Kelia allowed herself to bask in the feet shuffling across the wooden floor, the door creaking open, the gentle murmurs down the narrow halls as she ignored Emma's dark, pointed stare.

The silence was telling. Wendy wanted to be with her betrothed now that he was done with his duties, while Daniella wanted to administer tonics and check on any permeating injury members of the crew might possess. There had never been an actual nurse onboard Drew’s ship because, from what Kelia was told, Sea Shadows had an increased capacity to heal.

That said, Daniella—training under Emma—was brewing her own concoctions to assist their rapid healing without draining any energy they had sustained from previous feedings. She was also exploring the possibility of allowing such healing capabilities fix the body of a human. As such, they were too busy on those duties to present in the room.

Drew left as well, without looking back, surely to escape the questions. Why couldn’t he trust her enough to explain everything regarding the Queen? They were supposed to be friends—or something.

Once the door was closed, Kelia got off her cot and dropped to her trunk. She needed to change clothes. Her tunic had speckles of that crimson-violet blood Sea Shadows were notorious for possessing and she had splatters of her own vomit on the ends of her sleeves.

“He does not answer your questions because he cares about you,” Emma’s gentle voice said from behind Kelia.

Kelia stiffened. Emma had an eerie ability to speak as though she could read minds. Though she, as well as Wendy and Daniella, all denied that such a thing was possible—even for the strongest of witches—Emma seemed to simply know things, and there were times it unnerved Kelia more than she would like to admit.

“That makes no sense,” Kelia said. She opened her trunk and began to pull out different clothing, unsure of what to wear. She only had so many breeches, so many tunics. She refused to touch her skin-tight riding habit she used to wear when the Society dispatched her on various missions that all required easy maneuvering and comfort. “Certainly if he cared about me, he would want to inform me about everything so I could better protect myself. So I am not some ignorant fool.”

She threw the clothing she would not wear back into the trunk before sitting back on her ankles. She rubbed her face with her hand and loosed a breath. Perhaps she needed a break from this. The ocean was causing her stomach to twist and jump, and it was hard to feel secure when she was not even on solid ground.

“The last thing you are, Kelia Starling, is a fool.” Emma squatted down next to Kelia and placed a warm hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Drew Knight has been alive for a century. When he came to my little den on the outskirts of Port Royal, he was broken and desperate. Even then, he did not reveal much. But I trusted his word. I brewed him a concoction, and it broke his bond with the Queen.”

Kelia’s body pinched, as if the hair on her body was being caressed by little feathers rather than by Emma’s fingertips.

“No Shadow, as far as I knew, ever did something like that before,” Emma continued. Her voice had gotten low; Kelia could hear the gentle lapping of the water against the side of the ship. “The Queen hates him for it, for the betrayal. She saw herself as ruling over everyone with Drew by her side. But Drew wanted nothing to do with her, not after her viciousness was plain to him. He managed to escape her island in the worst way. He stowed aboard a ship, but he was still in his Infancy. The captain was a kindly man who took pity on Drew, though he knew naught of Drew’s affliction. They were at sea for a fortnight at least, when Drew could not control himself any longer. He slaughtered everyone on the ship, including the captain, fueled by his bloodlust. He had been starving himself, stubborn, not even taking the blood from the goats onboard.”

Kelia stopped searching through the clothes and turned to Emma. “What happened then?”

“He hated himself,” Emma said with a shrug. “Somehow, he wound up on the shores of Port Royal. He was paying women to feed. That’s how we met. Except his charms did not work on me. I confided that I, too, like him, had a certain kind of magic. But mine was different. And he asked me to help him. He knew what a serious decision this was. He thought about it for three days before he came back. He paid his price, and I did what he asked me to do.”

“What was your price?” Kelia whispered, unable to look away from Emma.

“Freedom.” Emma had a faraway tone in her voice, and she looked out the window, farther away than even the horizon. “I wanted to rid myself of Port Royal and its wretched corruption. He agreed to give me a position on his crew as a consultant. I did my part, but the bastard made me wait nearly a century before retrieving me. He spent a good deal of his time moping around about his new life. When word got out that the Society was in possession of his sister, he changed almost instantaneously and came back for me. We’ve been together ever since.”

Kelia blinked a few times, as if a spell had been lifted and she was back in control of herself.

“That does not explain his secrecy with me,” she said. She turned to face the chest once again and decided on a faded forest green tunic and black breeches. When she stood, she nearly fell over herself because of the strain in her muscles.

