To be honest, I don’t know whether concern or guilt was the primary driver behind my seeking out Relias next. There was always a vague discomfort about how I had been handling our relationship, but a fresh veneer had been recently applied.

  As the frontliner, I shouldn’t have let that tentacle get past me.

  I failed to protect the squishy.

  “He entered the fray unannounced, attacked from the back row, and drew the beast’s ire,” Raedine noted from the depths of my mind. “And whatever he did to get free worked… Perhaps too well.”

  What do you mean?

  “A hungry hunter would not waste precious energy to fling a half-eaten meal so far away. Within its clutches, Relias most assuredly did damage to it.”

  I shouldn’t have let him get there in the first place!

  Raedine was somehow able to sniff. “You’d do well to share the blame with others.”

  Relias had been given his own room in the captain’s quarters. On the surface, it looked like an act of respect, but I doubted it. More likely, Captain Morin just wanted to keep us from ganging up on him. Luckily, Nora no longer needed quite so much literal hand-holding, so we didn’t object.

  Standing outside his door, though, I couldn’t quite bring myself to knock.

  “Go on,” Raedine prompted.

  What do I say, sorry for sucking at my job?

  “Only if you want to explain the phrase.”

  I waited, half-hoping he’d open it spontaneously like last time, but no luck.

  “Relias?” I finally asked, resting my hand on the handle.

  “I’ll be with you presently!” he yelped as a whirlwind scuffle ensued behind the door.

  A somewhat disheveled Relias appeared in the small doorframe, his robes rumpled and his hair limp and slicked back. Tiny dark marks curved like spilled ink around his left temple, trailing across his nose and down his right cheek.

  “Oh no!” I gasped, utterly tactless.

  Relias offered a faint, unbothered smile. “Merely a passing effect,” he said lightly. “Almost…decorative, wouldn’t you agree?”

  My head said no, but my mouth filtered it down to a noncommittal “Mmm.”

  “Ah…” he sighed. “Perhaps I was only fooling myself. Still, the barb marks aren’t painful in the least. If anything, I almost look forward to when feeling returns.” He pressed his fingers into his jawline before pulling up the wool hood of his cloak. “Might we take a stroll on deck? I’d like to confront the sea again—before I start to fear it.”

  It was more of a short jaunt than a stroll, since he made a beeline to the nearest railing. He let out a humorless laugh, his eyes fixed on the horizon. “To think it looks so peaceful on the surface yet hides such beasts within its depths.”

  “It’s a big fishtank for sure,” I mumbled, not knowing what to say. “I think I heard that some sea creatures grow to the size of their confinement.”

  Relias let out a soft snort. “I do not speak of its size, but of its skill. Mayhaps a servant of the Mistress studied its ways, learning how to strip amity from the living. And mayhaps other beasts share that power.” He shivered. “My amity returns slowly now… but in that moment, with no light to call upon, never have I felt so powerless. So dark. So cold…”

  “I’ll do better next time,” I blurted out, my fists tightening at my sides. “I swear I won’t let anything past me again.”

  What an impossible thing to promise.

  Relias shook his head weakly. “No, Dear One. The fault was mine. It was my reckless misstep, not your shield, that cast me into the sea.” He frowned. “I will take this opportunity to regain my footing before moving on, however. We must speak of Sparkles.”

  “Um, sure. Sparkles.”

  It was still tough to take the name seriously.

  “Sparkles… is not fond of me,” Relias admitted, his eyes narrowing. “Another misstep of mine.”

  “You had some sort of fight?”

  Relias blinked. “If it ended in an altercation, I would not be standing before you.” His hand went back to his face. “Sealed out of Paradise, humanity migrated, and the Land of Dragons was entrusted to Sparkles. She stands at the entrance, her mere presence unbearable to demons.” Relias muttered, “At least, that is what I thought until present.”

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  “What changed your mind?” I asked.

  “Oliver. He mentioned knowing there is only one dragon, and he does not seem too concerned about our destination, so I must assume he has been there before.”

  I hadn’t jumped to the same conclusion.

  “Well, why don’t you just ask him for confirmation?”

  Relias blinked again, then lowered his forehead to the railing as though in prayer. “I find myself… unprepared. To address him properly, I would first owe him gratitude for saving my life, though he is a…” He trailed off before uttering the word demon. “Then I must confess the frailty of my recovery, a truth I would rather veil. And only then could I seek my answer in words careful enough not to wound his pride or draw ire. Such a discourse is no simple task, Dear One. It demands a level of humility, and humility… I am still learning.”

  I could have offered to do it for him. In fact, the impulse was so great, I found myself reaching out to pat his shoulder.

  “Stop enabling his helplessness,” Raedine chided.

  My hand froze.

  “What would Nora do?”

  Oof.

  “That’s a lot of excuses,” I told him. “But I’m still looking for the one that’s valid.”

  Relias straightened, affront written all over his face.

  I fought off the instinct to apologize. Instead, I pointed down toward the hold. “He’s in there playing with a cat.”

  “You mean for me to… at present?”

  “Yes.”

