“All hands on deck!” a voice calls from above.
We’ve arrived.
Briny wind and bright sunlight bombard my face as I walk up to the top deck. A circular structure bobs in the waves, a hulking, hideous thing that is part ship, part Summer arena, and part fortress.
I try listening to the bond within my chest, but it feels distant, echoey. Is she here but still under some magic-inhibitor or did that scum in the desert lead me astray? Regardless, this place will have the answers I seek.
Our ship is tied up in an external docking port on the edge of the floating fortress, and the soldiers line up for security checks before entering. Several smaller skiffs are tied up beside it, and I note their location for mine and Rosalina’s escape.
I slip to the back of the ship, rid myself of the clunky stolen armor, keeping only the scabbard that houses my mother’s sword, then leap across the gap between the ship and the barge, quiet as a cat.
Staying on the outside, I use the broken pillars reinforced with Spring steel to climb away from the soldiers and up the side of the barge. When I find an opening, I check for guards, then duck inside, feet whispering over the metal floor.
Stooping down in a shadow, I consult my map, counting the floors I climbed up. The highest-security cells are below the surface of the water. So back down I go.
I weave through the labyrinthine passages of the barge, trying my best to stay in the outside ring. Guards patrol in pairs, but I avoid each one, hiding among the shadows or holding on to theoutside of the ship. Finally, I weave my way down to the main floor, where I see part of the structure is cut open to allow an internal dock.
A mauled schooner is moored, the front half nothing but tattered timber and streaks of gunpowder. I creep closer, hiding behind barrels and other cargo strewn around the dock.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The ghost of a feeling washes over me. It has no scent, yet I know it’s rotten. It has no sound, but my ears ring with screams. It does not touch me, yet I feel it in every fiber of my body.
He’s here.The thing he stole is calling out for me.
“We’ll send all the fleet after them, sire, promise! They won’t get far!” a voice urges.
Another sniveling voice says, “It was the runaway princess, sire, and the High Prince of Summer. But we’ll hunt them down—”
There’s a clatter, then gagging. “There isnoHigh Prince of Summer. I have taken his realm. He is a threat to the peace and sanctity of the Vale. I will end him as I did the last High Prince of Spring.”
Breath comes ragged from my throat. I’d know that voice anywhere. It haunted my mind for years. I peek out from the barrels and see my younger brother, Kairyn, holding up one of his minions by the throat. His armor is both soaking wet and charred.
I fling myself back behind the barrels.Dayton was here. Does that mean—
“Now, I want every bloody ship we have scouring the Byzantar Isles for those rebels. Bring me back the Golden Rose or this whole prison will be torn down to the depths of the Below,” Kairyn roars.
She’s escaped.I can’t catch my breath.Rosalina has escaped and she’s with Dayton.My brother, not of blood but of fellowship.
Kairyn had set a trap for me in the Spring Realm, and I walked straight into it, giving him my magic, my realm, and my honor. Now, I am void of all three. My mother’s sword sits heavy on my back. Slowly, I reach behind to grab the hilt.
My fingers tremble on the metal. His face looms in my mind’s eye. Not the feathered owl brow of his helm, but my brother’s true face, the one I’d gazed upon as he squeezed the last ounces of breath from my lungs.
Every life I’ve claimed in the last three months has led me here. I thought I was coming for Rosalina, but it was my brother I found. Our fates tied together, always to lead back to one another until one of us strikes the final blow. I tighten my fingers on the hilt of the sword.
Ezryn! Stop!The memory of Rosalina’s scream roars in my head. She hadn’t wanted me to fight Kairyn in the Hall of Vernalion. But didn’t she understand? There was no other way. He hadwrongedme, wronged our people. There were so many reasons I had to fight, that I have to fight now—
But I cannot draw it. My chest heaves too quickly. I cannot draw my mother’s sword.
My next thought strikes me like an arrow:I have to get out of here.
The last time I took up arms against my brother, I only hurt Rosalina. I had the chance to save her, and I chose vengeance instead. I won’t lose her again for the benefit of my long-forsaken honor. Finding her is all that matters.
Cursing, I look back around the barrel. My brother and his two accomplices are gone. So is my chance to kill him.
I look down at my shaking hands. If Kairyn has disappeared and Rosalina has escaped, there’s nothing for me here. I need to get out before I’m discovered.
Quickly as I can, I make my way back from the internal dock to the edge of the barge. I’ll commandeer one of the skiffs and slip out to the Byzantar Isles. Perhaps there, I can get word of Rosie and the runaway princess’s ship she has escaped upon.
I round the last corner to the external dock and count the rotation of the guards. When there’s a gap, I dart forward and leap upon the nearest skiff. I’m no sailor like Dayton, but I can catch the wind. I bend down to unravel the rope when a shadow casts over me.
