“Don’t make me cut out your tongue.”
“I had to, Lucia. It was the only way.”
I give him a sharp look. “Why did you lie to me about your bounty? Just like Sebastian, you’re free and clear because of your ridiculous, pompous, high and mighty connections.”
He raises an eyebrow. “This is good. Go on, vent.”
The irritation finally gets the best of me, and I turn to face him, jabbing my finger at his chest. “Was this the plan all along? And don’t you dare lie to me. Are you taking me in yourself? Was this just another way to use me to make a small fortune?”
Avery catches my hand after I jab him a little too hard. “You know very well this is not about the bounty.”
“Then what is it?” I demand.
He closes the gap between us, stepping far too close. I struggle to move back, but his hand closes on mine, refusing to let me go.
“It’s about you, Lucia. About clearing your name. About keeping your head attached to your body.” Then he lowers his voice to a silken whisper. “It’s always about you.”
“I loathe you.” I jerk back when he releases me.
“But I got you on my ship.” He has the audacity to wink at me before he saunters off. Then over his shoulder, he calls. “No matter how you look at it, I win.”
***
For better or worse, whether I like it or not, I’m once again aboard the Greybrow Serpent. The trip to Grenalda is far less eventful than the last. Because my dragon is no longer a baby, Flink doesn’t hiccup destructive flames every time he gets a fright, and therefore he doesn’t attempt to burn down Avery’s sails.
No sea serpents visit us.
I’m not left in a dinghy in the middle of the ocean.
In fact, the month of sailing is so smooth, it’s almost boring. Avery harasses me every chance he gets, but he never apologizes—not for taking the orchids and not for embarrassing me in front of half of Teirn.
And I miss Sebastian. It’s as if I’ve lost a condescending, stubborn, know-it-all limb. That’s the problem with being at sea—you have too much time to think. And thinking is the last thing I want to do.
Despite the easy trip, I grow anxious as I watch cool, green land come into view. If a dozen people wanted to capture me in Kalae, how many will there be in Duke Eldemyer’s city? Perhaps we won’t even make it off the ship.
They have enough magic users here; we might be toasted the moment we’re in range.
A crowd gathers on the dock long before we glide into the cove, which I don’t believe is a good sign. Our first welcome to Mesilca wasn’t fabulous. Something tells me this one is going to be far less pleasant.
“Look,” Avery says to me after he yells for his men to drop the anchor. “They’ve sent a welcoming committee.”
Captain Greybrow gives the crowd a cheeky wave.
Immediately, I spot an old friend. The big brute stares at us from the very edge of the pier with his massive arms crossed over his equally massive chest. He looks like a blacksmith, but he’s the duke’s son. And he doesn’t like me very much. He doesn’t care for Avery either, now that I think of it.
“You have the map?” the captain asks, looking almost eager for the confrontation.
“In my satchel.” I wear the strap of the bag looped over my head and shoulder so it cannot be ripped from me the moment we set foot on the dock. I adjust it and my belt.
Since we left Teirn, Avery’s graciously showered me with gifts from every port we’ve docked, perhaps trying to silently make up for his growing list of wrongs. Several outfits are as fine as the first one he gifted me months ago. For one full week I refused them, but then I decided he owed me that and more.
Today, I forgo a gown for an outfit a bit more practical for standing in front of a crossbow firing squad. I wear soft, fitted trousers, a corseted belt constructed of gray silk, and a fashionably low, laced-neck, cream-colored bodice with billowing long sleeves and darts in all the right places. My boots are the color of coal, and the heels are scandalously high.
If Adeline were here, she’d probably say the outfit is two parts courtier and one part tavern wench. She says things like that. Oddly enough, I miss her a little too.
“Don’t fret, Lucia,” Avery says calmly. “We’ll ask to parley.”
I eye him, scowling. “Isn’t that a pirate term?”
“Not necessarily. It’s merely a civilized discussion between two parties who wish to kill each other.”
