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Excerpt
Copyright 2024 Dana Claire
My head snapped up. Hope fisted my heart. “My parents? You spoke to them? What did they—”
“I thought The Freedom was pursuing Captain Fredrick and The Black Hollow,” Henrik interrupted. He took the book from my grasp and thrust it into Savina’s beckoning fingers.
“No. I haven’t spoken to them.” Savina addressed me before returning her gaze to Henrik. “And yes. They were following your father—or they are.” Savina gripped the sides of the ledger, her knuckles whitening. “We don’t know any more than that. Captain Fredrick’s ship and Medusa were seen in Sottom at the same time. We think there is a connection. We thought The Freedom was trailing them, but we lost contact. I don’t know where either ship or Medusa is now. That’s why I’m waiting for Conleth to return with news.”
My arms trembled. Where in the underworld had my parents gone?
Savina pointed to the wingback chairs next to a pair of end tables. “Sit.”
Henrik guided me across the room. His calluses scratched the threads of my blouse as he coaxed me down with gentle pressure on my shoulders. My knees wobbled, and I flopped into the seat.
“Is that why Captain Niles took interest?” Henrik asked. “He has stacks of Jacarian maps marked up with circles around mountain sides and x’s laid in front of cave entrances.” He arched an eyebrow. “What is he looking for?”
Savina looked down at the leather-bound book, then back up to Henrik. “Is that where these came from?” Her voice built like a thunderclap, lifting her half out of her seat. “Did you two board The Serpent’s Snare by yourselves and steal this?”
Before Henrik or I could confirm or deny, the king’s voice boomed behind us. “Savina, are you in there?”
The door swung open. I twisted, and the look of raw devastation marring Conleth’s face spurred me to my feet. His black hair stood on end as if he’d been pulling it. Creases of worry marred his lips. Behind him, my great-uncle Hermes scoured the room like a man who’d wandered away from a shipwreck, brown eyes red-rimmed. I’d never seen either man cry. Not much could break them, but I knew the sort of bereavement that painted the windows to their soul’s crimson would sever my heart as well.
“Oh, my gods. What happened?” Savina rounded the desk, stopping before her husband. “Tell me, Conleth. Who’s dead?”
The second she asked, I knew. Their missing ship, my uncles’ dried tears, the silence. I dropped to my knees, a sob wracking my chest.
“No, no, no.” Impossible. My father was a demi-god born from Apollo and Calliope with the power to heal and bring men to their knees with his song; my mother, Lou, the fierce captain of the first all-female-crewed pirate ship, The Freedom. Together, they’d navigated the seas with the greatest warriors and battled amidst the waves like gods. Poseidon’s kingdom was their domain. No enemy could thwart them there.
“Cal?” Henrik called out, but Conleth quickly moved in front of him, blocking his path to me.
Hermes ignored everyone else. With an ease only my great-uncle possessed, he walked over and knelt to cradle my head in his hands.
I fought his embrace as my chest threatened to collapse and crush my heart. I refused to believe they were gone.
“Let me go!” Henrik shouted at Conleth, but I didn’t dare look at him.
“I’m so sorry,” my uncle whispered.
“My parents are dead. Are you sure?”
Hermes’s nod tore a sob from Savina. He rubbed his thumbs under my eyes, catching the droplets on his skin. Uncontrollable tears gushed like a river that escaped its bed.
I swallowed the giant knot that had twisted in my throat. “I don’t believe you. It can’t be.” My father grew up with sirens. He swam with them. His peers called him the Emperor of the Sea for a reason. How could he possibly die on the water? And my mother. She embodied the tides, the very salt-water air she breathed. How could she just be gone?
“It’s true.” My uncle reached for me.
I shook my head. None of this made sense. “My brother?” Adelphi had been on The Freedom as well. My parents would never let someone steal his soul away to the underworld. Not if they could help it.
“Also gone.” Hermes dropped his arms.
A burning fury surged through me, scorching my grief down to hot embers. “Who killed my family?”
My uncle looked away for the first time, his almond-shaped eyes darting over my head. Without meeting my gaze, he breathed, “Captain Fredrick of The Black Hollow.”
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