Brie
Monica arches her brow as she plucks another petal off the flower she’s been defacing for the last ten minutes in relative silence. She’s precariously perched on the railing of the upper deck, with an insane drop to sudden death beneath her, yet she doesn’t look the least bit fazed by it.
Me, however?
I adjust my position on a crate nearby, neatly crossing my legs and refusing to look over the railing and the lagoon below.
“Afraid of heights, Princess?”
“No,” I rush out, but the word wobbles. I straighten my back, brushing invisible dust from my dress, and fix her with a cold look. “I’m not.”
“Come sit with me then.” She pats the railing, a cocky smile tugging on the corner of her mouth.
“I’m fine here,” I counter, narrowing my eyes.
“Suit yourself. You’re missing the show.” She jabs a thumb at the water but goes back to plucking petals off her flower, humming a random tune.
All around us, people are readying the ship, the Artemis, to disembark from the lagoon. The two ships resting further back in the lagoon are also in preparation to leave. Skiffs zip across the water from the beach and back again, carrying supplies to the ships.
Monica notices me watching the two other boats and says, “The blue one is named the Asteria,” she explains, tilting her head in its direction. “The one with the yellow sails is the Atropos.”
“Names of the old gods,” I murmur, and she nods, tilting her face to the sun.
“Goddesses, technically.”
“I know,” I cut back, but she laughs, her hair drifting in the tropical breeze.
It’s nearly sunset. Logan and I slept most of the day. I’m shocked we were even left alone for so long after the Alpha’s 3:00 A.M. meeting where I spilled the secret I’m sure Logan was wanting me to keep. After I’d changed his bandages this afternoon, Sawyer arrived with a stack of clothes for the both of us and told Logan he needed to meet with Alex again. For what, I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I was just… left behind.
I could tell Logan didn’t want to leave me but we’re not in charge here, and I think that’s hard for him. Maybe it’ll humble him a bit.
Eventually, Monica came to fetch me and fussed over my clothes and hair for an hour before dragging me up to the deck to watch the preparations, using me as her own personal form of entertainment.
She stretches out on the railing while people yell commands, scurrying across the deck carrying ropes and tools I’ve never seen nor could name. Men and women alike climb ratlines to start adjusting the sails. As it stands, Monica and I are resting in full sunlight, but once those sails expand, I’m sure the temperature will drop ten degrees, which would be a welcome relief from the sun.
My skin prickles from the heat. I was right about getting a tan. I’m starting to bronze wherever my skin’s exposed, and I can practically feel the freckles starting to dot the bridge of my nose and cheeks.
“How long does it take to get to–wherever home is?” I ask Monica.
She tosses the flower stem over the railing. “Only four days with full sails and engines. We’ll be moving at a full sprint as long as the weather holds. And if we’re not followed.”
I glance at her, but she’s not looking in my direction. Her hair’s piled on the top of her head in a bun spilling with ringlet curls that glow a pale pink in the sunlight, and she’s wearing a dress similar to mine, but in a pale cream. A leather corset hugs her trim waist, and just like me, she’s wearing leather boots. A pirate’s outfit.
“Are you a pirate?” I ask, unable to help myself.
She snorts a laugh, squinting as she turns back in my direction. “What’s that?”
“They sail the seas, pillaging and raiding.”
“The only pillaging Alex has ever done is in our bed,” she smirks without skipping a beat. My cheeks burn, but Monica’s grinning from ear to ear at my expense. “We’re not thieves or criminals, if that’s what you’re insinuating. Alex has a very large pack and has to travel on occasion for supplies seeing as we’re not part of the KiloKilo packland network of trade. We’re on our own.”
“Is that who’d be following you? KiloKilo’s… warriors?”
She nods, picking at her corset, her eyes holding on the water.
“Why?”
Monica purses her lips. I can see the gears turning behind her eyes like she’s mulling my question over, debating about telling me the truth, fragments of it, or everything. Finally, she meets my eyes. “Can you keep secrets, Brie?”
“I can,” I reply honestly. “Just like you said, I’m an eldest sister. That’s my job.”
Her answering smile is faint and knowing. “I have to ask you something first.”
“Go ahead,” I say, sitting up a little straighter.
“Logan isn’t your mate, is he?”
“It’s complicated.”
“The mate bond is not complicated at all,” she argues, furrowing her brow. “It’s very cut and dry–”
“We rejected each other about a week ago. He’d been an acquaintance of mine, of my family, since I was a child, and we hadn’t seen each other in many, many years when we felt the bond. It was a mutual rejection.” I wait for her to press me with questions as to why we did it, but she just nods, like she somehow understands. I add, “You asked if I can keep secrets. I can, and I hope you can as well, because Logan would prefer people think we’re mates for my own protection.”
“I understand. Your secret is safe with me. But does it not bother you sharing a space with him? Or even just being around him?”
“No, not at all. I actually enjoy his company a lot.” I swallow, realizing I just admitted something out loud that I haven’t allowed myself to accept internally, speaking the truth into existence. “I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else in a situation like this.”
