entrusting my mother with caring for Arida. But I swear upon every last god, Kalea, if anything happens to her while I’m gone, I’ll have your head. I will not lose another parent because of you.”
And with that, I return to the tomes on my lap and dismiss her without another look.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I find a freshly bathed Ferrick in his room the next morning, droplets of water dripping from his trimmed hair. Back turned to the door I crack open, he’s in a fighting stance with his rapier raised before him. One hand is behind his back as he lunges, backs away, breathes in deeply, and shifts his feet into a new position.
I lean against the frame to watch, fascinated by how he doesn’t waver. By how the muscles in his bare shoulders and back flex and tighten, stronger now. Without his coat, it’s easier to see how much he’s filled out since the summer. Though he’s still lankier than Bastian, his shoulders and arms have swelled to nearly double the size since he took up weapon training with Casem.
Behind him, shelves of herbs and plants take over an entire wall, with bottles and glass jars stuffed full of moss and other things I can’t make sense of.
“What are you doing?”
He practically yelps, jolting so fiercely that the rapier drops from his hand and falls to his toes. I grimace when he curses, stumbling onto his bed. Grabbing a discarded tunic from the open luggage he’s got beside it, he hugs it to his chest to cover himself.
“By the gods, Amora, don’t you know how to knock?” His cheeks flush such a vibrant red that, despite everything, I can’t hold back my laugh.
“Queens don’t have to knock,” I tease. “What were you doing?”
“What does it look like I was doing?” He crumples his shirt in his hands, huffing. “I was training.”
“Wet and half naked?”
“I’m not half … You know what? You never know what the conditions are going to be like, all right? Gods know you find trouble everywhere; if I’m going to be your adviser, I need to be the best.”
“Right. I feel much safer knowing you can fight under these conditions.” Stars, I missed Ferrick. “But you might not want to unpack. We’re heading out again first thing tomorrow.”
His freckled face falls. Looking at him now, clean after half a season out at sea, I see that his cheeks are glaringly sunburnt, and that there are thin wrinkles around his eyes from spending too many days squinting into the sun.
“No way” is all he says at first, turning away. After another moment, he groans. “Please tell me this is a joke.”
When I say nothing, he runs his fingers through his hair and tosses the shirt he’s been holding back into his travel chest. “This is a cruel punishment, Amora. I have feet. Feet are meant to be on land.” His hand drifts to his stomach, and I don’t need to read minds to know he’s thinking of his seasickness. “Do I need to procure a ship?”
“It’s already done. We’ll be taking The Duchess, with a crew as small as we can get it. I’d like you as our healer, Vataea to command the waters, and Bastian … because he’s a requirement.”
Slowly, Ferrick’s lips curve upward. “It’s our old crew.”
I wonder if that warms his heart as much as it does mine. Our crew, back together again. But it’s little more than a dream, because our crew is a ghost of what it once was, and it’s my fault; I’m the one who can’t manage being in the same room as Bastian.
“Our crew and then some,” I say eventually. “I’m adding Casem, to use his affinity toward air to help with the sailing, and because Mira’s been teaching him mind speak and Mother insists I stay in communication with her and the islands. There’s one other person I might add as well, if they’re up for it.”
“What’s our mission?” He takes a seat across from me and offers his hand. I don’t hesitate to take it, letting him cup his hands around mine.
“I’m to make the kingdom adore me.” I flash my most practiced smile before explaining our strategy to tour the kingdom and meet its eligible bachelors. Something in Ferrick’s expression has cracked by the time I finish, though I can’t tell whether it’s curiosity or disbelief that wars in the creases of his forehead. “You’re going to get married?”
“Again, you don’t need to be married to have