His uncle, Cal, had joined him about an hour after Dimitris returned to theAphrodite, informing him that the necessary supplies were all stored and ready for their journey. The crew was onboard and stationed at their usual posts. Everything was in place, and still Dimitris’s knee shook up and down. Something seemed…off. He couldn’t place it, but the scent of the brine in the air was more putrid than usual. Not the rancid smell of a full moon’s low tide, but more akin to rotting flesh on fishbones forgotten in the galley. Running his fingers through his hair, Dimitris tried to shake the feeling.
“Set course for Skiatha, uncle. If we are able to make it out of the harbor before the tides shift, we should make significant headway.”
“Not Skiatha,” Dimitris’s heart flew straight into his throat as he whipped his head around to once again see Thalia now in a corner of his study. Gods, that woman was soundless when she wished to be.
“What do you mean? My brother explicitly directed us to sail to Skiatha, and as much as I hate doing his bidding, it is for a worthy cause…so he continuously repeated.” The last part he muttered under his breath.
“There is something we must do first,” Thalia replied, clutching a worn piece of parchment in her hand. Her tone had shifted drastically from their conversation this morning—every word came out with a shaky breath. “We must sail to Lesathos.”
Shaking his head, Dimitris laughed, his tone menacing. “That is in the opposite direction. We would lose at least two weeks if we went there first.”
“Then you’d better hope for strong winds, Prince, because we most certainly are going.” Thalia picked up Mykonos and set her on his desk. The creature padded about his charts, knocking his compass onto the floor with her paw. The smack of it cracking against the wooden planks below had Dimitris’s muscles clenching.
“First off—get that foul creature off my charts, her nails are going to shred the parchment to bits and these were very expensive to commission. Second—who assigned you as captain? The lasttime I checked, theAphroditeis my ship and I give the orders.” Who did this woman think she was?
Thalia’s lip curled back in a snarl. “I am not arguing with you,fengaráki, either we sail to Lesathos, or you will have to explain to Ander why we were unable to collect his army.”
Cal snickered from the chair he sat in by the roaring fire. His uncle was no help at all.
Palming his face, Dimitris huffed a low growl. He looked up, staring down those violet eyes. “And yet what you are asking is to do exactly that. So, are you to tell me there is something in Lesathos that is critical to the cause? Something that we must have, otherwise the mission we have been sent on will go to shit?”
“Yes.” She glared right back, crimson lip still tucked up, showing off her glaring white canines.
“And what exactly might that be?”
Claws gripped the other edge of the wooden desk as Thalia leaned in. “A person.”
“A person?” Dimitris stood, pushing back from his desk and a few more papers floated to the ground. “Cal, you have to agree with me on this. It will take several weeks to go find one single person! That’s illogical. Unless that person is some sort of god-killer—which no doubt they are not—they are not worth the inconvenience.” His blood was beginning to boil once more. There was no way he was making it through the next few weeks with her—let alone months.
“Hear Thalia out, nephew. It is clear the seer feels passionate about this.”
Traitor. What a gods-damned traitor. He should’ve known better than to think his uncle would support his decision. For yearsCal had taken up residence at his townhome in Xanthia, and apparently in that time became very close to the band of miscreant pirates that made up the crew ofThe Nostos.
“There is a woman there. Someone I made a promise to a long time ago.” It seemed the seer was no longer the one who gave him a searing glare of death, but the cat who was now much too close with those beady, feral yellow orbs, its pupils barely there.
“And why is she so important?” The least she could do was give him a reason—any reason. It didn’t even have to be sound. Just something he could report back to his brother so Ander didn’t think he was off gambling and indulging in spirits and sex when he should be rallying an army.
“She’s my sister,” Thalia whispered.
Fuck.
“And what will happen to your sister if we do not go to her?” he asked through gritted teeth.
Thalia met his stare once more, but this time her eyes were glassy. “She will die.”
Double fuck.
As much as Dimitris argued with his brother and sister, they were kin. He would destroy isles for their safety. How could he deny this woman the very same opportunity for someone she loved? Someone she shared blood with?
“Well, you heard the woman, Cal. Set our course for Lesathos.”
“Of course, Captain.” Cal bowed and slipped past Thalia, who still stood with her nails firmly planted in the wood of the desk.
Tremors laced Thalia's body and Mykonos had moved from staring Dimitris down to purring against her human’s arm, poking with her little pink nose. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” Dimitris replied, following his uncle out, “we haven’t found her yet.”
Chapter Two