Apparently, the hulking man known as Yancey knows what it means as well because when Avery’s men reach him in the first dinghy, he lets out a string of words that don’t look civilized, even if I cannot hear them. After a moment, Yancey nods, miffed, and gestures for the rest of us to make our way to the dock.
We board another dinghy and slowly row to what I’m quite sure is our deaths. Or at least my death. Avery will probably sail off with my twenty-five thousand denat bounty.
The day is gray, like my future, and the water is choppy. Unlike the first time I laid eyes on Mesilca’s shores, there are no children playing on the rocky beach. The tide pools are deserted, and the day is cold. It’s late autumn now, and browning leaves fall from the few deciduous trees and bushes on the shore. The stoic evergreens remain unchanged, unaffected by the ever-shifting seasons.
We reach the dock, and one of Avery’s ship boys hurries forward to assist me out of the small vessel. Yancey stands nearby—eyes narrowed, a scowl etched on his face. And so help me, I know I shouldn’t rile him up, but watching my mouth has never been one of my strong points.
“Miss me, Yancey?” I ask sweetly, smiling in a way that’s sure to get a rise out of him.
A muscle in his jaw twitches.
Sebastian would tell me not to taunt him, but Avery only smirks.
I half expect to be taken to a waiting carriage, but apparently, we are to be made to walk all the way to the duke’s castle. I recognize several of our escorts: our dear friend Constable Dominic and the jail guards, Bradley and Marshall. Yancey, of course, leads the way like a sadistic parade master. We gather quite the crowd behind us, and villagers line the streets as if we are on display.
Several of Avery’s men, including his mage, Gregory, walk in step behind us, an extra reminder for the duke that he must play fair.
After a forty-five-minute walk, we finally reach the castle. The beautiful boots have worn blisters on my feet in several places, and every step up the stone staircase leading to the front entry is agony.
We are watched by solemn-eyed maids and serving men. They cluster in groups, waiting for us to pass. No one speaks.
It’s absurd. I want to yell at them all that this is about a ridiculous map and a couple of plants. You’d think we kidnapped the Queen of Kalae and held her hostage in a dragon-guarded tower for all the fuss they’re making.
Finally, we are led into the very library we met the duke in before. I notice absently that the glass case I smashed has been replaced.
Duke Eldemyer and his duchess stand in the middle of the room, expressions like stone.
“We have granted your request to parley, Captain Greybrow,” the duke says when we finally come to a stop. “Though our quarrel is not precisely with you, you best make this worth our while. Do you have the map?”
Avery nods at me, and I pull it from my satchel. Though it’s seen its fair share of chaos, it’s in excellent condition. The thin leather was likely spelled with a protective charm when it was first crafted—and thank goodness since it was coated in the digestive fluids of a giant toad at one point.
“And the orchids?” Eldemyer demands. “Do you have the cuttings?”
“The orchids died, Your Grace,” Avery says, not sounding terribly put out about it.
The duke somehow scowls even as a tiny smile plays at his lips. “Then I see I have no choice but to dole out the girl’s sentence as I see fit. We had a contract, and you not only broke it, but you caused a riot in my home and stole a priceless Grenaldi
an artifact. I require restitution.”
Now artifact is just a stretch. We met the mapmaker himself. That map’s not even fifteen years old.
“What if I can get you something better than the orchids?” Avery says, his voice smooth and confident. “Something only one other province in all the kingdoms is known to have.”
I look at the captain sharply, wondering what he’s up to. He conveniently omitted this part of his plan. Whatever it is, he must have known I wouldn’t like it.
The duke licks his lips, greedy. “I’m listening.”
As provinces go, Grenalda isn’t terribly impressive. It’s out here in the middle of nowhere, and most of its land is wild. Technically, it belongs to King Harold Render of Kalae, but it’s more of a territory. It’s clear to see that Eldemyer wouldn’t mind having his position elevated a bit.
