Ahnna dropped lower behind the foliage as the ship moved closer, shifting cautiously inside the range of the shipbreakers as it sailed along the cliff sides. Then closer still, and Ahnna lifted her hand to signal Lia, who was waiting below. A heartbeat later, Lia stumbled out into the open. The front of her tunic was splattered with fake vomit, and Ahnna silently applauded her commitment as she spewed a mouthful of crimson onto the ground and then fell to her knees.
“Help!” she screamed, holding out an imploring hand to the soldiers and crew watching from the ship. “Help us!”
Ahnna’s stomach tightened because it felt too real. Felt like she had stepped into an alternative reality when she and James had not returned in time and her nightmare had come to pass. Next to her, Lara took hold of her hand and squeezed as she lifted a spyglass to her face, carefully shading the glass so that the faint light coming through the heavy clouds wouldn’t reflect off it.
“They see her,” Lara muttered. “They’re watching.”
The Amaridians dropped the rest of their sails, drifting, and Ahnna’s nerves twisted with sudden doubt that this would work. What if Katarina knew that she and James had made it in time? What if she suspected this was a ruse?
“Let me see,” Aren muttered, reaching for the spyglass.
Lara leaned away from him. “No. You don’t want to see this. Neither of you two do.”
Lia crawled slowly to the edge of the cliff. Her chin was covered with crimson, her cheeks slick with tears as she reached out her hand to the ship’s crew. Then she shuddered and collapsed to the ground, twitching with feigned death throes with such horrifying accuracy that some primal instinct in Ahnna made her want to go to the woman. Instead, she shifted her gaze to the tiny figures on the ship, the distance making it impossible to see their expressions.
But the way they pumped their fists into the air and spun one another in circles around the decks was painfully clear.
“They are celebrating.” Lara’s voice was cold as death as she lowered the spyglass, her grip on Ahnna’s hand so tight it hurt. “These men are no innocent pawns in Katarina’s plan. They knew exactly what was intended.”
“Good,” Ahnna replied. “That means we will feel no guilt and shed no tears when theiralliescome for their blood.”
The first step in their plan had worked, but the next step was entirely out of their hands. James’s ship should be nearing Cardiff’s waters soon, and everything depended on whether he could convince Ronan to agree to their strategy.
Please be safe,she silently whispered, hoping that the wind would carry it north to his ears.Please come back to me.
There was nothing else she could do to aid him, so together they pressed back into the wilds of Ithicana to watch Amarid take the bridge.
74
James
The ship sailed west firstand then north, and while they were spotted by naval vessels, the Harendellian crews showed no interest. Why should they, given the ship was Cardiffian in style, flew Cardiff’s banners, and had a crew dressed in garments from the north?
James had discovered that the Ithicanians had quite a selection of ships and disguises in their collection. Most vessels had been captured during attacks on Ithicana’s shores, but he learned that this particular vessel was a ghost ship.
“We found her floating in our waters with all the passengers dead in their beds and the crew missing,” one of the crew told him. “The reasonable theory was that the crew had poisoned the passengers and abandoned ship, but all their wealth and goods remained aboard. So there was some thought that the vessel had been hexed by a witch.”
The time he’d spent in Cardiff with his uncles had ensured that James had learned everything about the customs and beliefs of his mother’s people. Whenever he was in Harendell, it was easy to dismiss many of the powers and gifts Cardiffian women claimed to possess, but while in Cardiff, it all felt very real. One could not stand in the room with Calythra and deny that she had power, and there had been times in Lestara’s presence when he felt the same way. It was that feeling of unease that had fallen over him the moment he’d seteyes on the vessel that would take him north, and learning of its dark history only made the sensation worse. He could barely sleep the entire journey, and what sleep he had was plagued by violent dreams that left him in an irritable fog when he was awake.
It was hard not to feel relieved when they entered the northern bay and Cardiff itself came into view. Heavily treed and mountainous, it was a wild place, and as he had since his youth, James felt the call of this land.
“Drop anchor and row me in under the cover of night,” he instructed the crew. “Alexandra and Katarina will both have spies here, so no need to draw attention to my arrival.”
The skies were clear when they reached shore, the stars a million pinpricks of light overhead as James stepped into the shallows, frigid water filling his boots. He tightened the fur cloak that he’d taken from the Ithicanian collection, all of it moldy and moth-eaten, but the chill of the north felt welcome after the oppressive heat of Ithicana, where the air had been so humid it had felt like breathing in water.
“Bloody freezing,” one of the Ithicanians muttered. “Haven’t felt this sort of cold since Devil’s Island.”
“At least the Cardiffians won’t eat you,” another one of the men replied.
“They’ll just have one of their women capture your soul.”
James ignored their speculation over Cardiffian witches and focused his gaze on the dark forests. His uncle’s castle was called Bryngaleth, and unlike rulers of other nations, he kept it as his only home. When he left to hunt or to battle, Ronan Crehan slept in the open air, his favored ceiling the stars in the sky. So of all the places in Cardiff to find him, this was the surest bet.
“Thank you for your companionship,” James said to the Ithicanians. “Safe travels south and may God, fate, and the stars all keep watch over Ithicana.”
“In the tempests we trust,” one said to him, and then they both inclined their heads. “Good luck, Your Grace.”
His jaw tightened at the title, no part of him having grown used to it during their travels.
