“You can feel the water?”
“I don’t know.”
I stare down at her, holding her ocean-blue gaze. “I can’t do it with you this time, but you know me now. You know what it feels like. I believe in you.”
She takes a deep breath and nods. There’s such a determination in her expression, a fierceness I can’t help but admire.
“All right, then—” I light the match, igniting the harpoon. “Now!”
Wrenley pulls the ropes, filling our sails with wind. At the same time, the water rushes up beneath our boat, speeding us away.
I stare at the barrel of the cannon on the enemy ship. Take a breath. Throw.
The fiery harpoon arcs through the air before cresting straight into the barrel.
A thunderous explosion erupts, echoing across the seas. Flames engulf the schooner, dancing wildly along the timber. The heat of the blast throws me back, and I slam hard against the deck of our skiff.
Wrenley cries out, clambering over me to the bow. “What did you do?”
My ears ring but I’m able to sit up and crawl over to her side. The hull of Kairyn’s ship is torn wide open, now a mess of smoke and sea spray. The stern of the ship still bobs in the air.
My fists clench together. Kairyn’s being helped to his feet upon the helm by two soldiers. The monster lives.
Wrenley breathes a sigh. “You’re okay.”
I look down at my torn-up hands. “Nothing I can’t handle.” Shakily, I stand then help her up. “That’ll slow them down. Come on, let’s get to my sister.”
I take the tiller, and with Wrenley assisting the current, we slide up alongsideThe Trident’s Glory… or rather,The Deathly Sky Dancer, as it is now named.
“I’ll be damned,” someone calls from over the deck, a voice too high-pitched for such crass language.
And there she is, scowling down at me in the way only a sister can.
“What can I say, Delphie Girl? I like to make an entrance.” I beam up at her.
Delphia rolls her eyes but she’s smiling, too. She looks behind her at her crew. “Lower the ropes!”
I abandon our skiff—with a promise to make it up to Claudius—and begin climbing the rope. I’m going to squeeze my sister so tight, then yell at her until my lungs give out. What in the seven realms could be so damned important on that barge that Delphia would risk her own life and that of her crew?
I leap over the side of the boat and scan the deck for Delphie.
But I see someone else first.
She glides toward me with such grace, it has to be a figment of my imagination. But this must be real—no other sight could cause my heart to beat so wildly.
I see Rosalina.
CHAPTER 9
Farron
Even in sleep, George O’Connell seems restless.
Rosalina’s father lies nestled within soft white blankets in a private room in Keep Oakheart. After he got ill on the road with my brothers, Billagin and Dominic, they brought him back here. We made plans to transfer George to Spring, where the most talented magical healers live, but that was impossible after Kairyn took over.
Glowing orbs that appear like little harvest moons bounce around the room, bathing it in golden light. Incense burns on the end table, a mix of juniper, cedarwood, and myrrh. Outside, a soft wind blows red and orange leaves against the window.
Though his eyes are closed as if in sleep, his mouth moves constantly in an unintelligible mumble.