  He pulled at his cloak. “Looking like this?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you do not even know why I would question his knowledge of—”

  “Doesn’t matter. Go on.”

  Relias’s voice dropped, almost a whisper. “And if he should answer with scorn?”

  I just stared at him.

  His lips pressed into a line, his face coloring a bright, embarrassed red. Wordlessly, he turned toward the hold and shuffled away.

  I’m helping, right?

  Footsteps came from behind me.

  “His Holiness, afraid of a mere dark mage,” Captain Morin observed, taking a stance by my side. “That be the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  I gave him the side eye. “Crazier than the crab?”

  Morin coughed. “That beastie was a bit bigger than the ones I encountered in my youth… And its puppeteer was a new one entirely.” He looked about furtively, as if to make sure his subordinates weren’t listening in. “My thanks, Chosen One.”

  “For killing them or for letting you have the credit?”

  “You’ll sign the claw, of course?” he blustered, breezing past my question. “Don’t yet know how I’ll mount it, but that’s a problem for portfall.”

  “Haaa…” I exhaled. “I’ll consider it.”

  Morin fidgeted, clearly unsure what to do with his arms, before settling them behind his back. “Speaking of portfall… two days out. Cold snap’ll hit tonight.”

  Wasn’t it cold already?

  I glanced at the sails, noticing their slack. “We’re being a little more careful now, aren’t we?”

  “Waiting for the stragglers,” he corrected, peering over the rail. “Doesn’t pay to win the race if the others flounder on the way.”

  I followed his gaze, but saw nothing but gray sea from horizon to horizon. “You’re racing the other boats?”

  Morin scowled. “Ships. Boats are rowed. Ships are sailed. Even I wouldn’t dare insult another captain with the wrong word. And when we reach Atramentis, you’d best remember the difference during your speech.”

  “My speech? I wasn’t planning on revealing my whereabouts—”

  “I’ll handle the logistics,” he went on. “Round ’em up by swordpoint if I must. But it’d be cleaner if you convinced the reasonable ones to leave quietly. Vulture’s paying either way, but you strike me as the sort who wants value out of my services.”

  His eyes clouded, his gruffness slipping for a moment into worry. “And whatever you’re involved in, best we’re all ready to sail before you execute it.”

  I opened my mouth, but had nothing reassuring to refute him with.

  “Mmm. That actually sounds… prudent. Even I’m not sure what’s going to happen.” I scratched my cheek. “In fact, let’s work out a signal in case you need to leave us behind.”

  “That flare you shot last night would be visible at any time of day,” Morin agreed.

  I sighed. “To you and enemies alike. But I guess it’s best to draw them to me rather than you.”

  “You did take out two demon kings,” Morin noted. “What are a few remnants of their forces to the hero?”

  It was my turn to scowl. “Would it surprise you to know that I’m looking forward to retirement?”

  “At your age?” Morin laughed. “You’d get bored within a fortnight.”

  Like hell I would!

  Morin waved his hand. “Besides, demons can’t set foot on the Land of Dragons. Dragons don’t allow it.”

  Except that might be yet another myth.

  “Have you ever seen a dragon?”

  “Don’t need to see them to know they’re there. The land trembles under their weight.”

  “Huh?”

  “You’ll feel it when we hit port. The whole thing shudders. It’ll take a bit of getting used to.”

  A low horn warbled in the distance.

  “About time,” Morin muttered. “I’d better go—”

  Beast suddenly shot up the stairs from the hold, fur bristling, and darted between us before vanishing into an empty barrel. His hisses carried all the fury of a dozen feline epithets.

  Are they fighting each other?!

  I bolted past Morin, down into the hold.

  “What happened?!”

  Oliver, lounging across a crate like he’d been waiting for this exact cue, only shrugged. “I tried to warn him.”

  “I attempted to pet the cat,” Relias muttered. “I was... unsuccessful.”

  “Then… you two are—”

  “Not at each other’s throats?” Oliver suggested before turning toward Relias. “What does she take us for, uncultured heathens?”

  Relias’s eyes widened, but then a faint, shy smile crossed his lips. “We’ve been positively urbane for the past quarter-hour, and yet she still holds our prior conduct against us.”

  Oliver pressed a hand to his chest and sighed theatrically. “I suppose it takes some longer than others to accept change.”

  “No wonder the cat bolted,” I grumbled. “The very air reeks of boisterous pride.”

  “We’d be nothing without it,” Oliver countered, rising with a fluid grace. “But since you’re here, you should be made aware of our mutual conclusion.”

  “And that is?”

  “Sparkles abhors us both for separately attempting to access Paradise in the past,” Relias explained, somehow managing to look both penitent and justified at once. “Bribery has once failed, and a frontal attack would be disastrous. Thus, we elect you to speak with her on our collective behalf. If anyone is to negotiate with her, it is you.”

  “No pressure, however, if you fail,” Oliver began, dragging his fingers through his hair. His left eye cracked open, a sinister glint flaring across it. “We’ll just escalate the situation as necessary.”

  Why is it that whenever people come together, it always means more work for me?

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