoes. Sounds I can’t make out. Can’t understand or bear to focus on. I’ve been torn apart and it’s not enough for her.
My eyes begin to shut. The black of the sea blurring in the backs of my eyes. The seawater swirls in my ears until nothing but numbness remains. With a last glance at the blurry shadow of my queen, I close my eyes and give in to the darkness.
14
Elian
THE PYRAMID DISAPPEARS BEHIND the horizon. The sun is climbing higher, gold against gold. We sail onward, leaving the shining city behind, until the ocean turns blue once more and my eyes adjust to the vast expanse of color. It always takes a while. At first, the blues are muted. The whites of the clouds dotted with bronze as leftover shimmers from Midas float across my eyes. But soon the world comes bursting back, vivid and unyielding. The coral of the fish and the bluebell sky.
Everything is behind me now. The pyramid and my family and the bargain I struck with Sakura. And in front of me: the world. Ready to be taken.
I clutch the parchment in my hand. The map of passageways hidden throughout the mighty Cloud Mountain, kept secret by the Págese royals. Ensuring safety when they make their way up the mountain to prove their worth to the people. I’ve bargained my future for it, and all I need now is the Págese necklace. Good thing I know just where to look.
I didn’t tell my family about my engagement. I’m saving that for after I get myself killed. Telling my crew was more than enough hassle, and if their mortifying jibes hadn’t been trouble enough, Madrid’s outrage that I would bargain myself away had been. Spending half her life being sold from ship to ship left her with an inflexible focus on freedom in every aspect.
The only comfort I could offer – and it seemed strange to be the one offering comfort in this kind of situation – is that I have no intention of going through with it. Not that I’m planning to go back on my word. I’m not that sort of a man, and Sakura is not the sort of woman who would take betrayal lightly. But there’s something that can be done. Some other deal to be struck that will give us both what we want. I just need to introduce another player to the game.
I stand on the quarterdeck and survey the Saad. The sun has disappeared, and the only light comes from the moon and the flickering lanterns aboard the ship. Belowdecks, most of my skeleton crew – an apt name for my volunteers – are asleep. Or swapping jokes and lewd stories in place of lullabies. The few that remain above deck are still and subdued in a way they rarely are.
We are sailing toward Eidyllio, one of the few stops we have to make before we reach Págos and the very key to my plan. Eidyllio holds the only replacement for my hand in marriage that Sakura will consider accepting.
On deck, Torik is playing cards with Madrid, who claims to be the best at any game my first mate can think of. The match is quiet and marked only by sharp intakes of breath whenever Torik takes another smoke of his cigar. By his feet is my assistant engineer, who disappears belowdecks every once in a while only to reappear, take a seat on the floor, and continue sewing the holes in his socks.
The night brings out something different in all of them. The Saad is home and they’re safe here, finally able to let their guards down for a few rare moments. To them, the sea is never the true danger. Even crawling with sirens and sharks and beasts that can devour them whole in seconds. The true danger is people. They are the unpredictable. The betrayers and the liars. And on the Saad, they are a world away.
“So this map will lead us to the crystal?” asks Kye.
I shrug. “Maybe just to our deaths.”
He places a hand on my shoulder. “Have some confidence,” he tells me. “You haven’t steered us wrong yet.”
“That just means nobody will be prepared when I do.”