“How did this happen?” Estrella asked. “Did they use a charm?”
Roslynn nodded.
“I already told Shadow. It didn’t pierce my skin.”
Estrella sighed.
“It shouldn’t be permanent, then.”
“So it will fade?” William asked.
His eyes glinted. With tears? I stared at him.
“Probably,” Estrella said. “But the charm must have been strong.”
Roslynn nodded and reached for William. She missed, and he grabbed her hand and pressed it to his lips. She smiled at him.
“The Dragon doesn’t mess around.”
Chapter 22
“What?”
William jumped out of his seat. Roslynn flinched at the sudden movement.
“Sit down, William,” Shadow said.
“What, did you already tell him about that?” William asked. “Where have you been?”
“Let her finish eating,” Estrella said. “We’ll hear the whole story in time.”
“I’m done,” Roslynn said. “I don’t think my jaw can take any more of that.”
She laughed. I was the only one who joined her.
“I’ll find you some better food,” William said. “I’ll-”
Roslynn shook her head.
“I’m fine, William. Really, I am.”
“You were supposed to help at the shop,” he said. “Not go searching for pirates! You were supposed-”
“To stay on the farm while you flirted your way across the country?”
“That’s not fair, Roslynn.”
William looked hurt. Roslynn found his hand and squeezed it.
“I’m joking. Mostly. Don’t think I don’t know about Elsie. I helped in their shop, for goodness sake!”
Elsie. We all stiffened, but of course Roslynn couldn’t see us. She continued.
“I didn’t go looking for the Dragon. I couldn’t have found him if I had. It was just good luck.”
“Good luck?”
William looked ready to punch something. He let his breath out in a slow hiss. Roslynn patted his hand.
“A few days ago, I heard that a chest of sapphires was being transferred from the Salara Museum to the palace. It isn’t far, so I thought security might be low. I went to check it out.”
“You tried to steal gems? On your own?”
I leaned forward, impressed. Everyone else just looked shocked.
“Roslynn, how could you?” William said.
“Please, you’ve raided the palace how many times now? I found a Navy ship docked at the museum and sneaked aboard. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the gems. They set sail before I could escape.”
“And the Dragon attacked them?”
“I’m not sure. I hid in a half empty salt crate and couldn’t see much. We docked along the river for a while, and the sailors unloaded cargo. They carried my crate to shore. I tried to sneak out and hide in the woods, but someone hit me and knocked me out. I woke up in a cabin on a different ship. We were at sea.”
William clenched his fists.
“How do you know it was a different ship?” Estrella asked. “You were inside a cabin.”
“Navy ships have the same type of wood,” Roslynn said. “That light gold sort of color. This ship was red.”
Estrella gasped.
“Are you sure? Red?”
Roslynn nodded.
“How do you know the ship was the Dragon’s?” Shadow asked. “Did you see him?”
Everyone leaned forward.
“He told me he was the Dragon. He could have been lying, I suppose. I hadn’t thought of that. I didn’t see him. He kept me tied up in a chair and stayed behind me until he used the owl eyes.”
“Were there any other prisoners?” Estrella asked.
Roslynn shook her head.
“How could you do this?” William asked. “What if he had killed you? Pirates are vicious! No offense, Estrella.”
Estrella threw her hands in the air.
“For the last time, I’m not a pirate!”
“What did he ask you about?” Shadow asked.
“I admitted I had been trying to steal gems, and he asked me about Princess Salara.”
“What does the Dragon want with Princess Salara?” I asked.
Roslynn shrugged.
“He wouldn’t be the only pirate obsessed with her,” Shadow pointed out. “If he got his hands on her, he would control Salaria.”
“Is he sending in a marriage proposal and treaty?” William joked.
Shadow didn’t laugh.
“The King is getting desperate,” he said.
“You really think they’d give Salara to the Dragon?” I asked.
“They do need the trade routes open,” Estrella said. “The peace treaty with Castana is in jeopardy if the fairy salt shipments don’t make it.”
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “Absolutely ridiculous. They would never give her to a pirate.”
But they would replace her. They would stop searching for her.
“How did you escape?” Estrella asked. “Why did he curse you?”
“He was trying to get information out of me. He asked about the operas, life in Salaria, what the Princess liked. That sort of thing. If I didn’t know something, he touched me with the owl eyes charm again. After a while, all I could see was white. Even with my eyes closed.”
She shuddered and rubbed her temple. Shadow often used that same gesture as if trying to massage away a headache.
“I’ll kill him,” William said.
He didn’t move. His expression didn’t change. He meant it.
“I’ve never heard of using owl eyes for torture,” Estrella said.
“He said he doesn’t like blood staining his ship. Curses are clean.”
William clenched his jaw and tapped his foot on the ground.
“How did you end up in the caves?” I asked.
“His crew threw me overboard. Expected me to drown, but I’ve lived by the Ghone all my life. I swam towards the shore and ended up in a mine tunnel. I was pretty weak by that time though. When I tried to get a drink from the river, I slipped and couldn’t get out of the current.”
