A Whisper of Night

14.1 || ZALYNE 🔥

"I am sorry, but we cannot give you passage."

    "What do you mean?" Brennia demanded. "We're innocent! We're safe! What do you mean - "

    "Be calm," Jae said, placing a hand on Brennia's forearm.

    The princess turned on her, furious. "Don't tell me to be calm! You're the reason we can't go!"

    "We cannot let anyone from Svanvald onboard," the captain said, his voice accented with the melodious lilt of the Nightfire Isles. He was a small, walnut-skinned man, his hands long and clever, his eyes a liquidlike brown. "It is for our safety."

    "But what about ours?" Brennia seethed.

    "You traveled with her," the Priest said. "You are equally likely to have the disease. You cannot go."

    Behind them, men and women and children streamed up the gangplank to the little ship. With the threat of war in Old Skeynvald, more and more refugees were heading to the Nightfire Isles.

    And we should be there, too, Zalyne thought bitterly. Luka and I would be going there if it weren't for Jae and Brennia....

    The three of them had escaped on horseback, riding hard for a day and night to reach Little Bay before the ship set sail. They'd barely made it...and now they wouldn't be going to the Isles after all.

    "Could we take another ship?" asked Jae. "In another month? The disease works extremely quickly - if we truly did have it, we would be dead by then."

    The captain shook his head. "Next month, we have typhoon season. Autumn is here."

    "So you won't be coming at all?" Brennia demanded.

    "No," the captain said simply, "not unless the weather favors it. I must be going now."

    Brennia opened her mouth, but Jae held her back. The captain strode away, his hands clasped before him.

    Numbly, Zalyne watched the crew stride up the gangplank and pull it up alongside them. There were a few shouts, a horn. And then the ship set sail....

    Brennia swore.

    "We could stay in Wayra Peak for now," Zalyne said quietly.

    Jae sighed. "I don't think so," she said gently. The young queen was clearly exhausted - Zalyne hadn't even seen her eat in the time they'd been together - but she did not let it show. "Staying in one place will only show the Lion Queen where we are. We should head South - perhaps we could find Queen Astnorden...."

    Queen? Zalyne thought incredulously. She's crowned herself queen already? And Jae is acknowledging that? This is nothing short of treason....

    Still, she just shrugged. The ship drifted towards the horizon, melting into the amber sea. There goes any chance of escape.

    "Why couldn't you have just lied?" Brennia seethed. "How hard was it to say that you're from Slagvald or Stromvald?"

    Jae did not respond, but simply strode to the edge of the harbor. "Or we could find another ship to take us back to Svanvald."

    "No way," Brennia said. "I'm not going to any disease-ridden place."

    "Zalyne?" Jae said. "What do you think?"

    Zalyne hesitated. I want to find Luka, she almost said. Truth be told, she was worried sick about him - she hadn't seen him or Elsking in the crowd for the Nightfire Isles. Something must've happened to them...or perhaps they'd stayed to search for her.