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I thought about those first few days after I ran away, how badly I wanted to be back out on the sea.
“I ain’t a sea witch,” I said.
He laughed hard enough that the bed shook. “Don’t you dare try to tell me you still believe that.”
I scowled. “It was just cause of your blood-bond.”
“It was not and you know it.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “If ever there was someone who was a part of the ocean, it was you.”
I didn’t say nothing.
“You have to follow the currents all over the world. It’s who you are.” He kissed my forehead, my cheeks, my throat. “And I have to follow death all over the world at the Order’s command. It’s who I am.”
I frowned.
He rolled me onto my back and sat up and traced two paths over my belly with both hands. “Here I am,” he said. “And here’s you.”
The two paths crossed each other.
“I can make that happen,” he said. “I can make that happen anytime you need me.”
For a long time I didn’t answer. I just stared at him, at his beautiful face and his beautiful scars.
“I need you all the time,” I said.
“You do now.” He kissed my forehead. “And so do I. But after a while we won’t. And you’ll be glad to be rid of me.”
“I won’t stop loving you!”
“Did I say that?” His face darkened. “I said you’ll be glad to be on your own. And you will.”
I couldn’t imagine it at first, but then I thought about it and I could. I wasn’t like Marjani, who could give up a life on the sea in exchange for a life with her love. Because Naji was right: Marjani wasn’t a part of the ocean. I was.
And now I had a boat of my own, and a crew of my own. And we’d sailed to Lisirra with no trouble. They listened to me like I was Papa, like I was important. And when you got down to it that whole trip Naji’d just been a distraction, really. Keeping my mind away from the boat.
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him deep and sure.
“Do you really want to see me smile?” he whispered into my neck. “I know the Otherworld lord tried…” His voice trailed off.
I hesitated. “I know how you look when you’re happy.”
“It’s not the same as a smile. I know that.” His fingers ran over the bridge of my nose. “After it happened,” he said, “after the blood-fire burned me, I would spend hours in front of a mirror Leila had given me, trying to find my face.” He dropped his head to the side and didn’t look at me as he spoke. “And one day I was going through my expressions, trying to find myself again.”
He paused, ran his hand over the tattoo on my belly.
“And I smiled. People used to like my smile. Women, you know.” He sighed. “And I’d never seen anything so monstrous.”
“You’re not a monster,” I said.
He looked at me.
“I know that now.”
I smiled.
And then he did too.
It didn’t look like a smile at first. It looked like a snarl. One part of his face twisted up and the other twisted down. His teeth gleamed.
But I looked at his eyes, where the brightness was. And everything changed.
For the first time, I understood the difference between leaving and not staying. It was the difference between a snarl and a smile.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and I kissed his scars, those ridges and lines that twisted his face up into something beautiful. I kissed the place where the man from the Mists had cut him. I kissed over the smooth skin of his neck, the soft tangle of his hair, his lips.
When I pulled away, the smile disappeared from everywhere but his eyes.
“We’ll see each other soon,” he said.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to kick off the wave of thanks with my editor, Amanda Rutter, who first suggested that we split the megabook that was the first draft of The Assassin’s Curse into a duology. For this reason I was able to preserve the original story and didn’t have to edit away any of my favorite characters. Amanda also deserves thanks for all her tireless support for both books in the series.
As always, I want to thank my parents and Ross Andrews, for all their love and support. Thanks to Amanda Cole and Bobby Mathews, my friends and beta readers and general writing support system. Indeed, special thanks goes to Amanda for reading the first draft of this book and helping me see its strengths and weaknesses.
Thanks to my agent Stacia Decker as well, for her help with early revisions of the book, as well as all her ceaseless hard work in general. The rest of the Angry Robot crew – Mike Underwood, Lee Harris, Darren Turpin, and Marc Gascoigne – deserve special mention too. The Assassin’s Curse. You all helped make the experience of releasing my first novel a overwhelmingly wonderful one, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy The Pirate’s Wish.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cassandra Clarke is a speculative fiction writer and occasional teacher living amongst the beige stucco of Houston, Texas. She graduated in 2006 from the University of St Thomas with a bachelor’s degree in English, and in 2008 she completed her master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Texas at Austin. Both of these degrees have served her surprisingly well.
During the summer of 2010, she attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in Seattle, where she enjoyed sixty-degree summer days. Having been born and raised in Texas, this was something of a big deal. She was also a recipient of the 2010 Susan C Petrey Clarion Scholarship Fund.
Unlike many authors, Cassandra does not have a resume of peculiar careers. She worked at a Barnes and Noble once – that’s about as exciting as it gets. In her spare time she enjoys drawing, painting, crocheting, cooking, and quilting, because she is secretly an old lady. She will see literally any movie as long as it’s in a theatre. She watches television. She doesn’t play many video games though.
cassandraroseclarke.com
twitter.com/mitochondrial
STRANGE CHEMISTRY
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Strange Chemistry #11
A Strange Chemistry paperback original 2013
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Copyright © Cassandra Rose Clarke 2013
Cassandra Rose Clarke asserts the moral right to be
identified as the author of this work.
Cover art by Sarah J Coleman
All rights reserved.
Angry Robot is a registered trademark and the Angry Robot icon a
trademark of Angry Robot Ltd.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
Sales of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this book is
coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed”
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Ebook ISBN 978 1 90884 429 3
Contents
The Pirate's Wish
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Imprint
Table of Contents
The Pirate's Wish
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five