V does the same, but before she follows Thetis down the steps, she glances back over her shoulder.
“Shea, good luck.” V blows a kiss in her direction, and the elf can’t stop the soft smile that spreads across her features.
Then before V leaves, she turns to Jo and says, “Remember what I told you. The heart, much like a rose, can wither if it’s not properly cared for and then bloom when a new sun hits.”
She’s gone before anyone can respond.
Shea steps up to the rail, avoiding Poseidon as she watches the two beautiful women depart from her ship. The men pull the gangplank up from the dock.
Caen calls from below the railing on the quarterdeck, “We'll need an hour or so, Captain. Tero ordered repairs to the hull.”
"Very well."
The crew make the final arrangements and it’s another hour or two before they’re able to sail.
Shea’s eyes wander over her crew. She spots men she recognizes and then the new Arethusians she doesn’t. She observes her comrades-in-arms as they go about their duties, warily watching the soldiers that have infiltrated their ranks.
If only Paetre was here.
How would he react to seeing pirates and lawmen working together to save their world? Somehow she doesn’t think he’d be impressed.
She closes her eyes, breathing in. The feel of a hand on her back makes her jump, and she leans into the hand, assuming it’s Jo’s, but the palm feels much bigger now.
Her eyes shoot open and she shrugs off her father’s touch, recoiling.
There’s sorrow in his eyes, frown lines around his mouth, as she jumps away, but she has no intention of bonding with a god, particularly one who has been deaf and blind to the pain of his people.
Poseidon stalks toward the steps, leaving Beck, Jo, Shea, and James on the afterdeck.
“My lieges,” Shea teases, ignoring her father’s abrupt exit.
Jo comes to her right side as Beck steps to her left, the two of them closing her in.
She can feel their warmth on either shoulder, Beck’s strength and Jo’s power. But somehow instead of feeling trapped, she feels safe placed between these two leaders.
“Are we ready to launch the ship?” Shea inquires to James.
She nods to the two royals who remained on the afterdeck with her during the final preparations.
Beck grins at her before turning his gaze to the bow, and when Shea meets Jo’s eyes for approval, she finds a question there, as if she’d been examining their exchange. It disappears quickly, but Shea takes note of it anyway.
“Aye, Captain,” Jo concedes.
“Well then. Weigh anchor,” Shea announces, and she listens as Tero’s bos’n call fills the deck.
She hasn’t heard that whistle since Paetre, and it looks like the old sea dog really is pulling out all the stops for the new naval crew.
She laughs as it takes some of the men a moment to remember which tune means what order. As she’s surveying the crew, she notices Poseidon down among the deck crew checking the belay pins. Caen walks toward him, and she can hear just over the wind as he tells Poseidon that if he’s going to check the crew’s work he might as well lend a hand and help with what needs to be done.
Caen orders Aster to the crow’s nest, and a yowl echoes across the deck. Shea looks up in time to see Caeruleus flying through the air back from the galley. He soars around the crow’s nest and lands on the edge, cooing at Aster as he waits for him to climb the ladder.
It’s not long before the ship cuts through the tides and is sailing away from Arethusa on the open sea.
The world ahead, Shea can almost forget what she’s really doing out here and who’s on her ship. But she can’t forget, not for the sake of Nereid. This is the trial she’s been waiting for and it’s only just begun.
Chapter 12: The Sins of the Father
Shea
“We have some time before we reach the boundary. The men have been assigned bunks in the crew’s sleeping quarters. So I figure I should point out where you two will be sleeping,” Shea explains as she leads Poseidon, Beck, and Jo below deck.
The launch went off without a hitch, and Shea remained on the deck for a while until she felt Caen could manage. Now it’s time to make everyone comfortable for the two-week journey ahead. Night has almost ended, and the morning sun should be rising any moment. Shea leads them down the winding halls and looks back to see Beck catch himself against the wall.
