The Alcazar (The Cerulean Duology #2) - Amy Ewing Page 0,70

to shave. I stand out far too much with this damned beard.”

He stood and Agnes quickly pressed herself against the wall of the inn. She listened as their footsteps receded and the common room grew quiet. Next to her, Vada let out a low whistle.

“He’s after Ambrosine,” she said.

Agnes wasn’t sure exactly what her father was after, but one thing was certain—he was headed to the same place she was. To Leo and Sera.

“We can’t let him get his hands on Sera again,” she said. She felt so small, stuck between these two imposing forces, her father and her grandmother. “Or on Leo. Or me. We’ve got to leave Ithilia. Tonight, now. We can’t wait for dawn.”

“It is too dark,” Vada protested.

A slow grin spread across Agnes’s face. “Not with Errol it isn’t.”

They hurried back to the docks and as soon as they boarded the Palma, Errol’s head popped up out of the water. Agnes smiled and took a piece of dried apple out of one of the satchels for him.

“Errol,” she said, settling down at the sloop’s edge. “We’ve got to leave now, tonight. Sera has gone to another island and we need to go there to find her. We need you to light our way. We have to sail to Culinnon.”

At the sound of that name, Errol straightened and his lights burned in a flash of brilliant purple. Agnes and Vada exchanged a glance.

“Errol, do you know Culinnon?” Agnes said.

Again the lights blinked purple. Agnes leaned forward. “We need to get there quickly. Sera is going to Culinnon. Do you understand? Sera. Culinnon.”

Errol snapped his teeth at them and flashed orange-magenta-white. Agnes got the distinct impression he was exasperated by her, as if he was saying yes, of course I understand.

Once Vada had readied the ship, Errol’s scales began to glow greenish gold. He snapped his teeth again, then gestured with one scaly claw. As he slid beneath the waves, a beacon of light guiding their way, Vada let out the sail and Agnes felt a burst of hope in the dark night.

They were on their way. To Culinnon.

20

Leo

THEY HAD BEEN AT SEA A WEEK ON THE MORNING LEO’S grandmother burst into his cabin with news.

“A dove has come,” Ambrosine said imperiously as Leo yanked the covers up over his bare chest, squinting around in the sunlight.

“Huh?” was all he could muster, his brain foggy with sleep.

She took a seat at the armchair by his porthole as Mckenna, the young servant girl, rushed in with a tray of coffee and breakfast pastries.

“From Ithilia,” Ambrosine said, waving a small scroll at him as Mckenna poured her coffee. The smell of it filled his cabin, mixing with the buttery scent of the pastries, and Leo’s stomach growled. He grabbed the robe that hung beside his bed and slipped it on as the serving girl handed him his own cup. He smiled at her gratefully and she blushed. Mckenna was always blushing around him.

“That will be all, Mckenna,” Ambrosine said, and she scuttled from the room.

Pelago didn’t have a telegraph system like Kaolin, Leo had learned, but instead used trained doves to deliver messages. Ambrosine had been waiting for a message since the day they left Ithilia and it seemed at last, news had finally arrived. Leo took a bracing sip of his coffee.

Ambrosine unfurled the scroll and Leo caught a glimpse of triumph in her expression. “Your sister made it to Ithilia,” she said.

Leo’s shoulders relaxed. “Agnes is okay?”

“She met my son Matthias—he is the university librarian.” She said it as if it were something to be ashamed of. “There was another girl her age traveling with her.”

“Vada,” Leo said with relief.

“It appears they have a ship. They would certainly have heard of my attack on Rahel and my rescuing of you and Sera. Matthias would know I am headed to Culinnon. Let us hope he has instructed them to sail here at once.”

She didn’t sound certain, Leo was surprised to hear. From what he’d gathered from his time on the galleon, Ambrosine commanded ironclad obedience from everyone around her, her family most especially.

“That’s great news,” he said.

“There was a war council as well,” she continued. “The Triumvirate has voted. Three to zero. War has been declared on Kaolin.” She grinned wickedly. “Even the Lekke, after all this time, has finally found her backbone.” She slapped her thigh. “But that’s not all, Leo. The Renalt has left Banrissa!”

“And that’s . . . good?”

Ambrosine’s displeasure showed in the faintest pursing of