“Evie and her quick mouth. Always right, even when she is very wrong,” Iker says.
“Iamalways right.” I smack him on the arm but let him hold me against his chest, his heartbeat slowing as the fight drains from him.
“Don’t trip on that pride, Evelyn. It’ll hurt even more when you take a tumble,” he jokes.
It takes several hours, but Annemette is eventually at ease enough to unplaster herself from Nik and, dare I say,enjoyour time at sea. She stays close to him, to be sure, but she becomes comfortable enough to share some berries and cheese with me, and conversation with us all.
Iker and I sit with our backs against the hull, facing Annemette and Nik at the mainmast. Nik has drifted off to sleep, having had a little too much wine, comfortable with Annemette at his shoulder. Iker has yet to slow on thehvidtøl, and it hasn’t made him sleepy as much as it’s made him more of a cat, enjoying a sunbeam with his claws out.
“Are you feeling better, Friherrinde Mette?” Iker asks.
Annemette responds with a regal nod.
“Good. Over your fears, then? A changed woman now that your prince is asleep?”
I elbow Iker hard. “Enough,” I say. “I don’t know why you’re being like this. So... impolite.”
“Forgive me, Evelyn. It isn’t polite, it’s true—I am a prince, and though I don’t prefer it, I follow social norms most of the time. But my family is another matter.” His eyes flash, ice blue and hot. “When it comes to them, I am never polite. It is worthless to be polite when something so important is on the line.”
Annemette swallows, and I’m fairly certain all three of us steal a glance at sleeping Nik.
I should speak up and stave off Iker, but I can’t. Nik is just as important to me as he is to Iker, and an ill-timed defense of Annemette would come off as wrongheaded. It also might put more strain on this day—enough to carry over to our whaling expedition. With a coward’s heart, I shut my eyes and let him attack.
“So, yes. I want to know everything about you, Friherrinde Mette. Starting with how you came here—and why you arrived ahead of all the other invitees. And just as much as I want to know those things, I want to know even more how you knew to befriend Evie to get access to Nik.”
I wince. Because he’s right. But I’m too afraid to open my eyes and see Annemette’s reaction. Both to his drunken questioning and to my cowardly silence.
“Thank you for your concern, Cousin.” My eyes fly open, and Nik is awake and straightening himself from sleep. Annemette huddles against him while Iker’s teeth are bared in something of a smile—but the intent is much fiercer. “But interrogating our guest isn’t the way to go about it.”
“She hasn’t been properly vetted.”
“Who are you, my mother? When did we stop taking people at their word?”
“Younever have that option.”
Iker shoots to his feet, and Nik is right after him. They lean into each other, jaws tense and features reddening.
“You are the sole heir to the jewel of the Øresund Kingdoms, the richest fishing village in the strait,” Iker spits. “You can’t just go throwing your future at a stranger.”
“How is that worse than what you do? Throwing your pole in every corner of the ocean, tossing back any girl you catch?”
“If I’m so horrible, why in the name ofall the godswould you let me be sweet on someoneyou love?”
My heart flutters at the wordlove, though there really isn’t a better word for our friendship. Nik stares at Iker for a long time before he answers. “I thought Evie would be enough to settle you down. And, considering you’replanning on taking her whaling in the morning, I think she’s succeeded.”
My eyes shoot to Annemette’s. There’s surprise in them—as much as I imagine in mine at Nik knowing our plans. There’s something else there too, but I can’t look long because the boys start up again, hands balled at their sides, color in their cheeks, faces an inch apart.
“This isn’t about Evie. This is about the fact that you are so blinded by that thing in your chest that you can’t see this girl for what she is—a complete and total stranger with no proof that she is who she says.” Iker takes Nik’s shoulders with a firm grip. “Her story is thin and her credentials are nonexistent—that makes her motives suspect. I have met many people in my travels and—”
“The fact thatyouare well-traveled does not makemenaïve.” Nik shrugs off Iker and takes a step back, out of easy reach. “And I’d rather be ruled by the thing in my chest than the thing in my trousers—”
A peal of thunder rips through the sky, loud enough to kill the words and anger on Nik’s lips. All four of us tense and wrench around in the direction of the sound, to the northeast. A cloud so big and black it appears like night with no end is heavy on the horizon. Just like on Nik’s birthday, this storm has come out of nowhere—so sudden it’s strange.
But it’s a storm, and the three of us know exactly what to do.
Without another word, the boys and I are in motion, working around Annemette, who cowers against the mainmast pole as the boat begins to rock at a heavy clip.
There are far too many ships in the harbor, and we’re just beyond it, in the strait and nearly out to sea—much farther out than we were the night of the party, and on a much smaller boat.
