Page 338 of Kingdoms of Night

“Very well. I see there’s no point trying to convince you otherwise. We’re all counting on you. Not just me. So, don’t let us down.”

She placed a silver coin on the bar. “Find a way to break our curse, or find yourself without a home to return to.”

With those words, she lifted her cloak’s hood over her head, and headed back out into the storm. I would have worried about her being pelted with ocean water and what that would reveal about her, but even the men of Calbrock Bay wouldn’t dare step out into the raging winds and rain—which meant no one would see her.

But if they did. I shook my head, trying to erase thoughts filled with death.

Malia and I weren’t like most people. Not one bit.

Her words resonated in my head.

Break our curse.

She was right, of course. So how could I tell her that I was far from learning anything about the immortal pirate we’d heard tales about? We needed him if we were to have any chance of being freed from our curse.

I surveyed the bar and glanced at the waning fire. Closing time. I hated to send them home, but I couldn’t keep the tavern open all night by myself.

“All right, you lot. Time to call it a night,” I said as I left the bar to head over to the door. I listened to their grumbling as a migraine started to thump in my head, reminding me that I hadn’t slept in what felt like days.

Maybe I reallyhadn’tslept in days.

Just as I reached the doors, they burst open again. I expected Malia to come back in, but what really occurred was worse.

Far worse.

I looked at the talisman wrapped around my finger, and inhaled. Its glow turned from a dull red to bright blue.

Oh, no.

My face paled, and I took two steps back as a group of men stepped in.

Pirates.

The thing was, I couldn’t reveal myself. I needed to findthepirate—not just any pirate. And if a band of pirates found me first, that was never gonna happen. Even if I lived to tell about it, my cover would be blown.

“Hello fellas,” I said, hiding my ring under my short apron. The pirates didn’t even glance at me. I continued, praying they’d listen. “We’re closed for the night. Best be off, and try somewhere else. Perhaps the Pirate’s Pony would be better suited to you.”

The leader—a tall man with broad shoulders and long black hair pulled into a ponytail at his nape—pointed to the fishermen in the back.

“There,” he said, his deep voice sending chills up my exposed flesh. He didn’t yell or shout. He spoke calmly, but the menace in his voice was unmistakable.

His men followed his gaze, their raptor-like glares frightening me.

“Get them,” the leader said, and before I could say a word, they ran into my bar like a pack of wild dogs, hollering and shouting curses as they attacked the men.

The fishermen and sailors joined in, grabbing hold of any pirate that they could, only to be met with the rage of the most ruthless men I’d ever seen. A chair careened overhead and crashed into a window, shattering the pane and sending a spray of glass across the wooden floors.

Shite. Didn’t they know how expensive that would be to replace?

“Stop it!” I yelled, but my voice was hollow against the chaos.

Desperate to think of a solution, my gaze darted in every direction for a clue on what I could possibly do without revealing what I was. With the storm pressing in through the broken window, I risked exposure if any ocean water contacted my skin, so I lunged for my cloak by the other side of the bar, nearly crashing into the leader of the pirates.

“You might want to get out of the way, lass,” he said as the clatter of broken chairs and bodies thumping onto tables filled my ears. A grin came to his thin lips as he turned his attention to the calamity.

I didn’t like how calm he was or how he looked at me with eyes as dark as the sea at night. Could he see my secret? Smell it? Sense it?

We were mortal enemies—pirates and mermaids—and only a couple feet from one another. The idea turned my blood cold, and I stepped back to put more distance between us as I tugged on my dark cloak and slid on some gloves. My face was still unprotected from the elements, but I could block any possible ocean water with my gloved hands.

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