Emanouella paused, and a small smile lit her beautiful face. “Your father is lucky to have a daughter as loyal as you.”
In that moment, Milonia hadn’t imagined she could be anything else. Now…she wasn’t so sure.
Milonia hugged the letters to her chest, then strode to the fire.
“The queen is dead.”Her father’s announcement had weakened her knees. His scowl warned of something far worse.“There will be no alliance. Only retribution.”
Milonia threw his letters into the fire. As the paper blackened and rolled, her father’s scrawling script revealed itself one more time, all of them signed the same way.
QMG.
QMG.
Quintus Milonius Gregorius.
The king of Otuvia.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Near theEntia’s bow, Augustus watched the shadows lengthen in unnatural and distorted ways. Even with an overcast sky, the darkness clawed for him. Below, the sea was unnervingly calm, its glass surface reflecting the gunmetal clouds overhead. Fog crept toward them like a thick blanket and blurred the horizon.
He paced each breath with the calm lap of waves against the hull, but it only made matters worse. There was no rush, no push, no driving force. They’d lost much of the wind hours ago, and the sails were slack.
Lili appeared at his side and swept her gaze across the gray darkness ahead. In the end, she flicked a look at him and back. “I’m sorry.”
Pain shot through his jaw, and he clutched the railing in front of him. “You don’t have to keep saying that. It’s been a week.”
“Well, you haven’t forgiven me yet, so I have to keep saying it.” She spun around and smacked her back against the railing, arms forming a tight bow across her chest. “I haven’t forgiven myself either, so take your time.”
“Lili.”
Her hands came up. “Fine. I’ll stop.” She blew out a breath. “We’ll find her.”
Augustus gave her a pointed look.
“Now I’m done,” she said.
As if sensing the topic of his master, the dronsian climbed up Augustus’s body and perched on his shoulder. His scaly nose nudged Augustus’s cheek.
Augustus jerked his face away. “Stop that, you damned barnacle.”
The barnacle purred, and Augustus resisted the urge to pat the beast’s head.
Lili propped her elbows behind her on the railing and notched her chin toward the current bout of lessons happening only feet away. “Think that’ll do any good?”
Oskar might have left the Guild, but his desire to teach hadn’t. He and his Blades filled their time instructing Omar’s family in self-defense. Many of them already had some basic knowledge, but with the ship heading into a war, and so many hurt or dead in the last attack, everyone wanted to be more prepared.
“Every little bit helps,” Augustus said. He nodded at the three teens up front: Emilia, Nik, and Ramon, otherwise known as Bee, Rook, and Fish—the troublemakers. “They remind you of anyone?”
She grinned. “You, me, Blaze…” She shook her head. “Gods, we were a menace at that age, weren’t we?”
“I thought my mother would one day drop us into the sea just to be done with us.”
“Remember the time she hung you by the feet from the yardarm?”
“Bait for a bloodeye. Good times.”
