“It worked,” Alastair said as he slid into Val’s cramped cabin. He closed the door quietly but firmly behind him. “Old Duncan is leaving his nest.”
I waited a moment, calming my irritation. This was important.
“How long do you think we have?” I asked.
Alastair spun the ring in his left ear and went silent, thinking. Sometimes I wanted to snatch that damn thing out of his fingers. “It was only a small fire, so…it’ll take ten minutes or so for him to deal with it. Then it’ll probably take him ten more to shout at the poor deckhands.”
“Fire?” Val gaped at him, her pale cheeks reddening to the color of her hair. “You didn’t say anything about a fire.”
“Well, you asked me to lure him out of his room. On a ship, fire’s the best way to do that,” he said with a shrug. Then he laughed. “I waited to see the look on his face when he ran out of his cabin. Think I nearly gave the old man a heart attack.”
Val squinted at him. “You have a strange sense of humor.”
“That’s because I have a good sense of bullshit. And that king is full of it.” He threw open the door and dragged Val with him, motioning for me to follow. “Come on. I know you’re dying to see what he’s been scribbling.”
Val just sighed. Like me, she’d learned it was best to go along with Alastair’s whims. When he got an idea into his head, he was fairly relentless. If we didn’t go with him, he’d go by himself. And besides, he was right. Iwasdying to know what was in those papers.
When we reached his cabin door, we found it was locked. Not a problem. Alastair used his dagger to pick the thing with ease. We all hurried inside and closed the door. Immediately, I wrinkled my nose. The pungent scent of fish clung to the air.
Alastair pointed at the king’s desk. It was hidden beneath piles of parchment, but a stack of plates sat on the edge of one side, where remnants of his last meal sat collecting flies. It looked like it had been there for a while based on the mold splotches.
“Suddenly, dinner in the mess hall no longer seems so appealing,” Val said, looking a little green.
“We should still go there once we’re done. Duncan’s less likely to suspect us if we can make it seem like we were there the whole time.” I moved to his desk and lifted a piece of ancient parchment. It rattled like old bones.
“You two look around.” Val swallowed. “I’ll stand outside as a lookout.”
“Sounds good, Val,” I said.
She hurried back outside and closed the door behind her. I turned my attention to the paper, squinting at the strange words.
“What’s it say?” Alastair asked, coming to stand behind me.
“It says you have the worst fucking timing in the world.”
Alastair’s chest rumbled with deep-throated laughter. “I knew you’d cave. You kiss her yet?”
“No,” I said, throwing him a look over my shoulder. “I might have, if you hadn’t thundered into the middle of a conversation. Again.”
“Kind of couldn’t be avoided. There was the fire and the old king to deal with, remember?” He snatched the parchment from my hands. “If you’re not going to read it, give it here.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re like an annoying little brother who—”
“Niamh.” Alastair’s smile dropped, and he suddenly looked far more serious than I’d ever seen him. Gone was the joking tone, the glint of laughter in his eye. He looked stone cold, as if a bucket of blood had been dumped over his head. Though he’d probably still laugh in that situation.
“What is it? What’s it say?”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Whatdoesn’t make any sense?”
“Here. You look at it.” He shoved it back into my hands, then he moved over to the desk to grab another piece of parchment.
Frowning, I looked down at the words, written in an inky scrawl that had faded so much it was difficult to read.
Beasts of all shapes and sizes will claw from the depths of the earth. The Aesirian lakes, rivers, and seas will turn red with blood. But there shall be no beasts in or near Talaven. The mortal kingdoms will remain safe.
“This is a bit odd.” I glanced back up at Alastair. He’d moved behind the desk and was rifling through all the papers.
