Iyana pushed down the small sense of hurt before he could sense it.This was good.Maybe if she distanced herself enough from him, he would eventually give up on her.
Thenextmorning,theyall woke early and packed their meager belongings.Iyana stood on the foredeck with the others, shivering in the biting cold.While they were gone, winter had arrived in earnest.
Zane had already instructed the captain that the entire crew was to stay onboard the ship until further instructions were given.If the emperor had a plan to deal with them—other than murder—he had not divulged that information.
Although the sun was barely above the horizon, the docks were already bustling with activity.Shouts of fishmongers and newsboys rang through the space.After the eerie silence of the Dead Lands and Iyana’s self-isolation on the ship, the noise was deafening.She instantly felt overwhelmed—her breathing quickened and her heart raced.
Emmeric grabbed her hand, interlacing their fingers, and squeezed gently.Leaning over, he murmured directly into her ear, “Breathe, Mouse.I’ve got you.”
Iyana managed to suck down a shaky breath and accepted the calming feelings Emmeric was feeding her.She’d need all her wits about her today.Shoving away his help out of pettiness would do her no favors.
“Is that…” Talon asked, trailing off.Iyana peered down the dock to see a gnarled old man hustling towards them as hurriedly as he could.Which wasn’t very fast due to his stooped posture.
“It’s Roq,” Emmeric said.
“Who?”Zane asked, confused.Iyana sometimes forgot he hadn’t been with them for the entire journey.
“The captain who sailed us to the Dead Lands,” Talon answered.“Oh, shit.He doesn’t seem happy.”Tal was right.As he came closer, the old captain’s face was screwed up in an impressive scowl, so that his empty eye socket was almost completely shut.
“We were supposed to bring his rowboat back in the condition he gave it to us,” Kaz reminded them all.
“What?”Zane asked, before hurrying on.“Actually, nevermind.This works out perfectly.”Before they could question what he meant, Roq had reached their party and was shaking his fist at them.
“You bunch of rapscallions, I shoulda never trusted you with me boat,” he growled at them.Roq peered around at each of them.“Where is that tall man with the coin?I expect payment for the loss of me property!”Iyana winced at the mention of Altair.
Zane stepped forward with his hands raised.“Captain Roq, correct?”
“Yes,” he said cautiously, squinting his one good eye at Zane.“And who are you, boy?You wasn’t with them when we crossed the Aptua.”
“You’re right, I wasn’t.But I apologize for the loss of your rowboat.Allow me to make it up to you by offering you my ship.”Zane gestured behind him, where they could see the crew standing on the deck, watching the interaction.
If it was possible, Roq squinted even more.“But that be a royal vessel.”
“It is.”
“And who are you, boy, to give that ship to me?”
“A royal,” Zane said with a smirk—the crown prince of ill repute coming out to play.Roq looked him over again, noting the expensive clothing and well-kept appearance along with the fabled dark hair and emerald-green eyes.Zane swaggered past the speechless captain, clapping him on the shoulder and leaning in close.“Do me a favor, captain, and keep that crew occupied for the next week.”
“Yes, Your Highness.O’ course I can do that.”
“Good man.”He patted Roq’s shoulder again.“And it’s Your Majesty now.”
Zane strutted down the deck as if he hadn’t a care in the world.The rest of them glanced at each other, all of them obviously having forgotten that he had been raised as a royal by a ruthless man.They’d spent too much time with him outside of the empire and had dismissed this side of him.They quickly followed him towards the wharf, attempting to copy his indifferent attitude.
Iyana marveled as, within the hour, Emperor Zane secured them a covered wagon, recovered Ryunn and Pryn from the stables, and had stopped by Curth’s jail to inform them of the criminals in the brig of the royal ship.The constable promised to collect them right away and hold them until Zane could decide what to do with them.He told nobody else about his ascension to the throne or Uther’s death, but between Roq and the imprisoned men, the word would soon circulate.She surmised all of Curth would know there was a new emperor within a few days, and the news would be carried to other towns by merchants alongside their normal wares.
Before it had even reached noon, they were leaving the seaside town in their discreet carriage.Kaz and Emmeric rode above, steering the horses, while Iyana, Zane, and Talon sat in the rickety, covered back portion with their supplies.It was dark and dusty, and the entire thing bounced underneath her every time they hit a hole—which was often.Iyana had to force sneezes down so that they wouldn’t be heard.While they hadn’t seen any stars in Curth, it didn’t mean they weren’t there.Their group very well could have already been spotted and word was getting back to whoever led them, but they still needed to practice caution.
She vaguely recalled Altair explaining how the stars’ hierarchy worked.There were four higher-ranked constellations, and, if she remembered correctly, Centaurus was the highest and therefore would be in charge.Iyana thought one of the others was Draco, but she couldn’t think of the remaining two.And, she realized, Altair had never saidwhowas in charge of Centaurus.
“Talon,” she said, quietly, “do you remember when Em showed us that book he found at the library?And then Altair told us a little about the constellations?”
“Yeah.Why?”
“Who were the four ruling families?I can remember Centaurus and Draco, but not the other two.”
Talon thought on it for a moment.“Scorpius and…Ursa?”
