Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I think about that. “Perhaps she has it. Last I saw it was with her and the Kraken. But fret not, Edonia is gone. Her soul is in the bottle around her sister’s neck.”
“The bottle should be destroyed,” Ramsay grumbles.
“You know how family can be,” I say, somewhat understanding why Nerissa would want to keep part of her sister close, no matter how horrible she is. My sisters came looking for me even though I’m the one who left them behind.
At that thought my heart clenches and I say, “I hope I see Larimar again.”
He gives me a faint smile. “I’m sure you will, luv. You’ve only just got your fins back and it’s a mighty big ocean.”
“And this is just the Pacific,” I agree, gesturing to the wide horizon beyond the graveyard of Kraken-smashed ships. “There are more oceans and seas on the other side of the world where she could be. The North Sea, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the poles. She could be anywhere.”
“Luckily for you, you also possess a ship that can take you wherever you want to go,” he says, and I gaze up at the Nightwind, suddenly aware that the crew has been staring down at us and watching with rapt attention. Even Skip has jumped up on the railing, staring down at me.
Ramsay goes on. “So I suppose the question is this, princess: Where do you want to go next?”
CHAPTER 44
Ramsay
THREE MONTHS LATER
Of all the battles we fight, grief is the one that we cannot win. There is no winning and there is no losing. Grief makes a home within your bones so that you’ll carry it for all time.
It’s been three months since we lost Henry and Sam. I thought that grief was done with me when I lost my father, and Venla, and Hilla, but that was a wishful and foolish thought. Loss and tragedy don’t stop more loss and tragedy from occurring and grief will always follow you, like a shadow you don’t want.
In that time, there has been a lot to be grateful for. I have the rest of my crew, I have Maren, and I have my ship. After the battle at the Bay of Banderas, the Nightwind headed south toward Acapulco, but since the demolition of an entire fleet of naval ships, the British Government had a price out on our heads. Granted, we actually didn’t do anything to the ships except fire a few cannons and take out some of their rigging and crew. But we didn’t actually sink those ships.
Be that as it may, since the waking world doesn’t believe in the Kraken, harkening the monsters to tales a drunken sailor would tell, they jumped to the conclusion that we somehow destroyed an entire naval fleet. I have to say, even though it meant a bounty on our heads, I didn’t mind that we added to our already fearsome reputation.
However it meant that we needed to lay low. We bypassed Acapulco and took the ship down to Panama City, a place that was uneasy about pirates since Henry Morgan burned the original city to the ground last century, and therefore fearfully respectful of us. We’ve been here ever since, the crew stretching their legs for the last while, renting estates and living in villas on land, spending our treasures, eating the local food and drinking the local people.
But while this time has been a respite from life at sea, it’s also been full of hardships. I miss Henry terribly and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of him. Sometimes I’ll think of the future and all that I thought he would grow up to be, and it destroys me to think he won’t ever grow up, in the same way it hurts to think about Hilla. But while there is pain, there is a slow and steady acceptance of it. Maren has been exceptionally patient with me when I’ve wanted time alone to brood and drink, when I’ve been short with her, when I’ve been acting like I don’t have my head on straight. She’s stayed by my side, a steady, comforting presence.
I miss Sam too, her good-natured personality, her sass and wit, her ability to put me in my place. She was more than a sister-in-law, she was like a sister to me, and her absence in our lives is markedly noticeable. Most of all I miss the way she made Thane and Lucas feel. They adored her and she was the glue holding them together.
But for all their struggles, my brother and nephew have managed to hold tight to each other. Lucas I feel for most of all, having lost his mother and his best friend in such a short amount of time, and I’m grateful that Maren has stepped in to try and be there for him when he’s willing.