A reply fluttered back to me within minutes, scrawled onto the back of the same messenger bird.
Endergeist has no quarrel with Captain Bluebeard. HRH Richard Venet returns regards. Grant passage southeast and all is forgotten.
Back to my desk. I wrote smaller in order to use the same bird, and to leave room for a reply.
Kindly advise destination or lose more masts.
I nearly chewed through my lip waiting for the paper messenger’s return. When it arrived, it bore the name of the one place I’d been dreading:
Elchion
I wrote back.
Dewspell? Confirm.
The reply:HRH tires of your games. Stand aside.
That was a yes. And there was only one reason the king of Endergeist would be foolish enough to sail his navy to Dewspell.
That reason wasSofie.And no one would dare to take on Dewspell with direct force. King Venet would only be attempting this if he thought he had a sure-fire claim.
Which, come to think of it, he probably did. For all Sofie’s talk of being a balancer and preserving magic, I wasn’t certain Dewspell’s deans would see it that way when this angry king came to call. He was likely bearing an ultimatum:Remove the curse on my infant daughter, or surrender Fairy Godmother Sofie Dar’Vester to Endergeist.
What would they do if King Venet was as smart as he was rumored to be, and he never attacked Dewspell at all? Six ships was more than enough to form a naval blockade of that harbor. Dewspell might happily protect Sofie, but if the halt in trade began to impact all of Elchion, its queen might be more than happy to give Sofie up.
For my final message to his vengeful royal highness, I wrote this in reply:
Sofie Dar’Vester is Bluebeard’s wife. Stand down, or sail faster.
I received no return message, nor did I expect one. As the sun dipped below the horizon that night, it became apparent that King Venet wasn’t giving up.
Which meant my crew and I were in another fight for our lives. This time, it wasn’t against a curse and a powerful sorceress we couldn’t reach.
This time, we sailed for Sofie. And no matter what it took, we would get to her first. Even if it meant we’d be trapped in the bay.
I sent one final paper bird that night, toward the beleagueredDog.
Break off for repairs, then set sail for Aegle. Tell them Endergeist threatens Sofie Dar’Vester at Dewspell Academy, and Bluebeard sails to her aid. After, rally withCarabossewhere possible and sail for Dewspell.
I had no time for my regrets that night. Neither I nor my wind mages got any sleep, working in quick-relief shifts to keep our sails full.
Sofie had stolen something from me—twosomethings, if I counted my heart. I may have been furious with her, I may have been grieving what might have been, but that didn’t matter. Not at a moment like this.
Sofie wasmine. Thatwas what mattered. And because I was hers, nothing would stop me from protecting her now.
No one on this earth was going to lay a finger on my wife ever again.
Chapter twenty-seven
Sofie
Istoodintheshadowof the harbor master’s house, shoulder to shoulder with Lis, watchingTemerityapproach the harbor.
Thirty-eight deans, professors, masters and Headmaster Calliope Wolfe, always recognizable at a distance due to her bright purple hair, stood on the quay, the air shimmering around them as they wove threads of magic out of or around those of chaos.
It might’ve been my imagination, butTemerityhad some damage on her that I hadn’t noticed when she’d left. Something that looked suspiciously like char marks marred her sides and the edges of one sail.
Noticing she’d been through a battle made my heart beat even harder. What if this wasn’t what I hoped it was? What if Violet was leading the fleet here to tell me something terrible had happened to Jax?
