Page 176 of Sword & Sacrifice

On their way out, they passed Captain Moira entering. Despite the fact that they’d settled into the Captain’s Quarters, Emmaline had rarely seen the captain since arriving on the ship. She’d always been busy overseeing her crew.

Captain Moira nodded as she passed them, then turned and called over her shoulder, “Causing mischief, Farm Boy?’”

“Only slightly,” Echo replied with a cheeky grin.

“Excellent—take the kid with you,” she ordered, nodding at Koen, who was pretending to pay attention to his studies.

Koen’s eyes widened at being addressed, but he didn’t need to be told twice. With the captain’s explicit permission to bother Echo, he didn’t have to wait until five minutes after they left to pretend he wasn’t following them.

Echo’s mouth dropped open. “What have I done to deserve such punishment, Captain?”

“Just been yourself,” she replied, her lips quirked in amusement. “That’s usually enough.”

Emmaline set her hand on Echo’s arm, gently squeezing the firm biceps made firmer yet by the glamour. “Come on, dancing is more fun with more people.”

Echo sighed and looked down at her. The new glamour also made him several inches taller than her to accomplish that feat. “You have a point. Come along, rat, let’s see if you’ve got two left paws.”

“Can’t you call me Koen, just once?” he grumbled as he scurried after them.

Echo ignored him. They walked to the main deck, where Echo spoke to one of the crew. It didn’t take long for a small crowd to gather. A few brought instruments and clustered off to one side. Emmaline saw drums, a flute, and a fiddle.

Turning to Emmaline, Echo held out his hand and bowed gallantly. “May I have this dance, my lady?”

She giggled and curtsied. “It’d be my pleasure, sir.” As she accepted his hand, she leaned in and whispered, “What kind of dances do pirates know?”

“All kinds,” Echo promised her with a wink. He raised his hand and one of his crew nodded. They counted off and then dove right into a loud, rambunctious song with a fast tempo.

Echo pulled Emmaline close and began whirling her around the deck to the beat. Laughter bubbled up within her as everything around them sped up and up and up. The faster she spun, the more the sky and sea blurred together, until her whole world became Echo and the endless blue expanse.

When the music finally slowed, she took several seconds to catch her breath. Echo gazed down at her, his eyes glimmering like gold. “Having fun?” he asked between panting breaths.

“Yes, but the ship is spinning a little. Can we try something else?”

Echo laughed and gestured to the musicians, who nodded.

For the next song, instead of finding solo partners, the crew lined up on two sides. As the music began, Emmaline recognized a reel she’d danced before. It took her a few repetitions to remember the moves, but the rest of the crew only seemed to half-follow the steps.

At the end of the song, someone shouted, “Change partners!” and swept Echo away before he could claim another dance from Emmaline. Unsurprisingly, Koen was already waiting to receive her. It was odd dancing with a much shorter partner after dancing with one taller than her, but she adjusted quickly, raising her hand to meet Koen’s as they circled each other.

“You’re having fun,” he observed, his brow scrunched like this surprised him.

She laughed. “I am. I can’t remember the last time I’ve danced.”

“You didn’t dance with the king?”

The question only partially surprised her since Koen had already shown a lot of interest in Archer and Silas. “King Archer, yes. Mama and I live at Castle Arn over the winter and there’s always a large midwinter party where everyone dances, even grumpy old Archer.”

“And King Silas,” Koen said, “did you ever dance with him?”

The lively energy spurred on by dancing seemed to drain out of Emmaline with the question. “No, I never had a chance to dance with Silas. I’m not sure he …” Would have been well enough. She didn’t finish her sentence. Even when she’d told her story about Silas, she’d kept most of the details of his curse and illness to herself. She’d always been taught that patients deserved their privacy and didn’t want to share the harrowing parts of his story without his knowledge and permission. “I’m not sure he likes to dance,” she finished, forcing a smile.

The song ended without Koen asking any other questions, and another one began, but Emmaline’s heart was no longer in it. Every time she spoke of Silas, she remembered her reason for returning to Bellacosta—to save her mother. Yet she’d hardly thought of Mama during the voyage. While she’d been on her father’s ship, every minute of waiting had clawed at her conscience, her thoughts consumed with her mother’s well-being. But her time on The Queen’s Garden had been filled with quiet companionship and soft comforts. It’d been easy to forget, just for a moment, that her mother was still in danger.

Preoccupied with her thoughts, she stepped on more than one partner’s foot before she quietly excused herself.

“Em?” Echo called behind her, but she waved him off. He’d been away for a long time, working undercover on Everett’s crew, he deserved to enjoy an evening of fun with his friends.

It was a little too early to turn in for the night, so she decided to retrieve her sewing from the captain’s quarters. It would give her hands something to do while she thought through her next steps for when they arrived at Bellacosta.