Page 250 of Captive of Secrets and Storms

I don’t realize I’m searching for Erik and his leather-clad crew until an odd pang of disappointment strikes me when I don’t find sea-green eyes.

“Looking for someone?” Silas joins our group, and his calm presence lifts the worst of the lingering tension.

I meet his stare, but then my gaze dips to the items tucked under his arm.

“My satchel!” I reach out.

The scholarly Fae chuckles and hands it over. Relief floods me when I find Calla’s diary and the Fae tome still inside.

“Thank you,” I breathe.

“Thank Anders.” Silas tilts his head to the Mountain Fae. “He made sure we retrieved them from the beach.”

I clutch the satchel strap tightly and meet Anders’s gaze. “Thank you.”

He inclines his head. “You’re welcome.”

A burst of laughter erupts near the stern.

Two Virendrellian men shove each other jokingly, as though an ominous ship isn’t sailing toward us. As though formidable Shadow Fae don’t stand among them.

I suppose their new freedom masks other fears. At least for the moment.

“Where are the Sea Fae?” I can’t help but ask.

“They left,” Silas answers.

I whip my head around and scan the horizon. Endless ocean greets me.

“How?”

Erik was here minutes ago.

How could he and his men already be gone?

“The Sea Fae have unique means of traveling the ocean,” he replies with a wistful note. “It’s a special blessing granted to them by The Mother many generations ago.”

What in the world could that blessing be?

A blare of a horn bounces against my eardrums.

My head snaps up, and my eyes fly wide.

The black ship bobs in the water less than fifty feet from ours.

I stagger back against the railing as the ship’s flag snaps in the wind: a serpent coiled around a blue selmary rose.

How in the Gods’ names did it get here so quickly?

The deck falls silent.

Children cling to their parents. The men who were laughing and joking now stare, pale and wide-eyed.

Silas and Anders shift, placing themselves in front of me, Hali, and Leto.

My heartbeat whooshes in my head, and I feel my pulse in my fingers.

The waiting is torture.