Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns #3)(70)

She would even settle for a dinghy and a good pair of rowing arms.

“Excuse me, sir.”

The man in the green wool coat turns around sharply, though he had not been doing anything but stuffing his pipe.

“What is it, lad?” He recoils at her face or perhaps just the scars across it. “Or miss. What can I do for you, miss?”

“I need to book a passage,” she says. “For a short sail.”

“A short sail to where?”

Arsinoe hesitates.

“I need to book passage for a short sail with a discreet crew.”

He squints. When she does not budge, he chomps the end of his unlit pipe.

“My boys and I will take you, but you’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Aye. I’ve nets to repair this afternoon. If you come back tomorrow, around the same time, we should have unloaded the catch, and I’ll keep the crew around.”

Arsinoe searches the docks. So many other boats, but some are far too grand, and others have become deserted in the short time she has been there. She pulls all of her money out of her pockets.

“If I give you everything I have, will you round up a small crew and take me now? It won’t take long to get where I’m going. I promise.”

“I don’t know. . . . Just what’s your hurry, miss?”

But before she can manage a lie, she hears Billy’s familiar whistle.

“If he says no, tell him I’ll pay him double.”

Billy and Mirabella walk confidently down the dock. The captain straightens as he shakes Billy’s hand and Billy introduces himself.

“Care to tell me what’s going on, young Master Chatworth?” The captain looks at Arsinoe suspiciously. “Is she not supposed to be sailing?”

Arsinoe glares at him and spits into the water.

“Not alone, I’m afraid,” Billy says. “I am her fiancé, and this is her sister, and we will all be sailing together.” He puts more money into the captain’s hand, and the man shrugs his shoulders.

“I’ll gather my crew.”

Once they are alone, Arsinoe pushes Billy and Mirabella back up the dock.

“What are you doing?”

“Coming with you,” Mirabella says, and shoves a satchel into her chest. “And we at least remembered to pack.”

“If I’d have packed, you’d have known what I was doing. And didn’t you tell me this was a bad idea?”

“It is a bad idea. Once we get on that island, we will probably never get off again.” Mirabella takes her by the shoulders. “Please. Do not go. Because you know we cannot let you go alone.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you. I’m not going back to stay. I’m sneaking on, making my way to Mount Horn to find out what Daphne and the Blue Queen want, and then I’m coming back here.”

“If you can come back,” says Billy, studying the state of the fishing boat they have booked passage on. “Last time Mira had to fight a Goddess’s storm, remember?”

“It won’t be like last time.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

“That is not an answer. Which is why we are going with you.” Mirabella gathers her skirt and jumps down over the rail. “And to make sure you keep your word. Sneak on, sneak off.”

“Sneak on, sneak off,” Arsinoe mutters, and boards the boat.

The ship sailed in less than an hour. At first, the small crew of fishers was cross, but their mood was soon lifted by the sight of the extra coin and the relative ease of the journey. Also by the presence of Mirabella’s pretty face.

Arsinoe peers over the side to watch the waves crash against the hull as she and Mirabella stand on the deck. There is not much to the boat. It is certainly nothing compared to the large vessel they arrived on.

“Is your gift back to fullness yet?” she asks. “Can you feel it?”

“No. And even if we reach the island, who knows how long that will take to happen. Or if it will happen at all. There are many things we deserter queens do not know.” She pulls Arsinoe back upright. “But what I do know is we have nothing to fight another storm with. So you had better hope the mist lets us pass right through.”

“It will,” Arsinoe says. Billy has directed the crew to sail southeast out of the bay. It is not the direction that they came from, but it does not matter. The island’s magic will find them if it wants them.

“I suppose you’re angry with me,” Arsinoe says.

“I suppose I am.” Mirabella’s mouth is drawn tight, and the more she speaks, the more her anger leaks out. “Sneaking off like that. Preparing to leave without a word. Treating this like it is a game when it could get us all killed.”

“I know it’s not a game. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to come. You didn’t have to.”

“Yes I did.”

“No you didn’t. I survived sixteen years without your mothering. I survived a bolt to the back. A poisoning.”

“You are a poisoner.”

“I didn’t know that. I survived being struck by lightning by you!” She pokes her sister in the shoulder with a forefinger. “I saved your life at the duel. I broke us out of the cells! So if you want to talk about who saves whom—”