She leaned her head against William’s shoulder.
“You should rest,” he said.
“She can take my bed,” Shadow said. “I’ll find another.”
“I’m fine,” Roslynn said.
“You just swam across the ocean. And you’ve been cursed. You’re going to rest now,” William said.
“It wasn’t that far.”
William picked her up and carried her out of the cavern.
Estrella sighed and picked up the papers from the King’s council chamber.
“I’ll look over the rest of these. If the Dragon made any demands, maybe Salaria and the colonies have a plan for dealing with them.”
She took the papers back to our room. Shadow smiled at me.
“Who would have thought raiding the palace would be the least exciting part of our week?”
I laughed.
“We still need water,” he said. “Let’s go get some.”
Instead of asking Estrella for stars, Shadow lit a candle. We walked to the river, picked up the buckets of water I had left, and strolled back to the cavern. We poured the water in the barrel and walked back.
Instead of going to the river, Shadow led me to the lake.
“Estrella said this water isn’t good to drink,” I said.
“But it is a nice place to sit.”
We found a rock and sat side by side, watching the candle’s reflection in the motionless water.
“Will Roslynn be alright?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Owl eyes is not life threatening.”
“What is it, exactly?”
“Have you ever walked into a dark place? It takes your eyes a moment to adjust, but then you can see again?”
I laughed and looked at the mine around me.
“Now when have
I been in a dark place?”
Shadow smiled.
“The same adjustment happens when you move from dark to light. The world seems too bright until your eyes adjust.”
I nodded.
“When you are in a dark place, your pupil, the black part of your eye, expands to let in more light.”
He pushed his hair to the side and leaned towards me. His pupils filled most of his eyes. I gasped.
“The owl eyes charm expands the pupil larger than it normally would go. It allows people to see in the dark.”
“What about in the light?”
“It is too bright. And painful.”
“But Estrella said it isn’t permanent.”
Shadow shook his head.
“I hope Roslynn’s isn’t.”
“But what about yours? How did this happen?”
Shadow examined me for a moment. He exhaled slowly.
“Before the salt tax was abolished, anyone who couldn’t pay it would work in the mines instead. My family couldn’t pay. My father would have been in the mines for a year, but it cut his sentence in half if I went with him. So I did. We were given owl eyes charms.”
“And the curse went wrong?”
“I never touched one. My father was afraid it would cause permanent damage since I was so young. I followed him in that dark pit for six months. When we returned home, my father found work as a gardener. The family gave him an owl eyes charm so he could work at night.”
“It was Estrella’s garden.”
Shadow looked surprised, but nodded.
“Her father was an Admiral, and her mother was a Castanian noblewoman. But Estrella and I became friends anyway. Her parents didn’t mind.”
“That’s odd.”
Shadow smiled.
“The neighbors minded. I had to hide anytime they came over. And their son came over a lot.”
“So you used the owl eyes in the garden?”
Shadow held his hand up.
“I’m getting to that part. Estrella became one of Princess Salara’s companions. She told me all about her. I wanted to see for myself, and Estrella decided that I should. She helped me sneak into a banquet. And I saw her. Princess Salara.”
I held my breath.
“She was beautiful,” Shadow said. “More beautiful than any poet had said. Every smile, every laugh, was perfect. I just stood there, watching her. No one noticed me. They were all focused on her as well. When the moon began to sink in the sky, I knew I had to go back. But I wanted to bring something back to my mother and sister. I needed to share this beauty, to prove it. So I grabbed the first thing I found with her face on it: a boiled egg.
“Someone saw me and shouted. Soldiers grabbed me. I looked for Estrella. She shouted for me, but her father held her back. Salara heard the commotion, and for a moment our eyes met. Then she laughed and turned away.”
Our eyes met again. How many years later?
“I’m sorry.”
“They took me to the prison tower. The guard smashed the egg over my head. I sat in the darkness while it rotted in my hair. The other prisoners said I would be executed. Then one night, I heard a familiar voice in the blackness. My father.
“I thought I had gone insane. But he was there, and he had a key. He took my hand, and we ran. It was easy, just like in the mines. At least, until the guards found us. They shot him. When he pressed his owl eyes charm into my hand, I saw the arrow had gone all the way through his chest. I grabbed it to help him and cut my hand.
“He told me to run. To follow the trail.”
Shadow’s voice broke. I waited.
“He had left pebbles from the garden to mark the way out. I followed them and held the charm in my cut hand so I could open doors without leaving blood. By the time I got out, the charm had been absorbed into the cut. It was a part of me.
“I hid in the mines. I made it to William’s farm a few days later, barely alive.”
“Oh,” I said. “But maybe Estrella, with her new crystal-”
“She’s tried. So many times. When it absorbed into my bloodstream, the charm created a loop in my soul. That sort of magic is unpredictable. Hard to undo.”
He held up his hand. Scars and calluses from the mines etched across his palms. One scar was lighter and smooth to touch. I traced my finger across it.
“How good is your vision?” I asked.