“Ever since he cut that bond with the Queen, he has been hunted by her other Shadows, by the Society, by anyone the Queen could offer a bounty to.” Emma stood as well. “Before he met you, all he wanted to do was save his sister from the Society and shake off the people hunting him. Live a life of peace. But then he met you.”

“And?”

“And now he wants to shut everything down. The Society. The Queen. The East India Company. But it’s complicated. They’re all connected. The East India Company works directly with the Queen in a shaky alliance that either could break at any point. The Queen turned so many innocents for The East India Company, and in return, she gets to feed from humans, stay young and alive and adored as an actual Queen of her own island. Whatever she demands, she gets.”

“And she wants Drew.”

“Hell hath no fury and all of that,” Emma said with a sardonic smile. “I think she truly loved him, in a way even she didn’t expect. And when he left her, she was both surprised and furious. She waited for him. She believed he would come back to her, on his own. That is the one thing she realizes now she can’t have—she can’t have Drew by his will. So now she’s willing to have him any way she can, or, at least, make sure no one else can have him. She refuses to let anyone have her most treasured possession, so she’s been using the few remaining ties he has against him. Hence Wendy being taken and Christopher being turned.”

“Hence every Shadow being on the hunt for me?”

Emma nodded. “Why do you think Drew does not want to touch land? He doesn’t want there to even be an opportunity where anyone could take you from him.”

“This map,” Kelia said, beginning to peel off her breeches carefully. They clung to her body like a shadow, and she nearly lost her balance. “Where does it lead to, if not land?”

“Oh, it leads to land,” Emma said emphatically. “The only land he has any interest in visiting anytime soon,” she added. She walked over to her cot, giving Kelia some semblance of privacy. She began to braid her hair, her fingers quick and precise. “The Isle of Sangre is where the Queen lives, where she refuses to leave. It is surrounded by ruthless Shadows, some there by force, others by choice, and protected by Sirens—water witches—and their breed of mutants.”

“Mutants?” Kelia looked up at Emma, but her eyes only came in contact with her back. It was probably a good thing, considering Kelia was in nothing but her starkies. She hastily pulled over her undershirt.

“The water witches are the only witches that don’t keep a human form, like Daniella, Wendy, and myself. But the form of Siren is still deceptively human, at least from the torso up,” Emma said. “They are not important, at least not yet, but with them protecting the Queen, who has alliances with the East India Company, I believe they will be soon.”

“And Drew wants to go to this island?” Kelia hopped a few times, trying to both keep her balance and pull up her breeches. “Why? To kill her?”

Emma glanced over her shoulder as Kelia pulled on her tunic. The material was surprisingly soft despite how worn it was.

“That’s what he thinks, more or less,” she said, her tone dropping in a strange way. “Drew thought that freeing himself from his Bond with the Queen would mean she could not get to him. Clearly, it has had the opposite effect. And now the Queen knows of you. So yes, he wants to kill her.”

Kelia reached up to pick at a piece of fluff on her shoulder, and then flicked it from her fingertips.

“Okay, but why?” she asked, finally meeting Emma’s gaze. “I’m not his sister, and I’m barely his friend. I don’t understand what any of this has to do with me.”

Emma fully turned around to stare at Kelia, tilting her head to the side. Her new braid was tighter, more elegant, so her hair hung over her shoulder in neat platelets. There was something sparkling in her dark eyes, something Kelia was almost positive was amusement.

“Don’t be daft, woman,” Emma said, not unkindly. “Drew Knight cares deeply for you. I do not believe even he, himself, knows how much he cares for you. Surely you must know that.”

Kelia felt heat invade her skin. She remembered the kiss, the intensity of his lips on hers. The way his tongue danced in her mouth, battling for dominance. The way his arm wrapped around her waist like a snake, tightening its grip on her. The way his hand buried his fingers in her hair like the roots of a tree, making sure she understood who was in charge. Making sure she knew who was in control. She could still feel the rain pelt her face, the steam piercing the black sky, the cold that wrapped its bitter arms around her.

She hoped Emma truly could not read minds. No one knew about the kiss save for them, and that was how she intended for it to stay.

“Drew hasn’t told me anything,” Kelia said slowly. She smoothed the wrinkles on her black breeches—whoever these had belonged to before her was slightly bigger at the waist—and cleared her throat. There was an awkwardness that choked the comfort in the room, and she was not quite sure how to change it. “I’m not going to assume anything, especially when it concerns the feelings of Drew Knight.”