His cheeks bloat slightly before he manages to swallow, and she stifles her chuckle.
“Don’t worry, Mister Beck, you’ll get used to the swaying.”
Beck groans in response but trudges along behind the three ahead of him. They pass an open door on the way to Beck and Poseidon’s shared quarters, not that they know that yet.
Shea doesn’t bother to glance in but is stopped when she hears Jo shout.
“Nol!”
Shea turns just in time to see her queen go running into the open doorway, and she swears she can hear a grunt as papers go flying into the hall. Shea pushes back past her father as best she can without touching him and looks into the doctor’s quarters. In the hall, Beck is leaning against the back wall with his face pointed skyward and his eyes closed as if he’s still trying to catch his breath.
“I thought you were a sailor, Governor,” Shea teases.
“I was,” Beck murmurs. “Until my ship sank at the destruction of a giant snake and my father died.”
Shea’s ears burn, the tips a bright red and barely distinguishable from her hair.
She realizes this isn’t seasickness but anxiety.
“I’m sorry.”
It doesn’t feel like enough, but Beck opens his eyes anyway and gives her a reassuring smile. His hand reaches out and brushes hers.
“I’ll be okay.”
Shea reluctantly turns away, picking up the papers that scattered into the hall when Jo ran into quarters of the ship’s doctor.
“It’s wonderful to see you again, my dear.”
“How have you been?” Jo asks, practically bouncing with joy. “I hope Caeruleus brought you my letters, the court physician’s post is still available, you know.”
Nol is standing in front of his desk, his cot in the corner, with a large examination table in the center. It’s enough space that he can get by but certainly not as extravagant as a court doctor’s position could get him.
Shea feels a small sliver of jealousy in her stomach at the idea that her own fiancée is trying to poach the best doctor the Duchess has ever had.
Nol gratefully takes his research from Shea. Ever since the monsters appeared in Nereidan waters, any creatures—or pieces of them—left on board have been brought to Nol. He’s taken to researching and documenting their existence.
His whole cabin now smells like fish, but he doesn’t seem to mind, and Jo definitely doesn’t appear to care.
“I did get your messages. I apologize for not writing back, but these past few months have been long. I’ve been studying our new friends, the creatures that I hear this elven priest has conjured.”
“Have you found anything new?” Shea interrupts, and Jo jumps as if she’d forgotten she was there.
Nol grins, holding up a finger and walking to the cabinet in the back of the cabin. He fishes through papers and vials until he finds a silver flask, which he grabs and brings back to the group standing in his doorway.
He hands the flask to Shea. “Poison taken from that water wyvern that we encountered off the coast of—”
Shea coughs, stopping Nol from finishing that sentence; the last thing she needs is for Jo to really know where she’s been the last year.
“Well, anyway, it could have taken down your elephant in under a minute. I’ve made enough that you can coat the tips of the harpoons with it, at least ten of them. If we want any more, we’d need to go back to where we encountered it.”
“And where was that?” Jo inquires.
Nol looks to Shea for the
answer, and just as the captain is about to open her mouth to respond, her father speaks instead.
“I know.” Poseidon grins.
Shea turns sharply toward him with a frown, silently warning him not to say anything, but he simply smiles and shrugs.
“They are creatures of my kingdom,” he explains.
Shea smiles sweetly. “Then perhaps you should have kept it from killing people, it did a lot of harm before we came along.”
She expects Poseidon to look ashamed, but instead he looks wistful. “My dear, it’s their nature. The merfolk would say the same about you.”
Shea doesn’t have a response, so she curses absently to herself as she realizes it’s not a bad argument.
Instead she turns back to the doctor, who is staring at her father with vivid interest.
“Doctor,” Shea continues, and Nol looks to her, “that’ll be all. Like before, I’ll be assigning Jo to work beside you. With the extra men, we’ll need an extra healer for the wounded we’ll surely have.”