“Fine in the dark.”
“So last night when we saw Princess Salara-”
“I saw her.”
“And she looked the same? You didn’t notice anything strange about her?”
“No, did you?”
I shook my head. I had seen Elsie dressed up as me in my bed, but surely that was crazy?
“I think I experienced owl eyes once,” I told him. “I ran into a stagehand at the ballet, and all the lights seemed brighter.”
Shadow nodded.
“Is that why they called you Shadow? Because you spent so much time in the dark?”
“My parents called me Shadow because I looked so much like my father. Because I followed him everywhere. It is the only name I’ve ever had.”
We sat in silence a while longer, then Shadow stood and offered me his hand. He didn’t let go until we reached the cavern. Estrella sat at the table reading through the papers. William and Roslynn were nowhere to be seen.
“Where will you sleep?” Estrella asked.
Shadow shrugged. He handed me a piece of dried meat. I chewed as much as I could and gave the rest to Seda. He jumped onto my lap and purred. I dangled my apron strings for him to play with and winced when he clawed my leg. He felt the lump of the Rosas Rojas and batted it.
“He likes you,” Estrella said.
She smiled as if she had given me a compliment.
“Of course he does.”
I carried Seda to the next room and lay on my bed. He sat on my feet, then decided he wasn’t ready to sleep and ran back to Estrella.
The bed in the cavern was comfortable, but it took me a while to fall asleep.
In my dreams, Sir Gilbert smiled at me. A breeze ran through my hair, which was long again. Past my waist.
“Are you safe?” I asked. “Did you make it home?”
He laughed.
“I should ask you the same question. Where are you?”
“I’m serious. The seas are dangerous right now. The Dragon has been spotted in Salaria.”
As if to prove my point, we suddenly stood on a ship. Dark waves pushed over the side. We each took a step back. He stayed on the deck. I stood on the shore now, watching him sail away. The wind howled.
I woke up to the sound of Seda yowling. Our cavern was dark, but a faint light drifted in from the main room. I stared at the ceiling, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Finally, I could see Seda as a white blur in the blackness.
He purred when I sat up.
“Estrella?”
She didn’t answer.
I sat up in bed.
Seda had pulled all the covers off Estrella’s bed. He jumped and twisted. I picked him up and realized he was tied to the bedpost. I undid the knots in the rope and carried him to the common room. He jumped out of my arms and onto the table. I handed him a small piece of dried meat and chewed on the rest.
A candle on the table illuminated the room with a cold light. Was it morning? I had no concept of time in the mines. Seda finished his meat and meowed for more.
William leaned in the doorway.
“Keep that cat quiet, or I’ll throw it in the lake. Roslynn needs to rest.”
“It isn’t my fault. Estrella left him tied up.”
“I don’t care.”
“Where’s Estrella?” Shadow asked.
He sat next to me at the table.
“Wherever she is, she should have taken that yowling beast with her,” William said.
“If she tied him up, she obviously didn’t want him to follow her,” Shadow said.
“She’s probably fetching water,” I said.
“What time is it?”
Shadow and William shrugged.
“Um, isn’t that a problem if we’re supposed to meet Captain?”
“Estrella has been communicating with him. She won’t let us miss the deadline,” Shadow said. “We should ready the goods though.”
“Have fun playing dress up,” William said. “I’m going to check on Roslynn.”
“Isn’t she asleep?” I said.
“I don’t want her to wake up blind and alone in a cave.”
“Take a candle,” Shadow said.
He pulled a candle from his bag and tapped it on the table. A blueish flame flickered to life. William took the candle and left.
“Miner’s candles,” Shadow said. “I found extras while I was looking for food.”
He grabbed the papers from the top of the stack, and we walked to the cavern with the stolen goods. Seda followed us, running around our feet and chasing shadows on the wall.
“Going to do some reading?” I asked.
“I want to make a list of everything we have so the trade can go faster.”
He turned the paper over and waved the blank side at me.
“Did Estrella find anything about the Dragon in the treaty?”
“She didn’t mention anything. Most of it deals with trade and new laws.”
He flipped the paper over and read aloud, “The Governor of Salaria will be replaced by the Duke appointed by the King at the end of year.”
“If they’re getting a Duke, they’ve become a province,” I said. “That’s interesting.”
I should have known that already. As heir to the throne, I should have been informed.
“Yes, but that doesn’t really affect us. They’re not even changing rulers. The Governor is just changing his title to Duke. And past Governors will be awarded the title posthumously. What an honor.”
“It isn’t for them,” I said, taking offense at his sarcastic tone. “It is for their families. Their children and grandchildren. That will raise their standing in court considerably.”
“Yes the family of-”
“Yes?”
Shadow stared at the paper and frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s a list of the past Governors who will become Dukes, but it doesn’t make sense.”
I looked at the piece of paper.
The list of names seemed harmless. The past Governors differed in rank. Some had been knights or naval officers while others already held the rank of Duke or higher.
Rook and Shadow (Salarian Chronicles Book 1) Page 19