Midnight Jewel

  “Nothing he’d get anytime soon. And certainly nothing with this kind of a status and legitimacy. It really is a rare opportunity to go home. There have been Balanquan ambassadors in the colonies before, but no reciprocal offers until now. My guess is that this ‘bonding’ isn’t so much about friendship as it is giving the Balanquans a direct line of communication to what’s happening down here.”

  “Is the status Grant will get as important to him as going back?”

  “As important? I don’t know. But certainly important. His uncle dismissed him as nothing. I’d want to confront him too. And I understand the call to reclaim his birthright. Our family branches are ingrained into us. It becomes part of our identity. Having that taken away—or walking away from it—is hard.” Aiana stared off at the trees for several moments, her eyes darkened by troubling memories.

  “Will you visit him?” I asked as I loaded another bolt.

  Her lips turned up in a bitter smile. “No. No one can. He’s trying to get there; I’m trying to stay away. The arrangement is strict. Only the ambassadors and their families are allowed—wives and children, people like that. No friends or well-wishers. Not even servants or bodyguards. My people have strong beliefs about protecting ambassadors, though. That’s part of why they’re given such a high status.”

  I lowered the crossbow. “Won’t you miss him?”

  “Of course. I wish he’d stay. But maybe he’ll have something to hold on to, instead of going through life wearing mask after mask. Maybe it’s better he’s gone. I’m wanted by my people, and if they ever found me and tried to take me back, Iyitsi would get himself killed trying to stop them.”

  “I didn’t know that—about you, I mean.” I mulled over the last part of what she’d said. “I’m not surprised he’d do that for you. You’re his friend. He’s gone on about how dangerous attachments are, but I’ve seen how he cares about you.”

  “Oh, yes.” Her eyes sparkled both with amusement and affection. “Don’t be fooled by that gruffness. When the time comes for hard choices, he always does the right thing.”

  Not long after that day, word came to us that Warren had returned to Cape Triumph by water after a successful land journey. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing Adelaide and Cedric had made it safely. Tamsin was glad too, but her fixation soon shifted to her uncertain future with Warren. She paced anxiously around the house and constantly watched the front door for any couriers. When someone finally came, it was Warren himself. Tamsin had been watching from the top of the stairs and ran back to our room.

  “It’s him, Mira.” She clutched my sleeve and looked like she might hyperventilate. “In person. He asked to talk to Jasper. Do you know what that means? He’s going to make an offer! This could be it! What I’ve been waiting for.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I wanted her to be happy and fulfill her dreams, but was Warren the right person?

  Not long after his arrival, Tamsin was summoned to the office as well. She came back to our room an hour later, elated. “We’re not engaged,” she announced.

  “You . . . aren’t? Then why are you so happy?”

  “Because I’m going to Hadisen! Warren says he doesn’t want to lock me in until I’ve seen exactly what I’ll be facing. So I’m going back with him in two days by boat. The wife of one of his associates will come stay with me in Warren’s house while I’m there, so it’ll all be very proper. We worked out the details with Jasper.”

  “Two days.”

  She was too excited to know just how hard those words struck me. First Adelaide, now Tamsin. I was going to be alone again, just like I’d been in Osfro after Lonzo left. Grant was . . . out of the picture. I had no one, except Aiana, I supposed. And the looming potential of becoming Rupert Chambers’s bride.

  If I stopped delaying, I could marry Rupert now and have a whole new world open up to me. Freedom from Mistress Culpepper’s rules. Lonzo back in my life. The ability to visit Tamsin and Adelaide in Hadisen. What was I waiting for?

  Who was I waiting for?

  Tamsin left on the hottest day we’d had since coming to Adoria. The air hung thick and heavy with humidity, and Mistress Culpepper was at her wit’s end trying to keep us doused in powder and relatively sweat-free. Tamsin was supposed to have sailed in the afternoon, but some delay on Warren’s part pushed them into an evening departure.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, when he finally arrived. Two of his associates accompanied him and loaded her luggage into a carriage. “We’ll have to make part of our trip in the dark, but we’ll still arrive tonight. I hope it’s not too exhausting.”

