Vivienne stiffened, jaw locking tight.
His voice dropped lower, turning smooth as honey. His eyes filled with desire as his gaze traced every outline of her body. "Wouldn’t you rather enjoy our time?"
The audacity.Her blood simmered, but she refused to let him see it. Refused to let him win.
"You won’t be ‘enjoying’ anything involving me," she clarified, setting the stone wall of a boundary. "Now, if you’d be so kind as to remove your hand from my door, I’d really love tounpack."
Cirrus released the door with a slow smirk, but the moment his fingers left the wood?—
SLAM.
Vivienne pressed her back against the door, arms still tense at her sides, chest rising and falling in shallow breaths.I hope it hit him.
* * *
Lewis rappedhis knuckles against the heavy oak door of the captain’s quarters. The latch clicked, and Thorne pulled it open, stepping aside.
"Miss Banner, Mr. Blume," Captain Garrett greeted them with a close-lipped smile. "Come in, have a seat."
Sunlight poured through the broad windows lining the stern, casting golden streaks across the sprawling oak desk, its surface cluttered with maps, instruments, and ink pots. Shelves lined the walls, neatly packed with charts, ledgers, and navigational tools. A modest but well-kept bunk rested against the port side.
Thorne gestured to the three chairs opposite the captain’s desk. Vivienne and Lewis took their seats as Thorne remained standing, arms clasped behind his back.
The door burst open.
Thorne’s hand flew to his sword hilt, but relaxed just as fast as Cirrus strolled inside, grinning like a man without a care in the world.
"Easy now, Commander," Cirrus teased. "It’s only your navigator, armed only with a few maps."
Thorne’s glare was sharp enough to cut sailcloth, but he said nothing as Cirrus flopped into the last empty chair, lounging like he owned the place.
Captain Garrett waited for the door to shut before leveling a steady gaze at them all. "Let’s get straight to it. You’re both aware of thetruepurpose of this voyage?"
Vivienne drew a breath, ready to answer, but Lewis beat her to it.
"In case we have different definitions of 'aware', maybe we do a quick recap?"
A hint of surprise flickered in the captain’s sea-green eyes. "Fair enough, Mr. Blume. We’re sailing for the islands of Osimiri to search for any knowledge or artifacts to break the curse on our kingdom.”
Vivienne's eyes snapped up, brows knitting together.
The captain clocked the look. "Believe it or not, Miss Banner," Garrett continued, "the Isles and the curse are as real as this ship, and filled with things we still don’t fully understand."
Vivienne tilted her head. Her fingers drifted toward the table. "What do you mean by things wedon’t understand?"
Cirrus unfurled a large, weathered map across the desk, the parchment crinkling beneath his fingertips. "Let’s start with what wedoknow."
A jolt of realization spread down Vivienne’s limbs like lighting. She had spent an entire year buried in maps, but this one she had never seen before. Her gaze landed first on the detailed coastline of Verdance, the nearest island west of Fendwyr. Her eyes widened.My mother drew this.The inlets, the waterfalls cascading down mountains, the sketched landmarks were all familiar, yet suddenly so much more real.
"Verdance sits about 200 miles southwest of Vantner," Cirrus explained, tracing a tanned finger along the map’s edge. "With the wind in our favor, we should reach it in two days."
Lewis frowned, adjusting his glasses. "Only 200 miles? If it’s that close, why don’t people just… go there?"
"It’s been erased from public maps," Cirrus replied, lips curling into a knowing grin. "And anyone with knowledge of it is sworn to secrecy. You can’t find what you don’t know exists."
Vivienne’s eyes skimmed left across the map. "What about the other islands?"
The further west she looked, the sketches became less precise. The second and third islands held only rough outlines with notes scrawled in the margins. Beyond that, there were general locations and question marks.
