Page 159 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
“They’re going to attack the Esholians who raised me for four years of my life, Rayna. The closest thing to parents I’ve ever had.”
“I know.”
In my mind’s eye, I could still see that older man who had held young Steeler back as his childhood friend was whipped to death in front of the entire village, and I knew I had to tread carefully. Steeler looked like he was on the brink of flight, but if he went to try to stop that attack alone…
“Think about it—Sasha and Sylvie have loved ones from Hallow’s Perch, too, right? And so do Garvis and Terrin?” I asked urgently, grabbing him by the arms. Maybe if we recruited others to help us, we’d have a shot at defeating whatever monsters the Good Council was about to release on his home village. “They’ll want to fight with us to protect their own families. So let’s go get them, and then we’ll fight.”
Steeler’s muscles tensed beneath my fingers at the mention ofwe.
“And before you try to convince me not to come with you,” I added sharply, “I’m calling in my bet. I get to have whatever I want for winning it, and what I want is for you to continue treating me like a true equal. I know that you would help me save Alderwick and my parents, so let me help you save Hallow’s Perch and yours.”
Lightning flashed in repetitive streaks as Steeler’s eyes drank me in. The candlelight stuttered, sending jittery shadows over the floor.
I held my breath.
“Okay,” he let out. “I wouldn’t want you anywhere except for right by my side anyway.” He looked out the window, toward the raging sea, before hooking back onto me. “Let’s go get the others and fight.”
Ten minutes later, my feet touched down somewhere outside the island of Eshol for the first time in my nineteen years of life.
I landed with a gasp on a platform of rocking wood, my head swooning at this strange new world that tilted to and fro. It was a good thing we’d dropped Felicity off at the Institute before we’d come here—with instructions on what to do and who to seek out, of course—because I was pretty sure the monkey would be tipping over sideways right about now. I had to drop my bag to plant my palms on the deck and breathe through the swoop in my stomach.
“Get up,” came a gentle, insistent voice in my ear.
Strong hands lifted me by the elbows, planting me on my feet just as a great commotion of shouting and curse words barreled toward us. Steeler steadied me, his fingers locked firmly around my waist.
“What isthis?”
I blinked to find that same four-fingered female from Steeler’s memories leering at me. It was still nighttime, but only a single dark cloud hung overhead. The storm was a thrashing beast at our backs, the faint bruises of oncoming dawn illuminating the ship around us:
A sun-spotted wooden deck stretching from rail to rail. Towering masts that flapped with too many sails to count. Ropes and nets and ladders and hatches. A glass-faced cabin on the opposite end of the deck. And beyond all that… water.
More and more and more water.
“This,” Steeler growled, “is Rayna Drey Reeve, daughter of the lost Princess Chrysanthia, and she is as welcome on this ship as I am.”
Gasps burst throughout the crowd that had formed behind the captain. Through my dizziness, my focus finally landed on the monsters every Esholian had always been taught to fear.
They were lithe and tall and beautiful, all with sharpened ears and fangs that somehow made them look superior. But therewasa certain unkept savagery that roughened each of their appearances.
Wind-chapped skin riddled with scars. Bandanas tied crudely over their heads. Tattered clothes with rolled-up sleeves that exposed the tattoos swirling along most of their arms. One female faerie blinked back at me with solid blue orbs for eyes. A shirtless male had a gaping hole in the middle of his chest—whether because he’d been cursed or because the hole was somehow part of his innate magic, I wasn’t quite sure.
These weren’t faeries who’d seen the glitter of a glamorous realm recently. No, these people had grown accustomed to the rock of the sea, the great sails above their heads swishing violently against endless wind and sky.
“Get the sword,” spat the captain. My eyes settled on her face. The way her entire jaw clenched, her eyes reduced to sharp slits at the sight of me.
“Do you doubt my word, Captain?”
Steeler had tightened his grip on my waist, just as I caught sight of a few familiar faces in the small crowd that had climbed up from a deck below: Terrin and…
Oh thank goodness, Dazmine was alright.
I tried to smile at her. She mouthed a question at me, but I just shook my head. There was no way I could explain about Hallow’s Perch right now with the captain digging into me withthat daggered stare. It was all I could do to maintain my mental blockade around me.
“I would doubt the word of anyone who suggests the lost princess Chrysanthia isalive,” the captain spat. Someone guffawed behind her, and another said, “I second that! It’s blasphemy!”
I wanted to curl inward and shrink away from all the accusing gazes. Maybe these faeries weren’t the same pirates I’d been warned about growing up, maybe they wouldn’t chain me up and suck out my magic or sell me to whatever waited on the other side of the sea, but…
They didn’t seem to want to have a tea party, either, that was for sure.