  “No need to worry. Our Tamsin can handle anything,” said Jasper, eager for the prospective deal.

  Tamsin hugged me, and just like that, I was alone. Both of my roommates were gone, off to glorious futures with the men they wanted. I went upstairs and gazed at my friends’ beds. It was selfish to feel sorry for myself. After all, they were alive and happy. But I couldn’t help it. The room seemed ten times bigger than it had before, and I felt very small.

  It might have been lucky, then, that I had Tom’s fifty-gold job that night to distract me. I had no social engagements at all (though Jasper had told me he could arrange a visit to the Chambers house anytime), so I was able to sneak out earlier than usual once darkness fell.

  I rendezvoused with Tom’s men in the same spot as last time. There were a lot more people present this time—but not Tom himself.

  Elijah smiled warmly at me as he leaned against a tree. “Don’t worry, he’ll be here.”

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah. He had to go oversee something in person. We’ve got a regular who buys a lot of our fancy stuff, but he was trying to change the price at the last minute. So, Tom went to see him and our, ah, sales associate.”

  “Do you mean fence?” I teased.

  “Hey, I’m trying to be genteel for you.” His smile faded as he stared off over the bay. Even at night, the heat was still oppressive. The air stood perfectly still, with no hint of a breeze, and everyone’s clothes were sticky with sweat. I wished Lady Aviel’s image didn’t require so many itchy and heavy accoutrements.

  Tom came trotting up soon, with Lesser Tom at his side. “Glad to see you didn’t leave without me,” Tom called, earning a few chuckles from the men milling around. “But we’d best get on with it.”

  Elijah straightened up from his lounging position. “I don’t think we should do it.”

  “Why not?” asked Tom. His tone was light, but I knew he didn’t like being questioned in public. Or ever.

  “This weather, for one thing. It’s going to turn on us.”

  Tom shrugged. “I’m aware, and that’s what we’d hoped for. Those eastern clouds will help us.”

  Elijah looked skeptical. “Well, that’s not all. I saw two naval ships in port when I was in town.”

  That drew everyone’s attention, but Tom’s expression didn’t change. “Yes, I already know that too, but we have no reason to cross paths. They’ve just arrived and will restock before moving on to patrol the coast. It’ll be dark. We’ll get to the Sun’s Promise without being seen and make sure no one raises an alarm. Now. Let’s not waste any more time.”

  A few men looked uneasy, and I couldn’t blame them. Facing armed sailors defending their ship was risky enough. But detection by the royal navy? Their entire purpose was to hunt down pirates and any hostile ships from other countries. We were exactly the kind of group they wanted to seize.

  “My lady.” Tom tipped his hat upon noticing me. “Come ride in my boat. I need someone cheerful to counteract Elijah’s doom and gloom.”

  Elijah made no comment, but once our group set out on the water, I couldn’t help glancing over at his skiff. His face was still dark and troubled.

  Tom noticed my stare. “It really will be fine,” he told me. “Elijah is mak
ing a big deal out of nothing. I’ve had much closer calls with the navy, and I wouldn’t lead any of my people into something that was stupidly dangerous. No matter the profit at stake, I always look out for my own. I value those who follow me more than any agenda.”

  As our party approached the harbor, I admired the way Cape Triumph’s lights hugged the coast. The port was full of ships of all sizes, now that the crossing from Evaria and Osfrid was safer.

  “I see the Sun’s Promise,” a man in our boat said. I’d never met him. Tom had hired a lot of additional help for this.

  Tom nodded in approval. “Bring us in then.”

  The skiffs glided forward, dark shapes on dark water. A few strands of hair tickled my cheek, and I brushed them aside. “Finally, some breeze.”

  The temperature had dropped abruptly since we’d left, and I suddenly found myself thinking of the day the storm had hit aboard the Good Hope. I’d been studying Grant’s hair then, how still it had been when we first stepped outside, and before I knew it, it had been back to its unruly state as the wind rapidly picked up.