“You’ve heard the stories then?” Emma said, her tone airy and indifferent. “Drew Knight does have a reputation for himself. This much is true. But—”

“Emma.” Kelia didn’t want to discuss Drew’s potential feelings for her. She also didn’t want to discuss his reputation and the feelings he’d had for others before her. Right now, they were friends, and that was good enough. She did not want to ruin that, especially considering that unto itself was a fragile thread that threatened to snap daily, whenever he gave her a particular look with those dark eyes. “Even if Drew Knight did care about me, that does not explain anything about the Queen. The Queen is not the one who captured Wendy or Christopher. Why, then, does she want to capture me? Why not leave it to the Society?”

Emma walked over to Kelia and gently pushed her into a sitting position at the edge of her cot. Emma sat down behind her. Somehow, she managed to procure a brush and, without a word to Kelia, began to brush Kelia’s tangled, sea-kissed hair. Kelia closed her eyes, and she relaxed. The simple gesture of one woman brushing another woman’s hair was enough to ease any tension, any worry, slip away—at least, temporarily.

“Well, for one,” Emma said, “the Society is fairly dismantled as present, thanks to this really badass Slayer I know.”

Kelia flicked her gaze up. “Be serious, Emma.”

“I am. But to answer your question, you see, Drew stole the Queen’s heart. So she wanted to lure him back with Wendy and Christopher. But you stole Drew’s heart. She doesn’t want you as bait, love. She wants you dead.”

A chill iced up Kelia’s spine, and the water outside could be heard over the soft silence of the room. She didn’t know what terrified her more: the idea that the Queen wanted her dead...or the idea that Emma, a woman known for her accuracy in reading what people think and feel, believed that Kelia had Drew’s heart.

“Drew Knight is her most prized possession,” Emma continued. “The fact that Drew regards you in any way, shape, or form is a threat on her, and she will consider it a personal attack from you.”

“Why not blame Drew?”

“She will. She does.” Emma came to a particularly dreadful knot in Kelia’s hair and slowed to work on it with the brush. There was a soft tugging on her scalp, but it was not rough and painful. “But she blames you more. She wants to punish Drew by putting you through unimaginable torture, where death would be a welcome reprieve.”

Now Kelia knew where Drew got his violent ideas from…

“And Drew wants to kill her?” Kelia glanced out the window at the black night. The moon’s glow danced along the surface of the ocean, but that was it. “If he succeeds, what then?”

Emma was silent for a long time. All Kelia could hear was the sound of the brush through her hair.

“I don’t know,” Emma murmured finally. “It could be a very bad thing indeed, although Drew would probably not say so.”

This caught Kelia’s attention. She pulled her eyes from the window to look back at Emma. Her hands began to move up and down the soft material that covered her thighs.

“Why would it be bad?” she wondered out loud.

The brushing stopped, and Emma shifted behind her. Without warning, Emma parted her hair in three even sections before taking them in her hands and braiding the hair tightly.

“The Queen has one thing Drew does not,” Emma said as she braided Kelia’s hair. Kelia felt her fingers dance behind her, an expert in the task. “And that is power and control over the Sea Shadows. An ability to summon them at any time.”

“Wait, what?” That sounded alarming. “The Queen can control all of the Sea Shadows? What about Drew’s men?”

Emma waved off Kelia’s concern. “Drew has a few he has freed, with my help. But most Shadows don’t want that. I mean, of course they want freedom, but they don’t want to upset their Creator. Until she demands their presence, they are free to do what they wish, so why risk upsetting her in an effort to break those ties?”

“And Drew doesn’t care? That’s an army against him. He should free all of the Shadows, whether they want it or not!”

“That’s easier said than done, and would come with...other consequences,” Emma said. “Besides, Drew is only focused on the goal that directly affects him and those he cares about: you, me, Wendy, potentially his crew. However, there are more to consider.”

Kelia started picking at the material of her tunic. Her heart rate accelerated, but she tried not to let her nervousness get to her. In all honesty, she did not even know why she was nervous.

“More?” she questioned. “What more would Drew need to consider?”

Emma dropped her hands from Kelia’s hair. They slapped against Emma’s thighs, and she looked over her shoulder.

“For one thing,” Emma said, “what would happen to Shadows who knew they did not answer to anyone but themselves? Even if the East India Company decided to step in, what could they do to stop a beast that feasted on human blood and had supernatural abilities, but felt no need to protect the discovery of their Creators?"

Kelia paused, allowing Emma's words to sink in.

"There’s a good chance," Emma continued, "with the Queen dead, there would be somewhat of...well...a Shadow apocalypse.”