“And lose your best bargaining chip?” Adela arched her brows. Eira’s heart sank. Something must’ve shown on her face because Adela continued. “We both know destroying those journals is not advantageous to you. Now, Icouldtake them by force. There is nothing you can do that would stop me. But you’ve intrigued me enough with this little ploy. What is worth so much to you that you would risk the ire of the pirate queen?”
“My friends.”
“Ah, yes. Speaking of being a sentimental fool…” Adela’s tone sounded as though she was scoffing at the notion of being willing to sacrifice for those you cared about, but wasn’t this the same woman who had taken in an orphaned Ducot? From the brief glimpses and knowledge Eira had gleaned, she would bet that Adela had more sentimentality than she was letting on.
“You have to know it to recognize it.”
Adela’s smile grew wider, but her eyes narrowed with annoyance. “You still have not named your price. I grow tired of this game.”
“I want you to free my friends and me,” Eira demanded. “We have no business with you.”
“Eira…” Ducot whispered. She could almost hear what he had said back in Warich.Adela is the one woman who could help you get your magic back.
She felt a little nauseous. He was right. Adela could. But it would come at a cost higher than Eira suspected she wanted to pay. She was better off trying to find her uncle, or getting back to Risen, then Solaris. Someone would be able to help her along the way.
The demand seemed to confuse Adela. “Your friends, yes, but you…youhave no business with me? She who stole my name?”
“I told you that I never meant to,” Eira repeated herself from earlier. Though, the way Adela had said “you”… Were Eira’s suspicions that Adela had been lying earlier about being her mother right? Her want to take her chances by staying warred with what she knew what was best for her friends. But Eira remained steadfast in her decision.
“I know what you said. But I have yet to render my judgment on the matter.” The way Adela spoke left little doubt that she was judge, jury, and executioner. Eira prepared a retort but Adela continued before she could get another word out. “Very well. We shall have it your way.”
“Really?” Eira asked skeptically.
Adela shrugged. “I am a pirate, but I am also a woman of my word. It is so rarely given; I might as well be.”
It was too easy. Eira combed through her thoughts. But doing so was hard. She was tired…very tired. Dawn was nearly upon them and she was going on almost a full day of no sleep.
“Now, my journals, if you please.” Adela unfurled her hand, waiting expectantly. “I won’t ask again nicely.”
Eira pulled the bag back to her and dragged her feet over to the pirate queen. Up close, Adela was even more fearsome. Eira didn’t need sorcery to know that murder was in the air. She could only imagine what unfathomable power constantly crackled around her.
“You will let us go?”
“Of course,” Adela assured her.
Eira passed the bag into the pirate queen’s waiting hand. “Now, my friends?—”
“Take her,” Adela commanded simply.
“But you said?—”
“I said I would let you all go. I never said when, how, or in what state.” She leaned forward, looming over Eira, silencing her with the force of her presence alone. “The first rule you must learn, if you’re going to ever hope to be in league with the pirate queen, is to beveryspecific in your negotiations.”
Eira scowled up at the woman. She balled her hand into a fist and then sprung open her fingers, willing her channel to pop open. But no power came.
And she was far too exhausted, and weak, to fight when a voice behind her uttered, “Loft not.”
Against her will, Eira fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
5
Consciousness filtered back to her. It wasn’t like the last times she had been rendered unconscious with Lightspinning, where she woke with a start. This time, her body clung to the restorative sleep the magic had brought on with all its might.
Sounds came first.
There was the soft creaking of wood. The whisper of water against the hull of the ship as it cut through the river. Heavy thuds overhead and muffled discussions. Others shifted nearby. Some close whispering that Eira couldn’t make out.
Then came touch.
