The Pirate's Wish

“Intuition. Now spill it.”

Marjani sighed. She tugged on the end of her locks.

“We need to borrow your starstones,” I blurted out. “Naji has to touch them.”

Naji let out a long sigh.

“My starstones?” Queen Saida laughed. “Is that why you sailed halfway across the world to see me?” She rested her chin in her hand and gazed at Marjani, who looked down at her lap like she was embarrassed.

“Don’t be absurd,” she said.

“It’s for Naji,” I said. “He has a curse.”

“Are starstones a cure for curses?” Queen Saida turned to Naji. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about magic.”

“They are for this one,” Naji said.

“I thought starstones were dangerous, though? The court wizard never let me near them.”

“Your court wizard was correct.” Naji glowered, his scar turning him menacing.

“Oh.” Queen Saida frowned, and Kaol help me if it didn’t make her look even lovelier than when she smiled. “Well, I would be glad to help you, but I’m afraid I don’t have them anymore.”

The room got so quiet and so still I swore I could hear everybody’s hearts beating.

“You don’t have them?” Marjani said. “But they’re priceless–”

“They were stolen!” Queen Saida threw up her hands. “By members of your lot, in fact. Pirates.”

“They are not my lot–”

“Oh, I was teasing, dearest.” She looked back at Naji. “I’m truly sorry. Father kept them in the armory and during the last sacking… Well, that’s always the first place pirates go.”

“How could they take them?” Naji’s voice had gone quiet and angry. “What pirate would possibly possess the knowledge–”

“Why were they in the armory?” I asked, cause I didn’t feel like listening to Naji rant about the idiocy and unworldliness of pirates.

“Because Father thought of them as weapons.” Queen Saida looked at me and I felt myself blushing under her gaze. “Not that he or anyone else could ever figure out how to use them as such. Not even the wizards would touch them without special gloves.”

“Oh yes,” said Marjani. “The gloves. I remember now… What was that lord’s name, the one who always paraded around with them…?”

Queen Saida laughed. “The Lord of Juma. That was his title, anyway. I don’t remember his proper name. But he was always showing off.” She laughed again, and Marjani glowed. If the two of them were go

“What pirates stole ’em?” I asked. “Were they Confederation?”

“Confederation?” Queen Saida furrowed her brow. “I’m not certain. They were pirates.”

I frowned. “You didn’t see their colors?”

“She means the flag,” said Marjani.

Queen Saida shrugged. “I didn’t see them. I get whisked away at the slightest hint of danger – you can ask the captain of the guard.” She smiled at me. “Are you going to track them down, like in a story? I’ve heard some of the Empire stories about the starstones. You ought to be careful.”

“Naji needs those stones,” I said.

Naji looked up at me from across the table. I turned away.

“Gero!” Queen Saida called out. A man in bronzed armor detached himself from the wall and bowed. “I know you heard the question. No need to pretend in front of me. What do you remember about the ships that stole the starstones?”

Gero nodded again before he started speaking. “They were Confederation, my Light,” he said.

“I still don’t know what that means.”

“Confederation pirates sail under common laws, although individual ships and fleets remain independently captained,” Gero said, which wasn’t quite true, but I didn’t feel like correcting him. “I don’t remember the flag, however. I’m sorry. It wasn’t one I recognized.”

“Who would you recognize?” I asked.

Gero turned to me. “The Lao clan,” he said. “And the Shujares. The Hariris. The Liras.”

The clans most prone to attacking the Free Countries.

“That at least narrows it down,” I said. “Thanks.”

The guard kinda squinted at me then, like he wanted to say something about me recognizing all those pirate clans. But he didn’t. He just turned to Queen Saida and bowed and then pressed back against the wall.

“Well,” said Queen Saida. “I’m truly sorry that wasn’t more helpful.” She looked at Naji while she spoke. “I’ll see if I can find out more information for you, and when you make sail, I’ll lend you some ships and crew from my own fleet.”

“Saida, you don’t have to–” Marjani leaned forward over the table and pressed her hand against Queen Saida’s arm.

Queen Saida held up her own hand. “Of course I don’t have to,” she said. “It’s not a matter of what I have to do; it’s a matter of what I want to do.”

“Thank you, my Light,” murmured Naji. He dipped his head, and emotion flickered through me – despair, creeping in like the cold northern sea, and anger like the fury of the Empire sun. Not my emotions at all.

He was in my head or I was in his: it didn’t matter. I saw past his blank assassin’s face, and I knew his hopelessness.

CHAPTER TWELVE

For the next few days, I hardly saw Marjani at all; she spent all her time with the queen, or shunted off in the queen’s apartments on the edge of the garden, doing Kaol knows what. I realized pretty quick that I was the one who was go

Naji went with me, dressed like a Jokja nobleman save for the scarf wrapped around his face. I hadn’t told him I was pla

“Only if I’m in danger.”

He didn’t have anything to say to that, but there was no point in fighting with him. I didn’t say a word to him as we walked through the city.

The Nadir was still docked at port, Kaol be praised, and she didn’t look too worse for wear, neither. A handful of men were sitting around on the deck playing dice when me and Naji came on board. Fewer than I would’ve liked.

“Where’s the rest of you?” I asked.

“Whoring,” one of the men said. It was Jeric yi Niru. He squinted up at me. “Have you found the starstones yet? Given both of your life’s light is intact, I would assume no.”

I scowled at him. “She don’t got ’em. Got nicked by some Confederation pirates a while back. We’ll be setting after the stones once we know more.”

“Ah,” said Jeric yi Niru, giving me that smug nobleman’s smile of his. “What is it with pirates? Does the threat of death engender an item with more value?”

“You’re the one that joined up with the Empire navy. You tell me about threat of death.”

The rest of the men laughed. Jeric frowned at me and then nodded at Naji. “The captain’s look never suited you,” he said. “I like this better.”

“So do I.” Naji’s voice was cold and mean, an assassin’s voice, and it shut up Jeric yi Niru fast. The other men stopped smirking, too.

I made a quick check of the boat and her stores – some of the rum was missing, and half the bottles of ahiial had been drained and piled up in a corner of the galley. The crew worked fast. But all the weapons were in the hold, and the chest of pressed copper and silver that’d been on board when we took the ship was locked away in the captain’s quarters, protected not just with steel chains but with a bit of Naji’s magic as well.

I slumped down on the captain’s bed so I could listen to the waves slapping up against the ship’s side. There’s something about a boat that ain’t moving. It feels empty. Hollow. Almost better to be on land.

Naji appeared in the doorway. He slid the mask away from his face but didn’t bother to come any closer.

I got flashes of things in my head as he stared at me – worry about the starstones, some dull ache I now understood was part of the curse – and I rubbed at my eyes until they went away.

“Cut it out,” I said.

“Cut what out?”