When she’d been aboard Thorne’s ship, Augustus must have felt much the same way. The not knowing was the worst. Thorne was capable of atrocious, unforgivable things, especially when taunted.
Augustus was sure to say something utterly stupid, and then what? Would Thorne hack away at him a piece at a time like he’d started on Mettius?
Some nights, she woke from dreams of Augustus gasping like a gutted fish, bleeding out—limbs, eyes, tongue all gone.
It was after just such a dream that Blaze burst into her cabin and found her crying on the balcony. Little Gus’s face was nudged beneath her chin, a soft cooing sound vibrating from his chest. The remains of night smudged the pale glow across the endless stretch of ocean.
Blaze froze. His mouth opened, closed. Fingers curled against the frame, like he almost dared to comfort her.
“Selene—” he began.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She dried her eyes with the back of her hand. “What is it you came to say?”
“The Fleet. Come on.”
Heart hammering, she followed him to the decks, where the crew worked in eerie silence. A hush clung to the air, broken only by the rhythmic creak of the ship’s planks. To the east, a gray curtain dragged across the sea. Rain.
Ahead, the five remaining ships of the Triarius Fleet loomed in the distance, dark shapes etched against the horizon. They were anchored in the Cardrath Sea, two weeks’ sail west of Warian Bay.
Little Gus chirped nervously from her shoulder, his body vibrating and wings fluttering.
“They’re family,” she told him. “They’re going to help us get Augustus back.”
He calmed at her words, and a signal of reflective light flashed from the lead ship.
Blaze put an arm around her shoulders. “It won’t be long now.”
An hour later, theEntiapulled up alongside theVeyra, the ship sitting at the head of the formation.
Abi Obong’o, a black-skinned woman with a thick accent, was the first to greet Selene. They’d first met in Wairia while docked in the Port of Dolis, then again in the days after the battle in Perean. She was similar to Cassia in her overall fierce presence, but different because she smiled more freely.
Abi cupped Selene’s cheeks, unbothered by the cat-sized beast purring on her shoulder. “It is a relief to see you safe, Miss Selene. I knew you were aboard, of course, but it helps to see you with my own eyes.”
“You as well, Captain.”
“You know better, girl. I am Abi to you.”
Abi was the one who found theEntia. As soon as she heard what had occurred in the pirate city, she sent a raven with their location.
“Any update on our men?” Selene asked the captain.
A grim frown took Abi’s full mouth. “Aye, but I’m afraid it isn’t good.”
“Why?” Blaze asked from Selene’s side.
Abi turned her chocolate eyes to the Ranger, then watched the others board the ship: Omar and Oskar among them. “Come. Let us all speak in private.”
Like theEntia,theVeyrahad a wardroom with walls lined in a dark, polished mahogany. The long table dominating the center was scarred byyears of tense discussions. Behind the captain’s chair at the head, a brass porthole offered a glimpse of the incoming rain.
Abi motioned for them to sit and didn’t question how many had joined.
Omar and Lili sat opposite a pair of black-skinned men on Abi’s right. Abi introduced her lieutenants as her brothers, Rion and Herold, and when they spoke, they shared her thick accent.
In addition, Oskar kept to one side of Selene while Blaze took the other. Blaze’s Rangers stood sentry in a corner. Omar’s wife, Eliza, was accompanied by her sister, Leda. Omar’s brother-in-law, Hector, also came along, having acted as quartermaster to Omar’s captain these past two weeks.
Once everyone had settled, Abi leaned forward to gather her hands atop the table and silently met all eyes. “Thorne is sailing for the continent of Udora.”
Selene pulled up her mental map. Udora, one of this region’s larger landmasses, was within two, maybe three days from their location. “Do we know where in Udora he intends to go?”
