It takes Arsinoe longer than she would like to gather the money she needs to hire a ship to the island. But finally, the day has come. After squirreling away coins earned by donning a cap and acting as a delivery person and twice being tempted to swipe just one of Mrs. Chatworth’s brooches to sell, she stands alone before the harbor and prepares to board a boat. No Mirabella this time and no Billy. They will be safer here.
“And I won’t be gone long,” she whispers, and clenches the coin in her fist.
On the docks, she slips through the workers, looking for some idle captain. The day is busy, the port full of too many men, and not a woman to be seen. She keeps her head down and cap low, but at least she is not in Daphne’s time and does not have to worry about the superstition of having a girl on board. She stuffs her money deep in her pocket and walks past the slips. It does not need to be a great boat. Or even a large boat. This time, she is not trying to fight her way out of the mist. Any available captain and crew who are willing to sail in whatever direction she chooses will do.
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—”
Mirabella laughs and shoves her lightly.
“You are a brat. And you would have drowned when the first of her waves hit.” Her smile fades. “But . . . I am not only coming along to look after you. Though I am sure I will have to do that.” Arsinoe makes a face. “I am coming along because if you are right, and there truly is something amiss on the island, it is . . . our responsibility, is it not? To do what we can. We are still of there; we are still its queens.”
“No we’re not,” Arsinoe says glumly. “It’s thinking like that that’s going to get us killed.”
“Are you still dreaming of Daphne?”
She shakes her head. There have been no dreams since she decided to return to Fennbirn. It is that as much as anything that tells her she is on the right track.
“Have you started to dream?”
“No,” Mirabella replies. “She is still speaking only to you.” She crosses her arms and nods to Billy as he approaches from the other side of the rail. “So you know, this is probably a trap. She is probably going to deliver us right into our little sister’s clutches.”
“Have a little faith,” Arsinoe says as Mirabella walks away.
“Two queens die. That is just how it is.”
“Don’t say that!” Arsinoe calls after her, then turns back to the rail and pounds it with her fist. “Why does she say that?”
“I think she was joking.” Billy leans against the rail. He shells a nut and holds it out.
“No, thank you. Where did you get those?”
“The captain had them. We paid him so much for an afternoon sail that I think he feels he should provide refreshments.”
“You’re in a fine mood. Aren’t you going to lecture me, too?”
He shrugs.