Page 37 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

CHAPTER13

RONAN

Shadow's warning still echoed through his mind hours later. The haunted, hollow cast of her voice only added to the menacing nature of her message.

Death was coming—for him.

Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. He’d been courting it for years.

That wasn’t what had him standing out here staring at the horizon while his thoughts chased each other like a dog after its tail. It was her forewarning. Messages like that, sent through dreams... it reeked of the divine.

But why would the Mother send Camille to save him, only to turn around and place him on the path of certain death? It didn’t make any sense.

Nothing did these days.

He rubbed at the back of his neck, the skin there warm and stinging. He’d been standing in the sun too long, watching the waves break as the ship cut through them. It was another calm day at sea, the breeze steady, only a few clouds in sight. The water was jewel-bright, and it was easy to make out the silvery glint of fish darting beneath its surface. He squinted, peering a little harder at an inky stain that seemed to be unfurling from the depths.

“Many a man’s gone mad, chasing after the horizon.”

The voice startled him, making his heart lurch and pulse race. He spun around, finding both the ship’s quarter and sailing masters standing there, staring at him with amused expressions. Bronn tossed him a canteen, his smile holding an edge of mischief. “Didn’t mean to frighten you. Here, it looks like you need this more than I do.”

Ronan caught it, taking off the cap and drinking greedily. “Thank you.” Once he slaked his thirst, he recapped it and threw it back.

“You seem troubled, Ronan,” Tiny said, the minotaur’s dark eyes glinting brightly behind the spectacles resting atop the bridge of his nose.

Not wanting to get into the messy tangle of his thoughts, he opted for a safer and far less revealing answer. “Thought I saw something.” He gestured back out to sea, where his attention had been caught by the oily-looking shadow slithering in the water. He frowned, realizing it was still there, but closer than before. A blot of darkness marring the otherwise pristine pool of blue.

Bronn clapped him on the shoulder. “Classic side effect.”

“Side effect?” he parroted, struggling to tear his gaze away from the anomaly he’d found. “What do you mean?”

“This always happens after a night spent listening to stories such as ours. Someone inevitably starts spotting monsters lurking in the deep the next day.”

Tiny chuckled alongside him. “It’s true, I’m afraid. We should have warned you last night.”

Ronan frowned, finding it hard to dismiss what he’d seen with his own eyes. He didn’t consider himself particularly suggestible; then again, he’d never traveled these seas before. He had no way of knowing what was usual or, conversely,unusual. For all he knew, the darkness was an illusion caused by the undertow.

He cast a final wary glance over his shoulder, the dark patch so close it almost looked like they were sailing over it. Which should be impossible since it was coming from the opposite direction.

Before Ronan could mention it, Bronn started speaking again. “There’s no end to the dangers that roam in these waters, Ronan. There’s a reason most don’t travel this far south. The Sea of Souls has more than earned its name from the thousands it has claimed. But you and your assassin could not be in finer hands. Tiny here knows these waters like he was born in them. Never come across a finer chart reader in all my days.

“And the captain isn’t just some bonny figurehead. She’s a skilled navigator. Easily the best Empyria has ever seen. We wouldn’t follow her otherwise. It’s no easy feat being the captain of theRevenge. The only way to claim the honor is to earn it—by blood and deed.

“So trust me when I tell you, even if we were to run afoul of some bloodthirsty creature, Calypso and her men know what to do. We will see you safe to your destination. You have my word.”

It was a hell of a speech. One he had no doubt Bronn wholeheartedly believed. But it did nothing to ease the prickles of foreboding racing down his nape.

And when it came right down to it, believing something didn’t actually make it true.

* * *

Shadow

Shadow pluckedat her borrowed clothes, eyeing the colored fabrics and feeling like an impostor. As she walked out of Calypso’s room, she couldn’t recall ever wearing anything other than black, gray, and the occasional white.

I guess there really is a first time for everything...

She could have borrowed something from one of the men onboard, but no one besides the captain was close to her size. So when the much more adventurous dresser laid out some options, it was either step out of her comfort zone or put back on the same stained garments she’d been wearing—and sweating in—for the last few days. Desperation beat out personal aesthetics, which was how she found herself returning to the deck clad in a vibrantly embroidered cream silk shirt, plum-colored breeches, and thigh-high heeled boots in the same shade.

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