Drake

With growing wariness, Drake watched Rosaliy ponder the submarine.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Rosaliy said nonchalantly. “Just stand there.” She looked over at him. “But could you look more intimidating?”

He stared back.

“Is that it?” she asked dubiously.

“Intimidation is something best not oversold.”

“If you say so.” She hopped onto the exposed top of the submarine and considered the hatch with her hands on her hips. She realized Quita was still attached to her back, and she reached her arms to her back to detach the monkey.

A grin split his face while she struggled to remove Quita from her hair.

“Well, that’s not intimidating at all,” she complained with a touch of real worry. “Could you knock, please?”

“Only because you’re not intimidated by anything,” he scoffed, landing on the submarine with a reverberating thud. He snatched a knife from his belt and knelt to bang the grip hard against the hatch three times.

“Excellent,” she praised. “Thank you.”

“Whatever your plan, this is not at all a good—”

“Shh!” she shushed him and thrust Quita at him. “Just go with me.”

If anyone could get away with asking for blind trust, it would have been Rosaliy, but that kind of faith was not his default. The hatch flew open before he could object anyway. Quita bounced from his hands onto his shoulder and tried to burrow into his shirt.

Carmell and Felipe’s faces both scowled out from down below, and the point of a severely-sharpened harpoon greeted them along with Carmell snarling, “Come to pay up?”

Carmell launched herself out of the hatch so she was in better threatening position. To emphasize how threatening she was, she withdrew her knife, resting her knife-wielding arm casually against the rusty hatch sitting vertical to the hole where Felipe waited. Actually, this was Carmell, so she may have been unable to have a conversation without waving a knife around. Drake had never seen her try. Felipe still had his harpoon drawn for backup.

Rosaliy pulled a jar out of one of the large pockets in her skirts. She wiggled it gently, and the contents sloshed. Rosaliy was delivering healing draught to the Crocs?

“I was sure you turned tail and ran,” said Carmell with what could be best described as a cackle.

She reached for the jar Rosaliy held up before her, but before she was in range, Rosaliy jerked it sideways and smashed it against the side of the lifted hatch. Liquid dribbled down the metal.

Horrified and filled with rage, Carmell took a step forward. Drake nearly reacted out of instinct, but Rosaliy was faster.

“Get out,” Rosaliy said, calm and inflexible. “Get out of town. And don’t you dare threaten anyone in Seavale ever again.”

“I don’t take orders from…whatever you are,” Carmell tried to bluster, but Rosaliy was already hopping back up to the dock.

Rosaliy waited for Drake to follow, eyes locked on Carmell. As soon as Drake was back on the dock, Rosaliy stomped away. Carmell might have considered retaliation or some small attempt to save face, but furtive glances up and down the dock were stealing her way, and even she knew better than to attack Drake in broad daylight.

As he walked away, he heard Carmell snap at Felipe. “What are you doing down there?”

“Guarding the submarine,” he replied weakly.

Drake choked back laughter as he caught up to Rosaliy.

“You might have warned me you were doing something that put you at risk of being stabbed in the face,” he said.

She exhaled a shaky breath. “Saying the plan out loud would have made me second-guess the plan,” she told him.

“That’s the sign of a bad plan,” he pointed out.

“Is there any chance that worked?” Rosaliy asked, casting half a glance behind her.

“They have no way to pay off the pirates now,” said Drake, “so they’re getting run out of town one way or another.”

“As long as they don’t go after Cliff or the Senira,” Rosaliy sniffed, eyes flashing.

“They’d be fools,” Drake said, “but they are fools, so…”

“Would it have worked on you?” she asked.

While she was looking at him straight on with those earnest blue eyes of hers? He did feel the need to leave town as rapidly as possible, he supposed. But he answered, “You wouldn’t be running me out of town in the first place.”

“Oh, really?” she teased. “Why’s that?”

“I don’t overstay my welcome,” he replied.

She did not like his answer. He could tell by the way the edges of her eyes tightened, a barely visible twinge of displeasure.

Her rapid egress had taken her down the beach and back onto a busy thoroughfare. Carts and swiftly moving people weaving in and out of traffic to their destinations slowed her pace until she stepped off the main road and stopped. Rosaliy seemed like she was searching for words. Drake had the feeling she was done with her urgent business and now was going to attempt an awkward goodbye. There was no avoiding it.

“How did you put up with it?” she asked instead.

“It? The Crocs?” he asked, genuinely confused by her question.

“Not just them,” she tried to explain. “All of it. Every day, dealing with living in the middle of all the posturing and threats and uncertainty.”

He was sure he could not handle a moment more of thinking today. She must have seen the hesitance in his face.

“You have to humor me,” she insisted. “Even if you refuse to answer all the questions I missed, I have two for today, and it might be my last chance to ask them.”

So he answered her, startling himself with his honesty. “By thinking about it as little as possible, and pretending I didn’t have any choices.”

Rosaliy fell silent. She should have been contacting Athena, but she seemed like she had something to say. Or do, maybe. Drake was anxious to leave, not because he wanted to leave or had someplace to go, but because swallowing the idea of leaving was growing progressively more difficult.

“Something else on your agenda?” he asked to break the tension.

“Yes,” she said definitively. “Before I lose the nerve.”

But she made no move to leave.

Drake scanned at the increasingly busy dock. A few fishing boats had returned to dump their early morning hauls. Crabs and lemon snapper tumbled onto the dock while busy workers scrambled to pack them in boxes and haul them away to the fish markets around town.

