“Who the fuck renamed it?” I growl.
But my heart is beating too fast to concentrate on the desecration of such a fine ship.I adjust the spyglass, focusing on the helm. A smile breaks across my face. There she is, shouting orders and holding tight to the wheel as if she were some grizzled old sailor. My baby sister, Delphia.
“Oh no!” Wrenley cries, grabbing my arm. “Look there!”
A second schooner emerges from behind the barge, twice the size of my sister’s ship. A large cannon at the forecastle oozes with smoke. Thankfully, they weren’t close enough to hitThe Trident’s Glory.But they’re gaining fast. I set my gaze upon thehelm of the enemy schooner. I’ve spent these last three months trying to be as numb as I possibly could, not wanting to feel the loss of Rosie, the hopelessness for my brothers, or the guilt of not being what Wrenley needs. But all of that numbness fades away as I set my sights on Kairyn.
He’s bent over the railing leading up to the helm, shoulders shaking. His cape looks soaking wet, and water drips from under his helmet over his black chest plate. A soldier walks up to him with a blanket, and he shoves the man away.
That bastardtookRosalina. He mutilated Ezryn. He betrayed us all. Now, he’s coming after my sister.
Not if I get to her first.
My teeth grind together so hard, I’m surprised they don’t crack. I throw the spyglass to the ground and look at Wrenley. “We have to get those bastards away from my sister’s ship! Let’s get this boat moving. Hard to lee! Full to the wind!”
Wrenley blinks her giant blue eyes at me. “What?”
“Hard to lee—don’t you know? Your father was a fisherman, for stars’ sake!” Anger cuts through my words as I rush to the stern to do it myself.
“Doesn’t mean he paid any attention to me,” she snaps.
“Just make sure the ropes don’t get caught. We need to catchThe Trident’s Glory.”
“I thought you said it was the fastest ship in Summer?”
I flash her a grin. “The fastest ship is whichever one I’m sailing.”
With the wind at our back, our skiff takes off across the sea heading straight between Kairyn’s platoon and my sister’s ship.
“What’s the plan here, Day?” Wrenley screams, bracing herself against the edge as our skiff crashes through the waves. “That’s a big ship and we’re just … we’re just us.”
I rush forward to adjust the ropes and hover right over her. I hold her gaze and smile. “Exactly. We’re us. That’s all we need.”
A blush rises on her cheeks, and she looks away.
As we get closer, voices ring out over the waves. “Secure the hatches! Enemy fire incoming!” my sister cries. Her voice is so young, still in adolescence. Leave it to Delphia to have a whole ship at her command while also still sleeping with a stuffed doll.
Another voice rings out louder. Kairyn has stalked to the bow of the ship and points a leather finger toward my sister. “Send that piece of junk to the bottom of the sea!”
“You’ve got the boat, Wren!” I snatch the fishing harpoon and tie its line to the sturdy cleat on the front of the ship. Then I hold the wooden shaft of the harpoon in my right hand and brace a leg on the railing. “Get us right in front of that ugly ship.”
“Right in front of the cannon?” Wrenley screams. Quickly, she puts her hood over her face, covering herself from view.
“Exactly.”
Our skiff shoots before the giant boat. I stare up at the forward cannon, arching my arm backward.
“Go left, left, left,” I direct. “There!”
I throw the harpoon and it sails through the air, the barbed tip catching the rim of the cannon’s carriage. I grab its line and take a deep breath. There’s no magic left in my body, but I’ve never preferred spells when brute strength would do. I bounce the line in my hand, feeling the weight and tension. Then, with all the strength left within me, I pull.
“Keep it moving!” I roar to Wrenley.
The cannon creaks: the harpoon’s barbs are unmovable, latched tightly onto the ridges. I brace my feet against the gunwale of the skiff and throw everything I have, everything I am, into towing the line. It cuts into my palms and red blood oozes out, but I don’t give a damn.
Kairyn’s finally going to learn that no one fucks with my family.
The armored bastard himself runs over, watching as his cannon screeches across the wooden deck, pulled by the force of our skiff. “Someone get this harpoonoff!”
