“What was our end of the bargain? Tell me he asked for something more than just my safety.” Erinna couldn’t decipher the look on his face as he sized her up.
“I take it, you’re the negotiator?”
Her heart dropped into her stomach. Of course Kenneth would make a poor deal of it.
She took one more look at the boat. It had been magically reinforced. Her father’s runes were subtle and nearly invisible to anyone but his daughter. They were preparing for rough waters.
Kane waved the woman away. “He said it didn’t concern you. Just wanted me to bring you home, should I find you somewhere you weren’t supposed to be.”
“Are you magically compelled to be this unhelpful? Or do you enjoy tormenting people like this?” The words spilled with pent-up frustration. Regret not fast enough to hold her tongue.
Kane closed the distance between them to mere inches.
“It’s not my responsibility to get your house in order, Yarrow. My deal is with your father, not you. And I don’t have time to make you my responsibility.” His gaze drifted once more to the ship, anxious to be on his way.
“You’re right.” She balled her hands into tight fists, biting down a rising scream. In a movement fast enough to create whiplash, she turned away from the pirate and headed towards her home.
Light peeked through the curtain, an indication that her father was already inside.
Prying information from a withholding pirate was a waste of both of their time. Kenneth was the real culprit and would be much more pliable than a sea thief.
It feltlike ages since she was home. Fear and hope mixed as Erinna approached. Flickering light danced through the window from fire and lanterns, but the closer she got, the more worry chewed through her resolve. The front door opened with ease, unlocked and barely closed.
The living room was in disarray. Papers and books were stacked on the armchair and side tables, with towers of parchment toppled across the floor. The door to her father’s study stood ajar.
Erinna’s heart pounded as she neared. She knew what her father’s frenzied searches looked like—she’d seen this before. The last time their home looked like this, Erinna was six years old, and he had just received word that her mother was lost at sea.
Her father was desperate. But for what?
The study was even worse. Ledgers and journals lay open on the floor. Shelves had been emptied, their contents strewn around the room. The desk was covered in paper and wax, amug of tea knocked on its side, the liquid already soaked into the grain.
A creaking of wood caught her attention in the far corner. The sight froze her in place. Her heart threatened to seize.
The ground and walls bent at odd angles, forming small barricades around her fallen father.
Hastily packed bags were slumped beside the enchanted coffin. Her mother’s ring, which was usually worn around her father’s neck, had come loose and lay on the ground beside the items.
No. No. No. No. No.
The wood continued to move and groan. If she didn’t move fast enough, it would be too late to do anything more than watch. She raced to his side, knees hitting the ground with a pain that rattled her joints.
Erinna gently took his arm, a mark nearly the same as hers graced his skin. The alignment of stars was slightly different, but there was no denying they had been cursed with the same affliction.
Her family had been cosmically fucked.
For what reason, Erinna couldn’t understand.
She felt a strong pulse in his wrist. Alive but unconscious—just like the woman in the market.
She shook him with all of her strength. “Wake up, Dad!”
Wood splintered at the aggression; a thorn of oak poked at her forearm. Erinna hissed at the arcanum.
Wood creaked again, slowly concealing more of his form. Kenneth would soon be encased in a coffin of his own magic.
Warm tears stung her eyes. In all the worst-case scenarios Erinna had thought of, a curse and a pirate had never made the top ten.
Dread and despair threatened to unravel her.There has to be something. She blinked through the haze of tears.