“I’ve heard from certain sources that Your Grace has unsuccessfully looked for many years for a scout willing to retrieve a particular ruby.”
Eldemyer’s eyes go wide, and he swallows. “Possibly.”
“I would be willing to do what it takes to secure you one.”
What ruby? What is Avery talking about? I scramble through all my known histories, jewels, and ingredients needed for smithing and alchemy, sifting for what he might be speaking of, but I come up blank.
“Really?” His Grace drawls. “Though no other man dares, you and your crew are willing?”
“We are.”
“You realize it’s illegal to sail through those waters?”
My eyes widen, and Avery flashes me a smirk. “I do.”
The duke is quiet for several moments as he mulls a very important question over: which does he want more—this ruby? Or my head?
Finally, he makes his decision. “You had best not be lying to me, Captain Greybrow.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
“We have a deal?” Avery demands. “Our crimes, as well as our companions’, will be forgiven, and the bounty on Lucia and Adeline’s heads will be forgotten if we bring you back a sea fire ruby?”
A what?
No, no, no.
I’m already shaking my head, but Avery shoots me a stern look.
“Yes,” the duke agrees. “But I have one condition.”
Avery frowns but nods for him to continue.
“To guarantee this isn’t an elaborate ruse so you may slip the girl into hiding, my son will accompany you on your ship.”
He cannot be serious.
But he is. Yancey meets my eyes and gives me a hard smile.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Fussy Family Nonsense
Of course Duke Eldemyer could never find a scout to bring him a sea fire ruby—because the mission is suicide. I follow Avery onto the ship, ready to corner him. He’s already shouting orders and coordinates to his crew. Not a one of them blinks. They knew what Avery was going to offer in exchange for my freedom. They all knew.
Everyone except for me.
As soon as I’m on the deck, I grab the captain by his arm and yank him toward his cabin. Laughing, he allows me to drag him and leans against his desk the moment I slam the door shut. “If you wanted me to yourself, all you had to do was ask.”
“You know what happened to the last man who successfully retrieved a sea fire ruby?”
Avery’s light brown eyes laugh at me. “Everyone knows.”
“Then you acknowledge that, one way or the other, you’re bounding gleefully toward certain death.”
“One pawn falls prey to an ambitious siren with the desire to control a fleet of ships for her dark purposes and suddenly the waters are forbidden? Even you must think it’s a bit overkill.”
It wasn’t one siren; it was five. The moment the explorer’s ship sailed past the reef islands, they sang to him, luring him and his crew in. The beasts took charge of the vessel, and like pirates, accosted several more.
Then they moved their sights on a tiny island off the coast of Tanrith. Most of the women and children were lost, but before the local men could join their crew, moving onto Kalae’s mainland, the king sent fifteen ships, all with men who volunteered to be charmed with a loss of hearing spell, and they successfully slew the five sirens.
An entire community was destroyed before the beasts could be stopped, and hundreds of men never heard their loved ones’ voices again.
That was eighty years ago. Since that day, the sirens’ water has been forbidden. Our king is the only man who owns a sea fire ruby—the almost mythical cargo which lured the explorer into the sirens’ territory in the first place.
“Say we are successful, and somehow avoid aiding in the destruction of a civilization, the ruby is worth far more than the orchids. Why would you make such an uneven trade?”
Avery pushes away from the desk, ambling toward me. “Because it’s his mania, Lucia. He’s wanted one since he was young, has looked for someone willing to find him one for near on to thirty years.”
“How do you know all this?” I demand as I back away from him, irritated he thinks I’ll let him get close to me again.
“I make it my job to know,” he says, stopping just before he’s too close. “We had to give Eldemyer something he wanted more than revenge. It wasn’t about the orchids, it wasn’t about the map—it was about his pride. And Lucia?”
Reluctant, I look at him.
He steps in a hair closer, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I realized something after we parted, something I wasn’t aware of until I found out there was a bounty on your head.”
“What’s that?” I ask though I know better.
