“What ball?“ I demanded.
Safira and the Lady stopped walking. Instead, they turned to stare at me. “The captain hasn’t told you?” Safira asked, concern etched into her forehead.
I pressed my hands into my hips. “Obviously not. And what’s this nonsense about a gown?”
The Lady de Gorm turned away, disgusted.
“I’ll show you,” Safira said, sounding equally grim.
That anyone could fuss so much about a gown was beyond me. Then again, nothing about these pirates made sense to me.
Chapter eleven
Sofie
“Thiswasherbedroom,“Safira said quietly, opening the door.
Room after room of white plaster and vaulted ceilings gave way to this bedroom, which was as large as the average house on Aegle. Though it had the feeling of cold disuse, it didn’t smell musty, nor was there dust dappling the streaks of sunlight when Safira pulled back the brocade draperies.
“I know you all imagine I’m well-versed in the saga of the pirate lords,” I said, my eyes catching on the wardrobe against the back wall and the ornately painted chest at the foot of the bed, “but I don’t know whoheris.”
“Jax’s first wife, Amarylis. His onlytruewife.“ Safira smiled wistfully, an expression I almost missed as I blew past her, searching for these all-important gowns. “It was a love match.”
I threw open the doors to the wardrobe. Amarylis had many fine things, still hanging neatly as though she might return forthem at any time. But none of them were suitable for a formal event.
I left the doors open and turned to the chest.
“She was the first victim of the curse,” Safira added.
I paused in my rummaging through the chest, the noisy layers of thin tissue falling back into place over the packed gowns before I could examine them.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The same thing that always does. No, I shouldn’t say that. Ama was one of the lucky ones, if you could say that. She made it all the way to the enchanted isle, into the cavern where the treasure is hidden. She and the captain went in alone. It was months before he could even talk about it. The captain took his eyes off her for one second. She was lifeless, crumpled to the ground before he could look back.” She sniffed. “They were sweethearts for many years before he took her to the pirate’s ball. He loved her with all his heart, and she adored him.”
I had to wonder, was she one of his paramours in myriad ports, or had that been a lie? Could someone like Jax even experience true love?
“Foolish of him to risk her life for a bit of treasure, then,” I concluded, much to Safira’s open chagrin. “I gather the other marriages were more, er, mercenary?”
“Fellow pirates after a reward,” Safira agreed. “And a thief or two.”
“But never a sorceress?”
Safira fixed me with such a stern glare, I had to return my attention to the dresses before she hypnotized me again. “A common mage, once,” she answered, “but obviously no formally trained sorceresses. Would you have agreed, if he’d asked you instead of tricking you into marriage?”
Her melodic voice lingered in the room, its natural allure dampened by its suddenly harsh notes.
“Bounty or no, he could’ve turned to Dewspell Academy for help,” I argued. “It’s just the sort of puzzle the masters enjoy. Not to mention the prospect of adding an item that can control the seas to the Library of Enchanted Relics.”
I froze with a heavy ivory silk dress in my hands, the thousands of hand-sewn beads catching the light.
“He knew what they would ask in exchange for breaking the curse,” I said, my voice quiet, as if any of Jax’s choices could still astonish me. “He never went to Dewspell for help because he didn’t want to share the treasure.”
“That’s part of it,” Safira agreed.
“What’s the other part?”
“A ship ferrying valuable magical artifacts to Dewspell may have been waylaid byCarabossesome years prior.”
