Our little boat shuddered against the sea’s onslaught. We drew nearer and nearer the rocks.
“Bardo!” the bone-rattler who’d silenced us grunted at the other bone-rattler.
Bardo slid into place next to his fellow sailor, and they heaved on the same oar. Nikella abandoned her spear to seize Aiden’s oar.
My heart pounded in my throat. If they weren’t strong enough... If the oars snapped...
Another wave slapped me in the face. I swiped my hair out of my eyes, expecting to see sharp rocks.
Instead, calmer waters stretched out before us in a winding path. The boat ceased its wild tossing. The incessant drumbeat of the waves grew muffled as we slipped into the stone passageway.
Yarina sighed with relief. I lifted my face to the sky. Still clear and salted with stars.
Something glinted at the edge of the cliff. I stiffened.
But no shouts came. No torches burned.
Perhaps I’d imagined it. A trick of the slippery light.
I could warn the others, but we were so close. If we turned back now, all that would’ve been for nothing.
We drifted around one bend, then two. The oars hardly made a sound.
Then... a glow ahead. Just around the next curve.
The boat slowed.
My fingers shook as I reached out to anchor us against a mossy rock. There was nowhere to land the boat. We would have to hug the cliff to peek around the corner. The last thing I wanted was to drift out into the open in full view of whatever awaited us in the bay.
Yarina nudged my shoulder aside so she could crane her head around the rock wall.
“Fucking Four . . .” she breathed.
Gods, is it the whole army? Can she see the mine?
I practically toppled out of the boat trying to lean around her. My mouth fell open.
The inlet opened into a wide bay. Enormous torches and bonfires illuminated a rocky beach crawling with soldiers in shiny armor. They barked orders at prisoners in ragged clothing.
But they weren’t hauling sunstone. No. They were building ships.
Two large ships, both twice the size ofMynastra’s Wings, floated in the calm water. Each one bore catapults on swiveling platforms that branched out from the deck like wooden arms.
I thought no one had used catapults since the last great war between gods and humans. But somehow Renwell had made them smaller and more agile.
The ribs of a third ship poked up from a wooden platform on the beach.
Yarina suddenly disappeared from my side, replaced by a more familiar presence.
“Warships,” Aiden murmured.
I tore my gaze away to stare up at him, the torches reflecting in his green eyes. “For what?”
“Renwell stole the throne. This is how he means to keep it. Or perhaps he wants more than Rellmira,” he added quietly, almost to himself.
I shivered. How long had he been using the sunstone mine as a cover for building these monstrosities? Had my father known? If he did, then he’d been even more despicable than I thought.
The current shifted, pushing our boat into open water. I lost my footing and nearly tumbled in, but Aiden grabbed my arm and kept me upright.
