“My valet insisted everyone of import was going to be wearing swan dander, so I allowed the simpleton to powder me from arse to armpits,” I growled as the musicians struck up another tune on their lutes, harps, and viols. “The bastardly shit itches. I plan to feed him to the sharks if I ever see him again.”
“Speaking of sharks,” Hyla interjected as I dug at my balls. Who dusts their stones with swan dander? The bored and rich, obviously. “The Cloud’s Shame has been taken to shore for herrepairs. We’ll be landbound for at least a full phase of the moons if not longer, according to the shipwright’s apprentice.”
“Understood. We’ll all be sailing with the queen as soon as our business in Renedith is seen to,” I told them and got firm nods. They’d all agreed to sail with Raewyn and me on a royal sloop to help those in Light’s Keep as seamen first class in the king’s navy. It had taken some talking and some vows made, but they’d all seen the writing on the wall. If the queen met me halfway at the negotiating table, then the need for piracy would wane. There would be some haggling to be sure, as some of my fellow privateers were bloodthirsty cockers who would sooner toss their balls overboard than sail under a royal flag. Perhaps the temptation of not having to hide from the law would bring them around. Perhaps not. “Once the Cloud’s Shame is repaired, we have some sailing to do to appease the sea witches. I’ve always wished to see the lands of the singing fish.”
“I’d like to visit the uncharted lands,” Hyla said, easing aside to allow Le’ral to enter the already cramped space. He was dressed in grays and blacks. A delicious sight to be sure.
“Pardon the interruption, but it is time to be introduced to the nobles,” he said and then gave my crew—sans Prescott, who was in the nursery listening to stories with the twins—a kind smile. “If you would wish it, Your Highness, the king has arranged for you to enter with me as your escort for the evening. After which, Matron Everwind would be announced as well, as she has served as your maternal caregiver for many seasons.”
Hyla gasped, eyes flared, hand on her throat. “No, no, I can’t be coming out there in front of all those nobs in this fine dress. I even got silver slippers with butterflies! But they’ll still see me as the common trash that I am.” She hoisted up her skirt to show off her flashy shoes. “Them people won’t give two turds about me.”
I turned to her to take her rough hands in mine. “Icare about you. You’ve been the only mam I’ve ever known. I’d be proud for those cockers to know you as the mother of my heart.”
Her eyes grew dewy. She nodded, hugged me, and then sneezed when some stray dander got up her nose.
“On with it then,” Hyla said, taking my arm on her left and Le’ral’s on her right.
The others cheered after the formal introduction was called out. Every painted set of eyes in the Seafarer’s Hall locked on us as we entered. Hyla’s grip on my forearm was so tight my fingers were growing numb. This woman had leapt into the sea to fight a shark without a second thought, but this room of land-hogs had her terrified. Truth be told, they had me nerved as well.
“Chin up, nose high, uncaring smiles,” Le’ral whispered as we sailed through elves clad in rich brocades, bright satins, and pale skin made even more pale with feather dust. The rich were idiots. We took perhaps four steps toward the table set at the front where Aelir and his spouses stood clapping politely when Le’ral paused. “Ah, good evening, Lord Treasurer Newdawn and Lady Newdawn. May I introduce to you Prince Coelum Cadere Stillcloud and his maternal warden, Matron Everwind. Your Highness, Matron Everwind, this is the lord treasurer and his lady wife.”
The two portly elves in matching pale yellow bowed and curtsied deeply, their skin glittering with swan dander, both wearing elaborate hairstyles with dead butterflies sitting on cut flowers. Two honeybees buzzed lazily around their heads. I had to bite back a snort of amusement over the bees.
“The pleasure is mine,” I said exactly as Le’ral and Mahouk Nouradi had taught me. Polite but distant as befitting a member of the royal family. Pfft. It was all blather. Just bring on the food and the wine, then let me return to my chambers so I can washthe dander off my bunghole. “Your expertise in counting money has been recounted to me with glowing praise.”
He beamed. Le’ral gave me a slight nod.
It was all a lie. I’d never heard of this fat man in my life. There were too many damn bureaucrats in this kingdom. If Aelir wished to save coin, he could cut out half of the titled fobs stuffing themselves on rich food while tossing back casks of wine on the taxpayer’s gold.
“If you’ll excuse me, the king seems to need my ear,” Le’ral said, sailing off through the mob of stuffy elves, leaving me and Hyla to flounder.
“I must say,” Treasurer Newdawn wheezed out as he grabbed several small raspberry tarts from the platter of a server moving through the crowd. “It is quite cheeky of the king to expect us to quietly accept a vills owner who used to be a pirate and the crippled whore who suckled him—”
Whatever other shite he was about to spew never left his painted mouth, for my fist had found its way to his nose. Shaking my hand after the treasurer hit the marble floor with a thud, his tarts scattering as his wife shrieked then fainted, I saw Le’ral and V’alor rolling their eyes in tandem.
“Nice haymaker,” Hyla whispered as dead quiet engulfed the ballroom aside from some muted cheers from my crew. Even the musicians had stopped playing to gawk in astonishment. I patted her hand still resting on my arm as Le’ral appeared at my side. Unflustered but displeased, I could tell.
“I leave you for a mere moment,” he whispered as footmen raced over to drag the taxman and his lady wife from the ballroom.
“Only a fool disrespects the mam of a pirate,” I answered, taking Hyla to the king’s table where Aelir bid her to sit beside him.
No other cockers spoke ill of her that night.
THE VILLS OF RENEDITH WERE ENCHANTING.
Rich farmlands, plump crofters, well-kept homes. The people were happy, the pigs fat, and the fields filled with produce. Lazy sheep, goats, and cattle watched the entourage pass by their pastures with curiosity. Bannermen of different houses met us at Castle Willowspirit with smiles and bows, eager to discuss the rumors of a temple for elder gods at the shore. Fisherfolk waved and called out to us as we slid from our horses to gaze up at the stone keep that was now mine. Not that I’d be spending much time here, and that was a pity, for it was a fine castle. Oohs and ahhs floated up to greet Jaculi as he circled the tallest towers of the ancestral home of the Stillclouds.
Le’ral, Asdren, and Beiro met up with me in the outer bailey of the castle. My crew would arrive in five suns aboard a navy sloop. There was much to get ready before I took off with the queen for a mercy mission. Masons, stonecrafters, church officials, the heads of the lesser houses within the vills, overseers…
The list was endless, and they seemed to wish to speak to me. Me. A pirate with a coral crown shoved into his saddlebag like an old loaf of bread. I still wondered if my brother fully understood what chaos he had brought into his life.
The castle staff were lined up to greet their new master. The seneschal, a tall woman with gray hair and matching eyes, bowed deeply as we made our way to her.
“Your Highness, it is a distinct pleasure to be able to serve the son of Lady Stillcloud. I was but the pantler when she lived here, but her kind spirit shone brightly for all. I’m known as High Steward Lania Skybluff. May we show you to your rooms so you may rest from the hard ride from the capital?”
“Please call me Captain, and thank you,” I said, then found myself being led into the massive stone manse my mother’s family had lived in for hundreds and hundreds of seasons.
It was a glorious keep, richly appointed, with a long history that High Steward Skybluff relayed to us as we were shown our suites on the second floor. Mine was at the end of a wide hall, a regal room with dark, masculine tones. I tossed my saddlebags onto the bed. A fire was banked low, the windows open. Peering through the open window, my vision fell on the town spread out around the castle. The sea could be seen from here, a brilliant blue under a bright sun. White clouds floated past, birds of deep red flitted from the eaves to the trees in a vast walled garden.
