The Rogue Queen (The Hundredth Queen #3)(7)

“Good Anu,” Deven breathes.

We grip the rail, and Enki’s Heart races for the island. Seawater mists our faces, and the wind blasts my hair behind me. The crew scrambles to the water cannons. The other members of our party and Ambassador Chitt make their way down the rail from up deck, hand over hand. Deven and I try to let go of the rail and cross the deck into the cabin, but the ship dips and soars over every roller, and the prow splashes up more surf. Despite our increased haste, the tidal wave continues to gain on us.

Natesa gapes at the towering wave. “Where in the skies did it come from?”

Indah pushes her forward. “Everyone inside!”

Deven and I stagger across the deck and into the cabin with them. Out the front window, the protective breaker grows higher and taller. Past the guard bridge, I glimpse the safety of a cove.

A shadow falls over the ship. I look out the open door—and the wall of water crashes into us. The cabin’s structure holds, but waves rush in and knock us down. I slide across the floor, soaked through in an instant.

The water recedes, violent streams of cold that slap and drag at me. Deven crawls to my side, his turban missing. Ashwin lies on his belly, coughing up water but otherwise unharmed. Natesa and Yatin hold each other in a puddle, while Indah and Pons brace themselves in the corner.

At our stern, a ship barrels for us. The three-mast vessel is painted an incongruously cheerful yellow. A dark cloud hangs ominously above the ship, punctuated by lightning. Thunder rumbles, an imminent warning of the vessel’s pursuit.

“Water cannons portside!” shouts Admiral Rimba.

The ship careens alongside us, its size filling the sky and its water cannons aimed to shoot. I wipe water from my eyes and peer up at the vessel’s black flag with its white symbol—a large shark with jagged teeth.

The sea raiders’ emblem.

Our pursuers employ their cannons. Saltwater jets in through the doors of the cabin, blasting one off its hinges. Deven crouches over me and absorbs the spray. The targeted streams of water force two of our cannons into the sea and crush another. Several of the crew are swept off deck into the rough waves. The terrible winds bellow, and the ship creaks and groans.

The raiders lower their biggest cannon at our cabin and blast more water at us. Deven is pushed off me, and he slides to the door. Pons grabs his wrist, and they are both swept out on deck and dragged to the rail. Pons latches onto a crate, stopping them from falling overboard, but Deven’s legs dangle over the edge.

I lurch out of the cabin, onto the open deck. Harnessing my soul-fire, I send a heatwave into the storm. “Enough!”

My flames evaporate the water on my hands, fizzling the drops to steam. A man high up on the opposing deck comes to the rail to see who cast the heatwave. Ambassador Chitt flanks me, his hands also glowing.

“What do you want, Captain Loc?” Chitt calls to the man on the other ship.

“We have no interest in you or the navy, Ambassador.” Captain Loc points at me. “We’ve come for the kindred and prince. Rajah Tarek has offered a reward for their return.”

“Prince Ashwin and Kindred Kalinda are under our protection,” Admiral Rimba answers, calling across the watery divide. Though the sea between our ships has started to calm, tension churns in the thundery sky. “I suggest you go before our fleet arrives.” He points to vessels speeding out of the breaker from the island.

“Give us the prince and kindred, and we’ll leave,” Captain Loc replies.

Behind me, Ashwin is stony, but I read him as well as he does one of his books. I turn to Captain Loc. “The prince and I stay.”

Captain Loc goes on, unruffled. “Kindred, your husband requires your presence.”

I throw a warning heatwave at his ship. The Voider is not my husband. My fire glances along their bow, scorching a line across the hull. Men dive away from the path of my fury. Captain Loc ducks behind the rail and rises again.

An exquisite chill, akin to delight, empowers me. The raiders fear my abilities.

And well they should.

But Captain Loc does not direct his crew to retreat. My impatience surges. Go away.

Flames fly from my hands, high across the water, their centers white and their edges a strange pale green. My heatwave hits the vessel’s mast and burns its flag. Captain Loc summons a pillar of water to extinguish the fire and then raises snakelike streams from the sea and aims them at me.

I stand ready, bolder with Chitt at my side than I would be alone. The navy vessels race closer, moments away. Should the raiders engage us, they will have to engage their entire fleet.

Captain Loc throws his streams of water at the hull. Waves splash the deck, hitting my sandals. “Another day, Kindred.” He signals to his crew, and they maneuver their ship farther out in the open water.

I hobble across the deck. Deven sits away from the rail near Pons, catching his breath. “Those dolts,” I say, helping Deven stand. “Rajah Tarek is dead.”

Deven squeezes water from his tunic and soaked turban. “I never thought anyone could be more dangerous than Tarek, and then I met the demon impersonating him.”

Pons summons a breeze that rushes over us, wicking away the immediate wetness of our clothes. After the wind passes, he says, “The reward for bringing you back must be generous. Captain Loc wouldn’t risk attacking a navy vessel this close to Lestari without incentive.”