“I would say the same, but you’re about to sell me out to evil incarnate.”
“I’m running a business. You understand.”
“I understand that anyone in business with Kylian is not only untrustworthy but also guilty by association. I meant what I said. He’s going down whether he gets his hands on me or not. And everyone who sided with him is going to burn with him.”
She doesn’t look fazed. Just steeples her hands, elbows resting on her chair. I notice a faint line of blue caked beneath her fingernails. “If only there were another alternative.”
“Just cut the shit, and tell me what it is you want.”
She picks up a coin and sets it spinning on the desk. “Right now, I want to know why you’re wanted by the King of Vod.”
Mentally exhausted, I give her the abridged version, outlining how Kylian orchestrated this whole elaborate plan to marry me and use me to help him conquer the other kingdoms. How we narrowly escaped and why we were hiding in Bleakwater Bay to begin with.
“So you stabbed yourself to avoid going through with your own wedding?” She snorts when I finish. “ToKylian Triori?”
That’sher whole takeaway from this?
“Yes,” I grit.
“You do know that most females would stab themselves for a chancetomarry him, don’t you?”
“Well, luckily for them, he has a brother who’s a lot less cruel.”
She shakes her head. “Either you’re reckless or insane.”
“Probably both.”
“Actually,” she says after a beat, “I believe there is a way for us to help each other.”
She plants her knee-high boots on the ground. “Something of mine was taken a while ago. I want it back. I think you and I would make quite a persuasive pair, don’t you?”
“That’s it? You want me to help you get back something you lost?”
“That—and I’ll also take what Muscles was offering. Double the price on your heads.”
“Fine. Then we’ll also be needing safe transport back to Hyrax.Alive,”I clarify.“You can collect your pay then.”
“Perfect, we’re heading in that direction anyway.” She reaches out a hand and quirks a perfectly manicured brow. “Do we have a deal?”
I nod, grasping her palm in mine. “We do.”
She flashes me a blinding grin.
“Bronyn?” The hulking pirate appears in the doorway. “Change of plans. Tell the crew we sail north. To Skull Valley.”
48
SERENA
My stomach dips as the ship lurches to the side again. The sea crashes, cradling us between eager waves, slamming against the mermaids and monsters carved into the sides of the salt-worn ship.
Blue above us, blue below. Blue everywhere, like the world begins and ends with it.
The good news is that if Mal plans on gracing us with his sparkling company again, he’ll have to wait until we’re on dry land or risk being harpooned in the middle of an ocean.
Or suffering a brutal shark attack. A sight I would pay good money to see.
The bad news is—we’re on a ship. I have half a fear I’m going to develop scurvy or scarlet fever—some old-timey disease that probably ravaged the Mayflower.