  I turned back to Elijah. His head was tipped up as he studied the sky. I looked up as well and saw the dark clouds Tom had mentioned earlier—the ones that would help give us cover. There were more of them now, stretching almost entirely across the sky. Ariniel’s star was gone. All the stars were.

  The Sun’s Promise was bigger than the Queen’s Grace—but not the biggest ship I’d ever seen. That honor went to the two naval ships farther down the harbor, which loomed over the smaller boats like sentinels. I could just barely make out the lines of gun holes, whose lids concealed cannons. As I watched, both of them began to trim their sails. Above us, the Sun’s Promise started to as well.

  “Excellent,” said Tom. “They’re all going to be busy with ballast and bringing in sail.”

  Elijah’s boat floated right next to ours. “Of course they’re bringing in sail!” he exclaimed. “Every bloody ship out here is—”

  “Enough.” I’d never heard Tom speak so fiercely to Elijah. “If you don’t want to do this, then swim back. You lot—get up there.”

  Five men made the short swim to the hull. Our cluster of skiffs wasn’t up against the side this time. We held position farther away, at an angle to the stern that made us harder to see. Tom’s men were skilled swimmers and moved swiftly through the choppy water. They climbed up the ship’s side and slipped in through a small round window about midway up the hull. Then we waited as our own boats began to bob more violently on the water.

  Tom stared unblinkingly at the ship’s deck, his tension tangible. Thunder rumbled, and I wondered what the men were doing inside. When a ladder unfurled over the hull, Tom relaxed. “Excellent. Let’s go.”

  We brought our skiffs in closer and boarded the ship. The five scouts had already subdued the topside crew, and the rest of us spread throughout the ship to search for other crewmen. Tom once more warned against using guns. There were more sailors here than on the Queen Grace, but their busy storm preparation had given us an advantage. After only a handful of scuffles, we were able to round them up and confine them to the brig.

  “Move,” Tom ordered us, once the brig was locked. “The storm’s helping us right now but won’t for long.”

  We had a lot more cargo to transport this time, and it was heavier too. As I climbed down to a lower deck and heard the wind howl outside the rocking ship, I once more had that disorienting feeling of being on Good Hope again, tossed around by the elements, not knowing if I’d live or die.

  Elijah nudged me. “You okay?”

  “Fine.” I kept moving. “Just thinking about another storm I was in. It was worse.”

  “This is going to get worse, and Tom knows it. He hasn’t been away from the sea that long, but he wants this—badly.”

  Lowering the heavy, bulky crates down to the waiting boats took time and had to be done carefully. It created a bottleneck. That was the disadvantage of raiding a ship that was anchored instead of docked. Sneaking aboard might be easier, but getting everything off wasn’t.

  Lightning tore apart the sky, and soon the rain came. One of the hired men and I carried a crate together and set it down near an expanding pile by the edge. I started to return below when I heard shouting: Tom and Elijah arguing.

  “Even if we get it all off, the skiffs won’t make it back in this chop!” yelled Elijah over the thunder.

  After a little more back and forth, Tom grudgingly yielded. “Get everyone back here,” he called to us. “We’re going to load what we’ve got and—”

  A bright flash near the stern made him stop. A hanging lantern had been knocked off by the wind and smashed to the deck. I knew from crossing the Sunset Sea that most lanterns were doused during storms, but these sailors hadn’t had time to finish their preparations. Flames started to spread over the deck, and sparks blew up onto some of the rigging. The rope ignited too quickly for the rain to put out, and the fire jumped up to a loose sail that also hadn’t had a chance to be properly brought in. That sail whipped into another sail, and I watched in horror as the blaze expanded and expanded. I looked at Tom and saw him wrestle with indecision. He glanced at the remaining cargo and finally shook his head.

  “Everyone, off! This’ll bring the navy.”

  He didn’t have to repeat himself. Everyone raced to the edge, lining up to scramble down the ladder. Anders threw a second one over. I started to join the line and then stared back at one of the doors leading below.

  “Tom,” I called. “What about the crew?”

  “There’s no time, Aviel. The wind’s feeding the fire, and this ship is gone when the cargo lights up. Go!”

