A step forward with how many taken backward? I’d soon find out.
“This way, my lady.” The lord led her below deck. Her gown fluttered briefly behind her before she was gone, and the space she’d filled with her presence felt empty. I shoved the hollowness aside.
There was work to do.
I strode to the base of the mast where the tension should have held the boom in place. The sailors paused only long enough to glance my way, before returning to their work, redoubling their efforts to make everything right.
Captain Christoff joined me, blowing out an anxious breath as he crouched down beside where the thick rope lay on the decking, half coiled and frayed in one spot.
“Who was supposed to secure this?” He didn’t accuse anyone outright, but no sailor would meet his eyes.
One of them lifted his voice above the salt-heavy wind and shouted, “It was me, Captain.” A young one, no older than twenty by the looks of him, hurried over to join us. He’d survived a few winters but had too much innocence in his eyes, and as he gaped from me to the captain, he looked like he might keel over onto the deck.
My gaze darted back to the rope. I smoothed my hand along the frayed strands. This wasn’t from wear and tear. The ropes would’ve been inspected and replaced prior to the journey if that was the case, and I insisted on daily inspections to avoid a situation like this. The break in the fibers was too clean to be natural, and that sent anger clawing up my spine.
I placed my palm flat against the deck where the rope had fallen and drew in every bit of moisture I could from the wood, pooling it into a thin layer I spread across my fingertips. There was always an element I could pull from my surroundings, even if it was only the sweat off someone’s brow.
Christoff remained beside me, his gaze scanning the area, trying not to look too closely at what I was doing. He’d buried his curiosity under worry.
The water pooled and shifted under my will, weaving into the cut end of the rope and slipping between individual fibers, seeking traces of anything that might point to what had happened. It only took a moment to confirm my worst thoughts.
“The fibers were magically severed, though partially,” I said, more to myself. “Set to give way when whoever did this knew I and my bride would be within reach.”
“Sabotage, then,” the captain said in an equally quiet voice. “No one would’ve noticed the lag in tension until it was too late.”
I flexed my fingers over the rope still slick with water. Rage surged inside me, though only Lorant would’ve seen it.
“To anyone else, it would look like an accident,” I said, my voice full of gravel. I met the captain’s gaze. “Someone wanted me or my queen dead.” Both of us, I’d bet.
Christoff’s face darkened, but his professionalism overrode all other emotions. “This is no regular occurrence, neither on my ship, nor anywhere I command.” His jaw tightened as he glared at the rope. “It’s unheard of, especially on this ship that your—”
“Not since the last attempt, Captain?” I cut in, not out of disrespect, but because I wasn’t looking for excuses, just the identity of whoever was involved. “I want them, and I want themnow.” At my urging, my magic hummed. I would scour the ship and unearth the perpetrator. “Who’s new on board? Was anyone taken on last minute for this voyage?”
He thought for a moment, the lines of his weathered face deepening, his gaze flicking over the men he commanded. “Two new deckhands, but vetted and vouched for by trusted sources.”
“Bloodsworn?”
“Not yet. There was no one who could do the deed.” He paused. “One of them is a capable sailor yet reserved. He signed up at the docks before we departed for Lydel, but he didn’t seem overly enthusiastic about the pay.”
I narrowed my eyes, chewing on the information, tasting it for gaps but finding nothing yet. “What about the other?”
“He’s barely twenty—the one who bound this knot.” Thecaptain’s voice came out hesitant. “He’s nervous. Eager to please. Not one to question orders.”
New recruits, however innocent they looked, could be anything but, especially when they’d been sprinkled throughout my kingdom and beyond, waiting to be told it was time to act.
“Gather the crew,” I said.
I stepped over to the wheelhouse wait, leaning against it while the captain obeyed my command. Soon, they’d all lined up, from the cook to the cabin boy, the first mate to the regular sailors. Even Lord Briscalar.
Some stared forward stoically while a few twitched and fidgeted, looking anywhere but at me. The cabin boy stood as tall as his skinny frame could, his eyes shimmering with tears, but his mouth and posture firm.
I joined the captain standing at attention in front of them. “I’ll inspect them myself.”
Christoff nodded, suppressing the shiver that raced behind his eyes. He held fear for his crew, but he wasn’t afraid of enforcing justice, harsh when necessary, the same as me.
“Thank you all for gathering,” I said in a booming voice.
A few of the crew jumped while others remained solidly in place. The latter had been with us long enough to know what was coming, and while they might fear it, that terror would show nowhere but in their eyes.
