She hadn’t had the chance to tell Doraan what she had learned yet. He was locked away in his room and had supposedly had a very eventful evening himself. The entire crew was whispering about it and she couldn’t quite believe it herself.
Doraan was a Fire Sorcerer and the explosion she had heard last night was from the manifestation of his gifts. She couldn’t imagine how he was feeling right now. Well, she could to a certain extent, but she had been so young when her gifts manifested, and her family had been there to help her. But for someone who hated sorcery as much as Doraan, the shock would be debilitating.
Kamira sighed heavily, looking out at the shimmering ocean as the sun peeked over the horizon. She was in her usual spot on the ledge just outside the kitchen windows at the ship's rear. She watched as they left the floating Temple behind—watched as it was there one moment and, with a single blink, it was gone again, leaving nothing but miles of open sea in its wake.
Skies, it had been a long night. It was best she get some decent sleep so that she could really sit down and go over everything that had happened. She also wanted to speak with Doraan and make sure he was okay about last night. She wasn’t sure if she should tell him yet that she was also a Sorcerer. It was still so fresh and chances were he was still battling with his hatred of the Sorcerers.
Kamira was so lost in thought, she almost missed the glint of something twinkling far out in the sea behind them. It winked in and out of the horizon like a diamond glinting in the sun, but it was too far away to make out what it was. She grabbed the spyglass Cormac had given her from her belt and extended it fully before closing one eye and peering through it with her other.
It was a ship—a large one with a brass roaring lion as its figurehead, shining like gold in the dying sunlight, and boasting three tall central main masts. Only someone with extreme wealth could afford such an extravagant vessel. That very thought had her moving the spyglass up to the flag flying atop the largest center mast where a roaring lion head on a checkered bed of red and white could be seen.
“Shit!” Kamira yelled. She should have realized it from the ship’s figurehead alone. It was Tarkiin’s sigil. Her mind reeled, heart racing uncontrollably in her chest. That couldn’t be right. She looked at the banner whipping in the wind again, the lion head menacing, threatening to bite her. She angled the spyglass at the deck, and there, looking as if he were staring directly at her, was her husband, Tarkiin. She gasped, shutting the spyglass quickly. Ithadbeen him she saw in Neilmaar that day.
Her husband wasn’t dead after all. And he was after her. Greedy for blood.
32
Doraan
Theywerebeingfollowed.Both Doraan and Cormac had spotted the ship an hour ago, and it had been steadily gaining on them ever since.
“Doraan! Where’s Doraan?” Kamira came sprinting up the steps to the helm, wheezing from the exertion. “There’s a ship!” She pointed behind him.
“I know,” he said looking down at his compass, one hand on the wheel. He had drastically changed course twice in the past hour to see if it was actually following them, and there was no doubt about it. It was. “It’s been following us for some time now.”
“It’s Tarkiin,” she whispered so the crew couldn’t hear.
His head whipped toward her. “What?!” he exclaimed.
She handed him her spyglass. “Look at the sigil.”
He grabbed it and turned around to look through it. Sure enough, the angry lion roared its head in their direction. Why hadn’t he thought to look at the ship’s flag? His mind was too preoccupied. “How is that possible?”
“He wasn’t as dead as I thought he was. Obviously,” She choked out, her face pale. She was scared. “I never told you because I thought I was seeing things, but when I was in Neilmaar, I caught a glimpse of him in one of the town squares. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but it must have actually been him. He had to have seen and recognized me. He’s probably been following us ever since.”
Doraan’s chest grew tight and he breathed out a shaky breath. That was a big ship. TheCursed Souldidn’t hold a chance against it.
Kamira must have noticed him grow anxious because she said, “He’s come for me. He won’t stop until he has me, Doraan. I’ll go to him. There is no need for any of you to get hurt on my behalf.”
“I won’t send you off for execution, Kamira. He’d have your head on a spike the instant you boarded his ship. You know his secret. A secret that would see his own head severed from his body.”
“I know, but…”
“No buts,” Doraan growled. “You will stay here. We’ll figure it out. We always do.”
“Drop sails!” Cormac yelled out beside them.
They would face him head on.
The crew did as commanded and theCursed Soulslowed. They all went silent as they watched the other ship come up alongside theirs.
The Lord’s ship was a hulk and a clumsy excuse for a vessel. It was a massive ship of obvious simple construction—made for its looks rather than its seaworthiness. Doraan wanted to set it ablaze and watch it burn with Tarkiin strapped to its main mast. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth at the image.
The very man himself, as if summoned by the tempting thought, walked to the portside railing that was lined up with their starboard one. His sniveling face caused the now familiar burning to travel up his spine. He bit back against it.
“My, my, I didn’t expect to find a ghost on this ship. So, this is what happened to you, Doraan? Did you flee from home, from your responsibilities?” Tarkiin’s smile turned into a malicious leer.
Doraan growled, the fury bringing that fire closer and closer to the surface, threatening to boil over. He now knew what that feeling was. It had always been there—a foreign thing he didn’t understand. He wasn’t sure he even understood it now that he knew what it was. He wished he could rage at Tarkiin, that he could yell back some insult, but the blasted curse wouldn’t allow it.