She smiles, shrugging, “I always wondered if mate bonds were simply for breeding purposes or if it is more than that. Then I met Alex and I knew that the Goddess knows who pairs best with whom, regardless of how we feel about it.”
I tilt my head, wondering what she means by that. “You and Alex call yourself mates. Are you saying… you’re not happy about it?”
“No, not at all,” she amends. “I only mean I was raised being told the mate bond was something that could be manipulated, chosen, so to speak. That whoever I was deemed to marry would be my mate based on being marked, and it didn’t matter if I had a chosen mate out there, somewhere.”
“We call that imprinting where I’m from. It’s rare, but my grandparents on my father’s side are mates because my grandpa marked my grandma.”
Monica’s expression is almost impossible to read as she toys with her fingers, the rings glinting in the sunlight, casting rainbows across her midsection. “Yes, precisely.”
“You were… betrothed?”
She looks up at me, her eyes dark and weary. “I was born for a specific purpose, if that counts. And that purpose was to marry a prince within KiloKilo’s royal family.”
I notice a faint scar on her ring finger when she twists a thick, gold band inlaid with diamonds and sapphires around her finger. The scar is jagged, almost like a burn. I feel a sudden sense of dread as she continues, “Don’t tell Alex I’m telling you, but I’m the reason his pack is on the run. They wanted to leave KiloKilo anyway, but… now they have to because every warrior in KiloKilo is looking for me and Alex. Me, and my fated mate.”
“What happened?” I don’t like this. My skin crawls as she looks over the water again, her expression edging on pained.
“My parents didn’t marry because they were in love. They weren’t mates like you and Logan were, or like Alex and I are. They were chosen for each other based on certain attributes valuable to the royal family. Attractive, lack of… intellect. Full, unwavering submission to the crown. Families like mine were rewarded for every girl their union produced. My two younger sisters were married into the royal network–to dukes and princes within the outer branches of their family. I was chosen to marry… the heir to the Grand Wizard. His son, a man three times my age. I was in the capital of KiloKilo for my wedding when… when I met Alex.”
My stomach is in knots, but I don’t press for information even though I’m dying to know more. So little is known about KiloKilo’s royal family. My great-grandfather met the king’s advisors but was never allowed to speak to the king, the Grand Wizard, face to face.
“But I was a bad egg, so to speak. Mouthy and opinionated, which isn’t what the royals were looking for, of course. They tried to beat that out of me when my parents arrived with me, seeing my beauty tinged by what they called madness. My parents were… punished for raising such an intolerable daughter, and my sisters… already married, did nothing to stop them.”
My throat tightens.
“One day, I was in the castle, being fitted for my wedding dress. It was the day after my parents were killed. I snuck away to the city, deciding it would be better if I… walked into the ocean and let the old gods decide what to do with me, but I bumped into Alex in the market and felt the mate bond click into place. Alex isn’t the kind of man to accept defeat, and he wasn’t going to let me go, whether or not it meant he’d be hunted for the rest of his life. He was looking for something, though. Alexandrite. The rare, purple hued crystals the wizard and his flock use to strengthen their magic. It’s possible to travel through the veil with one of those precious gems on your ship, and my mate needed them to get his pack to safety. I knew where the royals kept them.”
“So you stole them?”
“Of course. It was easy enough to do. Alex hated that he had to use me to secure the gems, but we had no other options. I had to wait until the day of my wedding, seeing him in secret. We’d… acknowledged our bond by then. He marked me on my breast.” She closes her eyes as her fingers drift over her bodice. “High enough that the mark could be seen over my wedding dress to offend the wizards. But… things never go the way they’re planned. I stole the gems–enough for every ship in Alex’s armada and the two other packs and their Alpha’s who wanted to leave KiloKilo as well. But I was caught. I had time to hide the gems in my room before a maid ratted me out after she saw the mate mark on my chest, and I was… held down, my finger cut to the bone and cursed to never heal, to always show who I really belong to. My–my betrothed told me our marriage would be a punishment worse than death for me. And Alex… burst into the ceremony, and saved me. We ran, taking the gems with us, knowing my sisters would likely be punished for what I’d done.”
She closes her eyes.
“He has a death warrant on his head. Bounty hunters are looking for us in droves. Once we reach Tempest Valley, Alex’s island, we’ll be safe, but not for long. There’s a system of reefs that surround Tempest and the nearby islands home to the rogue packs. We have our own witches and wizards who protect the reefs, keeping the royal guard out, but they’re desperate to find us, knowing what we’ve taken and what we plan to do–”
“When we reach… anywhere, outside of KiloKilo,” I cut in, “I can ensure your safety and that of your pack. You can settle anywhere you want. You’ll have our royal family behind you. We don’t tolerate things like that.”
She gives me a weary smile. “Thank you.”
I slip off the crate and go to her, taking her hand. “We’ll make it out.”
“You washed up just in time, Brie. Funny how fate works. Now, where are our mates?”
Shouting on the deck rings out, drawing out her voice. The sails expand, casting long shadows over the deck. They’re magnificent.
“Time to go,” she breathes, closing her eyes and saying a prayer for our safety.