Page 76 of Rise of the Vicious Princess

“I . . . a monster?” He shook his head. “Some kind of creature who likes deserted shorelines? Nothing much sails around here but a few small fishing boats and smugglers. Might be we stumbled into the creatures’ nest.”

“If that’s the case, then sailing away from it should keep us safe,” Tal said. He sounded as if his stomach felt queasy too.

“If not, we fight,” Charis said.

“What are we fighting?”

“Whatever comes out of the water.”

Charis clenched her teeth as the haunting cry rose again, just off the starboard bow, so high-pitched it sent a stab of pain through her temples. “Everyone to their battle stations. If the creatures in the water do more than chase us away, I want us ready to respond.”

Orayn nodded once and then bellowed, “Battle stations! Weapons out! Cannons loaded! Be quick about it.”

As the crew scrambled to obey, Charis led Tal down to the deck, drew her sword, and planted her feet beside the starboard railing. Tal took up his position on her right with Dec beside him.

She shot Dec a look. “Stay steady, no matter what comes out of the water.”

He kept his gaze on the sea and said quietly, “I can hold my own.”

Something skittered along the side of the ship, as though bony fingers were scraping against the wood. Charis focused on the space of dark water in front of her and waited for the creatures to show themselves.

Time slowed to a crawl. The crew braced their boots against the creaking timbers of the deck, their weapons held ready. All were silent save for their ragged breathing as they watched the dark waves for a glimpse of what lived beneath the surface.

Another call rose into the air, but this time, it was in their wake. A second call answered the first, and the rattling clicks followed, but as far as Charis could tell, none of the creatures were still beside the boat.

“I think we’ve left them behind.” Tal moved toward the railing as though to peer over its edge, but Dec beat him to it, thrusting an arm against Tal’s chest to hold him back and gazing into the black water himself.

Charis raised a brow, though no one could see it behind her mask. Tal laughed and gave Dec a good-natured slap on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I can swim.”

Dec shrugged. “Never know with nonsailors.”

Orayn ordered the crew to stand down. Whatever creatures they’d disturbed were far behind them now.

The rest of their journey home was quiet. When they finally dropped anchor at the small fishing dock again, Charis stood on the deck, watching her crew slink away from the dock in twos and threes, and then turned to Tal.

He stood there, blond hair blowing in the chilly sea breeze, his gloved hands jammed in his cloak pockets. “May I walk you home?”

She grinned. “If you must.”

He offered her his arm, and she placed her hand in the crook of his elbow. As they stepped down the gangplank, he said, “We need to get back to practicing the seven rathmas, though once you clean up your footwork, your ferocity is going to make you difficult to beat.”

“Impossible to beat.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

She laughed, and it was almost easy to imagine for a moment that she wasn’t the princess of a war-torn country betrothed to her enemy and facing an unknown threat from the vast reaches of the sea. To pretend she was just a girl walking home with a boy, neither of them trying to use the other for anything more than a quiet conversation and some time spent together.

Thirty minutes of pretending wouldn’t change her duties or her future, but it might bring her some peace. She leaned against him and let the warm golden light he’d lit within her be the only thing she thought about for the entire walk home.

Twenty-Nine

TEN DAYS HAD passed since the news that King Alaric had accepted the offer of a peace treaty. The council was nearly done hammering out negotiations and finalizing the precise wording. Charis’s busy schedule continued to fluctuate, the ships they’d seen that night at the mouth of the harbor remained elusive, though thankfully they hadn’t run into the strange sea creatures again, and she’d managed to eat a bit more, despite the impending betrothal.

There was still the issue of finding Bartho. A search of the warehouse district had yielded a building that was obviously being used as a makeshift home for multiple people, but it was deserted when the guards found it, and though the queen had ordered it watched closely since then, no one had returned to it. Maybe he’d left the city now that his king had agreed to the betrothal and abandoned plans to assassinate the Willowthorns. It wasn’t as satisfying as throwing him in the dungeon and letting the queen exact vengeance, but it would have to do.

And of course, there was still the pressing need to learn who was sinking their ships. The queen had allowed another merchant vessel to leave three days ago. It had sunk twenty-four furlongs from the harbor.

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