  I couldn’t. Not when I thought of all those sailors locked in the brig, burning to death. “I can get down to them! I won’t take long.”

  “There’s no time! Don’t be stupid!”

  “I’m going!”

  “Aviel—”

  I’d already turned around. As I started to run, I just barely heard Elijah say to Tom, “Get the others off and away. I’ll stay back with a boat and wait for her. She can make it before the ship blows.”

  “The longer we wait, the more the cargo we’ve taken is at stake.”

  “You shouldn’t have brought skiffs out in—”

  I didn’t hear the rest as I climbed below and ran to the brig, trying to keep my footing as the ship heaved violently back and forth. When I finally made it, I grabbed the key off a hook in the hall and unlocked the brig’s door with shaking hands.

  “The ship’s on fire!” I shouted to the men inside. “You have to get off!”

  I raced back down the hall and was soon overtaken as sailors thundered past, shoving me out of the way. I saw no fire below yet, but I could smell smoke. We emerged into the tempest, and I fought my way over to the rope ladders so that I could climb overboard.

  But there were no boats down below. Lightning flashed, and I just barely caught sight of the skiffs bobbing on the waves—well away from the Sun’s Promise. I turned around and stared. Nearly half the deck was burning now, and wet ash blew at me along with the rain.

  Someone grabbed my arm. “Lady, come on! Follow me!”

  It was one of the ship’s sailors, an older man with dark hair slicked back from the rain. He tugged me over to where the rest of his fellow sailors were frantically untying and lowering dinghies into the water.

  “Give me a knife,” one of them yelled. “This rope is stuck.”

  Before anyone else could act, I handed over my dirk. The sailor used it to chop the rope, and as he was giving it back, a burst of wind hit me from the side. I grabbed hold of the rail to keep myself steady, but in doing so, the dirk slipped from my hand and fell into the dark sea below.

  Sixteen of us scrambled into three dinghies being tossed around on the sea. As soon as we were all in, sailors began to row us away.
Through the flares of lightning, I could make out one of the naval ships slowly parting from its mate. The other two dinghies rowed toward it, but mine headed in a different direction.

  “Where are we going?” I called to the sailor who’d led me here.

  “That man-of-war’s coming to look for survivors. Don’t worry, we won’t let them pick you up.”

  “You should go to them—they’re closer!”

  “And they’ll lock you up. We know who you are, Lady Aviel.”

  “We’ll get to the south dock,” said another sailor. “No one’ll notice what’s going on. And it’s not much farther.”

  But it was farther than the warship, and more than once, I thought we would capsize. It was a wonder any of these tiny boats were still above water. “Why would you do that for me?”

  “You saved us,” the first sailor said. “And we know what you do. Ellen Smith is my sister.”

  Mistress Smith. The matriarch we’d given supplies to. Before I could respond, a deafening boom—far more monstrous than the thunder—sounded behind us. Ears ringing, I turned and saw the Sun’s Promise engulfed in a ball of flame.

  “There she goes,” said another sailor. “No surprise.”

  There’s no time, Aviel. The wind’s feeding the fire, and this ship is gone when the cargo lights up.

  Tom had known the ship would explode. “What was in the cargo?” I called to the sailors.

  “Ammunition,” said Mistress Smith’s brother. “Gunpowder. Bullets.” Another explosion sounded, as remaining cargo ignited.

  Chaos reigned when we reached the south dock, crowded with other small boats. The wind and rain made moving on land almost as difficult as at sea, and debris blew all around us. One warehouse’s roof had been torn off. The old sailor nodded a goodbye.

  “May the Six keep you safe, Lady.”

  “And you as well. Thank you.”

  As I made my way through the city, I saw that much of Cape Triumph had hunkered down against the storm. Shutters and boards covered glass windows, and only a handful of people struggled through the tempest, often stopping to cling to a lamppost or building. Wisteria Hollow suddenly seemed as great a journey as sailing from Osfrid to Adoria. Spying a solidly built blacksmith’s shop, I hurried to it and crouched under the door’s overhang, holding tightly to a post as rain and wind beat against me. I closed my eyes and waited. And waited.