“Well I hope our services won’t be needed, but I’ll be happy to work with you again, Nol,” Jo exclaims, hugging the physician once more.
Nol pulls away and takes her hand in his, kissing the back. “An honor, my lady. And I’m sure when the captain retires, and if the position is still open, then I’d love to join the court, but my allegiances are first and foremost to Shea and the Duchess.”
Pride fills Shea’s chest and she nods in gratitude for the kind words. Nol salutes back, and Jo watches the exchange with a grin and shrugs.
“Worth a try, and at least you won’t have to wait long. Why perhaps we’ll have this whole mess sorted by the end of the month and be married by the next.” Jo laughs and Nol chuckles along with her.
Poseidon is quiet, and Shea’s not sure Beck heard, but she can merely force a smile. Married. She’d forgotten about all that. Of course, she loves Jo, none of that has changed, but the deal has come to a close. She’s been caught, which means the vault isn’t next after all this, but a wedding. Her wedding to the queen of Arethusa, after which she will become queen consort.
Her brain starts to shut down when a thought crosses her mind. Ceto has joined with Perses. Lycos has chosen a side and the wrong one at that, which means the empress has committed a crime against Nereid. Forget the vault; this could be her chance to bring Ceto’s reign to an end once and for all. If they get this right, the slave trade in Lycos could fall, and Shea will finally have the power to change things. Maybe times will be changing for the better after all.
“I’m sorry, Captain, but might we continue on. I think I’d like to lie down,” Beck’s quiet voice mutters from behind her, and when she turns, his pale handsome face causes her heart to flutter.
She steps closer to him, positioning his arm over her shoulders, as he doesn’t look quite well.
“Are you alright?” Shea offers, and he’s so close to her it makes everything she was thinking before harder to comprehend.
“With your support, I’m great,” he murmurs back, and it makes her heart beat firmly in her chest.
“What’s this? A sick passenger?”
Nol steps forward, taking Beck from Shea, though the governor tries to wave him off.
“I’m fine. Really, I probably just need some air. Assign me a job too, and I’ll get to it,” Beck objects.
He tries pushing away from Nol again, but the doctor has dealt with Caen and Shea on many occasions when they’ve been past the point of needing sleep, and so he holds on to the young man.
“No. I think he could do with a rest. He’s had a rough go of it, what with the world trying to end. Maybe you could give him some valerian root mixed with—”
Shea can’t say what came over her, but there’s something about his pain that she wants to fix, and so she reaches inside to where her magic lies and pulls.
“Shea, your eyes,” Jo starts to say, but Shea cuts her off.
“Ýpnos,” Shea commands, and then Beck is falling.
His eyes roll back in his head, and Nol shouts, catching the young man in his arms—a difficult task considering he’s about four inches shorter than the governor.
Shea shudders out a breath and Jo is at her side.
She feels a large body press past her to the doctor and watches as her father lifts Beck into his arms.
“Shea, are you okay?” Jo asks, looking her over.
She places her hands on each side of Shea’s face, but Shea’s eyes dart past her toward Beck.
“I’m okay. I didn’t mean to—I don’t know what happened.”
“Your magic is getting stronger. That’s good, you’ll need it,” Poseidon tells her.
Nol tells the god to bring Beck back into the doctor’s cabin, instructing Poseidon to lay him on the table. Nol even grabs the pillow on his cot to place under his head.
Nol checks Beck’s pulse and sighs in relief.
“He’s fine. I’ll take care of him. You go, I hear we’ll be hitting the boundary soon.”
Shea nods and steps away, Jo and Poseidon do the same as Nol closes the door on him.
Shea shakes off the guilt she feels for using her magic on Beck and gestures for Jo and her father to follow behind.
“Let’s get you to your quarters.”
“Shea, wait,” Jo protests, but the captain is already walking ahead.
Jo calls her name a few more times until finally she goes silent. Shea focuses on the hall and the wood under her feet as she finally makes it to the room she’s assigned to Beck and Poseidon.
