CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Niya was surrounded by merriment and laughter, but her mood was similar to that of the stuffed and cooked pig on the table before her: rather annoyed to find herself here. The banquet hall was boisterous and warm, a spicy incense mixing with music and the echoing of guests. The pirates of the Crying Queen now mingled easily with the people of the valley. The endless fine spirits no doubt a tool in the loosening of suspicious walls. Exotic fruits and steaming vegetables passed quickly under Niya’s nose where she sat between Saffi and Achak at a table toward the back.
Yet in contrast to her two companions, Niya slowly sipped her red wine and hardly touched her plate of food as her gaze continued to fall to where Alōs sat amid the royal family at the front of the room.
The young princess was on his right, appearing to suffer the same affliction as Niya had once had at her age.
Callista’s cheeks flushed anytime Alōs turned to engage her in conversation.
There was no denying Callista’s beauty. Her dark skin was luminescent under the firelight, her prominent cheekbones complementing a long, graceful neck. Her hair was teased out with a plaited braid zigzagged in the middle, her outfit made of the finest silk. And her crown, no doubt the focal point of all of Alōs’s charm, glistened as she angled her head close to his, the red of the Prism Stone a flashing temptation in the center.
Despite the age difference, Niya couldn’t help but admit the pirate lord and the princess looked good together. Callista’s pureness balanced Alōs’s wicked allure.
Both born to rule.
Niya suddenly felt even more wretched, and she wasn’t exactly sure why.
Perhaps seeing such an innocent beside the pirate reminded Niya of her younger self.
She knew all too well how intoxicating it felt to draw the gaze of such a powerful man, to have Alōs’s sole attention in a room full of splendor. It was like a drug. Once you experienced the gentle touch of his glowing eyes, the heated curve of his grin, the prickle of his cool magic, you needed it like your next breath.
She watched Alōs’s gaze slip up to the Prism Stone as Princess Callista tipped her head back, laughing at something he’d said. A desperate hunger seeped into his eyes then, a glint of pure danger.
Everything he had searched for, had been banished for, was a mere touch away.
What was he feeling? How much strength was he using to control his urge to rip the stone from its setting in her crown right then and there?
Niya almost wished he would; the binding bet along her wrist tingled at the thought. She absently rubbed the mark with her finger. Freedom, it whispered. So close, yet still out of reach.
“Kintra!” Achak’s deep voice brought Niya back to where she sat beside the brother. He raised a large hand, flagging down the quartermaster as she walked past their bench. “Come sit with us a moment,” said Achak, gesturing between himself and Niya.
Kintra studied the tight space, which was mostly taken up by Achak’s ostentatious robe. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Nonsense!” said Achak, his gold-painted brows glistening as he moved over. “This one has been a complete bore.” He nodded toward Niya. “Hardly spoken a word since she’s sat down. You would be saving Saffi and I from any more of her dullness. Move over, child.”
Niya was forced to scoot to the side as Achak pulled Kintra down between them.
“So, my love”—Achak turned to Kintra—“have you seen any friends since you’ve arrived?”
The quartermaster frowned. “Thankfully, no.”
“It has been a while since you’ve been back here, yes?” asked Achak. “Queen Runisha told us it might be close to four years.”
“Six.” Kintra reached for a glass of wine that sat on the table, taking a hearty sip.
Niya pinched her brows together, confusion swirling. “You know the queen?”
“We know of each other,” Kintra clarified.
“Forgive me for assuming,” said Niya, “but I thought you were from Shanjaree.”
“She is,” said Saffi on the other side of Achak, stabbing a large slice of pork on her plate.
“I was.” Kintra eyed her shipmate. “And I’ll tell my own past, thank you.”
Saffi raised her hands, forkful of food included.
“Yes, I was from Shanjaree,” Kintra continued, her posture tightening as she stared into her drink. “But my only affinity now is with Alōs and the Crying Queen.”
Niya glanced at Achak over Kintra’s shoulder, but the brother raised his brows as if to say, Ask her, not me.
“So . . . how did you come to know the people of the valley?” asked Niya.
Kintra’s gaze went to the pirate lord across the room, still wrapped in conversation with the young princess. “It’s not really a tale suited for dinner conversation.”
Saffi snorted before talking through a mouthful of food. “We are pirates. When have we ever abided by conversational decorum?”
“It’s okay,” began Niya. “If you don’t want to share—”
“No, it is just that . . . the king of Shanjaree, King Othébus, was . . . not a good man, you see,” said Kintra, playing with the stem of her glass. “He took many wives. And as he got older, the wives he chose got younger. My family are members of court, or they were the last time I saw them. No one wanted to bring their daughters to the palace, but the king demanded he know the families of each of his courtiers. I must have caught his eye, for I was chosen to be his tenth wife. I was thirteen.”
“Oh dear,” breathed Niya.
“My parents tried to dissuade him,” continued Kintra, her gaze growing unfocused. “They told him I was not a good match. Too strongheaded, with opinions of my own, but King Othébus would not hear it. And because he was our king, they had to obey. I had just gotten my markings.” Kintra ran her fingers over the five scarred welts on one of her biceps. “It was how the king remembered each wife’s number in line,” she explained. “My binding to the king was meant for the following day when I met Alōs.
“He must have heard me crying, because he found me hiding in a street behind the palace, not wanting yet to go home. The burns, they hurt too badly, and I couldn’t allow my family to see me upset. Alōs asked why I was sad, and normally I wouldn’t have spoken against the king to a stranger, but at the time I was so angry and scared, and I wanted everyone to know my rage. It wasn’t until it was all said and done that I would come to learn the consequences of such an act.” Kintra smiled to herself then. “The king was murdered later that night.”
Niya’s pulse quickened as she listened to Kintra’s story, a chill running through her at her last words. “Alōs killed the king?”