“I would trade anything, sail anywhere, defy anyone, simply to keep you alive.” The captain leans down, meeting me at eye level. “Because it would be a shame for you to die before you realize you’re in love with me.”
The audacity.
“I love Sebastian.”
“I’m aware of that. But again, I remind you, if you gave me the choice you gave him in his grandfather’s shoppe, I would never have let you leave with another man. At least I’m not stringing you along. You know exactly where you stand with me.” Still facing me, he walks to the door and holds his arms open. “You want me? All you have to do is say the word.”
I glance around the room, looking for something to heave at him that isn’t bolted to the floor. When I find nothing practical, I snarl, “You insinuate you are the noble one—that you’re willing to do the impossible to save me from the duke’s wrath—but we both know you have an ulterior motive. You do not do things to be chivalrous, Captain. You do them to fulfill your own agenda.”
“You are my agenda.” With an enigmatic smile, he’s out the door.
I growl, irritated with Avery…irritated with myself because I’m here…irritated I took that wretched map in the first place.
Sebastian was right. Coming here with Avery was a mistake.
***
I barge into Avery’s cabin, not bothering to knock. He looks up from a small book on his desk, mildly surprised by the intrusion. His hair is mussed, and the laces at his neck are loose. Behind a pair of spectacles I’ve never seen him wear, his eyes look tired.
He looks different. Human, I suppose. Not the dashing captain, just a man. A man who looks very much like Sebastian. The resemblance is as unnerving now as it was the first time I noticed it back on our brief stop on an island while Sebastian and I were traveling to Grenalda aboard the Sea Star. And I’m not exactly sure what it is.
They don’t share the same coloring. They both have tan skin, though Avery is a bit more golden. Sebastian’s hair is the darkest brown, almost black, and Avery’s is sandy, nearly blond in the sunlight. Sebastian’s eyes are startlingly green, an unusual and striking color, and Avery’s are light brown.
It’s something in their facial features, in their expressions.
Frowning, I temporarily forget what I came for.
Avery pulls off his glasses and sets them on the book. He gives me a q
uestioning look, one that makes me flush. “Do you want something? Or did you come simply to stare at me? Either way, you’re most welcome.”
He’s far more at ease on his ship, and his usual, exasperating cockiness has returned.
“There’s something that’s bothering me.” It’s not what I came for, but it’s time I ask.
He sits back in his chair and waits.
“When Gerard remembered that he had seen me with one of the Thanes of Reginae, he said that explained what I was doing with you. Then, when you manhandled me and accused me of being a hardened criminal—”
“I hardly manhandled you, and I’m busy right now. You should go.” Dismissing me, he slides his glasses back on and opens the book.
Fueled by his odd behavior, I go toward him, stopping only when I reach the edge of the desk. “You’re a Thane.”
Like Sebastian.
“I’m a Greybrow.”
When he doesn’t exactly deny it, it takes me all of five seconds to put it together—what he was doing in Reginae, who’s carriage we took when we fled Reshire, the strange conversation with the groom. “Lord Thane’s sister, the woman who just returned to Reshire, she’s your grandmother.”
He’s Sebastian’s cousin. His third cousin, but still. Sebastian’s going to have a conniption.
Avery watches me with narrowed eyes and a hard expression. “Are you finished?”
“Why have you never met Sebastian?”
Sighing, Avery once again tosses his glasses to the side. “Except for Grandmother, we didn’t spend time with Mother’s family—they lived on the other side of Kalae. We knew of them, of course, and they’d visit occasionally, but I was usually at sea with my father. I believe I met Great Uncle Selden once when I was about ten.”
Great Uncle Selden. Sebastian’s grandfather.
It doesn’t change anything. It’s just odd, unsettling.
And when Avery looks at me with that exasperated expression, I see Sebastian. It’s making me slightly ill. Was I ever attracted to Avery? Or was I attracted to the resemblance?
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Greybrow Serpent (Silver and Orchids Book 2) Page 9