“You’ll have to share, it was this or the main crew quarters. Caen felt it’d be better if you and Beck were separate, so he gave up his private cabin,” Shea recites as she walks into the familiar room and turns only to wince as she sees Jo is no longer there, just Poseidon.
“Where’s Jo?”
“I told her you’d meet her at your cabin,” Poseidon states, and he closes the door behind him as he steps in. “I think we need to talk.”
“I don’t think so,” Shea replies, shoving past him, but he grabs her and before she can react, he has her pressed up against the wall.
Caen’s desk has been pushed up against the far back to make room for a second cot, his bed moved off to the side as well. Otherwise the room is pretty bare. Many of Caen’s documents and maps were moved to Aster’s old room for storage as her boy heartbreakingly announced to her six months ago that he was too old to sleep in the captain’s quarters and that he’d prefer to be with the crew. So she had let him go.
“You may be grown, but I’m still your father and you’re going to listen to me.”
Poseidon’s growl brings her back to the present and she tries to shove him off but is surprised by the strength holding her back.
“How are you—?”
“Holding you? Benefit of being around my children, it strengthens me as well, although not nearly enough as my trident or Atlantis would.”
Shea starts to struggle, if his being around her makes him stronger, then that’s the last thing she wants.
“Shea, would you stop. Stop it!”
“No! I won’t, you are not my father. You’re simply the dick that helped give me life. I had a father and he’s dead, I don’t need you!”
“You bloody well do,” Poseidon snarls, and his anger pins Shea in place.
Her chest is heaving and so is his as she glares Poseidon down. He glares right back.
The worst part is that, looking at him, she sees herself. The eyes, his mouth, she can see Proteus’s cheekbones within those storming features. She’d been an orphan when she met Paetre, no family to speak of; she’d made the family she has now.
But now there’s blood. A father, two half brothers, and a nephew. She has blood family and the little elven girl in her wants to rejoice; now she knows where she comes from. The only problem is the truth behind her origins is a nightmare and she’s looking at the monster who started it all.
“I’m sorry,” he finally says.<
br />
“What?” Shea growls.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not being what you expected,” Poseidon sighs.
He releases Shea and she has a mind to walk out the door, but for some reason she stays leaning back against the wall, rubbing her wrists.
“I’ve never been father of the year,” Poseidon chuckles, sitting down on the cot. “Underdeep. My younger brother is a dick and yet somehow he always managed to have some form of relationship with his mortal children.”
Zeus, Shea’s mind helpfully supplies, the name of the king of the skies.
He’s not favorably worshipped on Nereid, as the creation story stems from Poseidon and all Nereidans believe the king of the sea to be their creator.
Shea tries not to think about the implications of being related to the rest of the pantheon. Just because Nereid is an ocean culture doesn’t mean the other gods aren’t visibly worshipped, it’s just not common. Small clans within the Eastlands pray to the female goddess Artemis for good hunts, and outlander farmers in Lycos pray to one they call Ceres, or in the north of Arethusa, Demeter.
But according to religion, those other gods are not the Nereidans’ creators, and so their temples and talismans are few and far in between on the ocean continent of Nereid. But if Shea’s father is real, then that must mean the others are too, and the world is a lot bigger than anyone has realized.
Shea learned this very lesson over the past year. Shaking away the memories of how far she wandered, Shea brings her attention back to her father.
“But I do love you. All of you. Triton, even Perses. I was blinded with immortality; each of your lives is so fleeting in the grand scheme. It’s hard to get attached and always painful when your time here ends.”
Shea spits out a bitter laugh, crossing her arms over her chest. “Can you not hear how that sounds? We’re not your pets, we’re people, direct descendants of you. Screw your immortality; that is not an excuse for absent parenting. I was stolen by slavers. Taken from my mother, and my home, and you let them. You could have stopped them.”
The Veiled Descendants Page 12