“Maybe not right here,” she admitted, seeming to take stock of her surroundings for the first time. She nodded at his shoulder. “How about we deliver Quita back to the Senira? I’m sure the little monkey has had enough excitement for a lifetime.”

The task was such an afterthought when she had seemed in such a rush before.

“I can find my own way,” he pointed out. “I don’t want to keep you from what you need to do.” Besides, aimless beach walks and philosophical questions were the opposite of what he needed to do.

A smile flickered across Rosaliy’s previously serious, far-away face. “No, see, you’re the agenda. I need to talk to you.”

He should have run when he had the chance. “What else do you want to know?” he asked warily.

“Everything,” she admitted, “but it’s more about what I need to say.”

He owed her some sense of closure, so as much as he was tempted to bolt right then, he forced himself to follow her onto the beach away from the morning scramble and into the shade of the rotting dock.

“I—I’m going to miss you,” she faltered.

No, this was getting worse and worse. She was the last person he wanted to cause any pain. Doing so through his absence hardly even seemed his fault.

“This whole time, I’m not sure I managed to say…” she trailed off. “And it just seems like it’s important you should know…”

She blinked at him hopefully, like she was testing his understanding, but she had not said anything to be understood, so she got a blank stare.

“You obviously wouldn’t want… I mean, after last week, you probably want to get as far away from me as you can.” An annoyed look etched itself across her face. She kicked at the sand. “No, I was supposed to stay focused, not talk myself out of… I’m sorry. Let me start over.”

She took a deep breath and focused her eyes on his. “I think you’re incredible,” she said in a rush, “and you deserve to know that. If things were different, I’d stay here in a heartbeat, but I can’t, and I’m sure you need a nice long break from me after all that.” She smiled a hollow little smile. “But if you wanted me to visit, someday, I’d love to see you again.”

Oh, no. She thought she was in love with him. How? When? Most obviously, why? Rosaliy should have had better sense. She had seen through Matias, and Drake was a hundred times worse. How did he ruin people’s lives without even trying? He opened his mouth to say she would come to her senses with distance—so much distance—but her pocket glowed.

She reached in and grasped the handle of her mirror, but hesitated, lips pursed and eyes troubled. “I don’t expect you to feel the same way or answer at all, but I needed to say…something, so I wouldn’t always wonder. I hope you still consider me a friend either way.”

He managed to nod his head. He might be getting an out. Maybe he could get out of here without saying anything. She could go on assuming whatever she needed to assume to give up on this ridiculous idea of him.

She picked up the mirror. “Greetings, Sorceress,” she said with another attempt at a smile that went nowhere.

Drake heard Athena’s smooth voice in reply. “Rosaliy, I hope everyone has been safely delivered.”

“Yes,” Rosaliy answered, clearing her throat. “Safely delivered.”

“I’m afraid Dmitri needed to talk to Drake. He was waylaid by Pit…happenings this morning. If you could find the Baysellian and contact me right away, please, I—”

“We’re together now.” Rosaliy winced. “I mean, Drake is right here.”

“Excellent,” Athena answered. “Warn him he’s about to be standing—”

Luckily he heard the warning directly from the mirror because by the time Athena said, “back in Crystal Palace,” he was already in a clearing occupied by Athena, Arlana, and Dmitri.

“What’s wrong?” Rosaliy asked immediately.

“Nothing new,” answered Athena calmly. “Dmitri has a question for Drake, and we have need of you for timing the retrieval correctly.”

“Now?” said Rosaliy, mouth agape.

“Now,” Arlana agreed. “We would be done already if someone hadn’t broken all the sun globes on Flifary Island.”

That sounded suspiciously like something that was Drake’s fault.

“Can’t we use the Naxturaen solar beads?” Rosaliy suggested.

“We could, if anyone knew where they were,” Athena said pointedly.

Rosaliy promised to take Arlana to them right away, but she glanced back with worried eyes. Drake was feeling worried himself. What had he done?

“Oh, and Dmitri,” said Athena before she moved to follow, “could you…”

“Finished this morning,” he said irritably.

The Sorceress brightened. “Fabulous.”

Then she followed the other women to the palace with haste, and Drake was left standing next to a large man with a judgmental stare.

“Has something gone wrong?” Drake asked carefully. He did not want to give the impression he knew too much. That was easy, because he was clueless right now.

“The royal children were kidnapped and the entire palace put to sleep right under my nose,” Dmitri growled back. “That’s what’s gone wrong.”

Was Drake being blamed for those things or was this leading somewhere? Drake decided to wait and see. Dmitri seemed the type to get to the point right away.

And then, in the middle of a terrifying stare, the words that came out of Dmitri’s mouth were, “You’ve been recommended as someone who might be able to keep an eye on the children, assuming they’re returned and in one piece.”

“What?” Drake stammered. Normally he could temper his reactions, but surely the whole world had gone crazy around him. Was Dmitri joking? Did this man ever joke? Dmitri’s eyes said no to both. “But, surely you… There must be another… Me?”

“It’s not an offer out of the kindness of my heart,” Dmitri muttered. “You’re in the unique position to understand how hard looking out for those children will be.”

“Wait,” Drake said, scrambling to comprehend. “You said recommended?” But Rosaliy had been as surprised as he was, and he did not know anyone else. “Who would have recommended me?”

“Your strongest supporter is in no position to make staffing requests, but you have more than a few people who think highly of you.”

A few? Honestly, Dmitri must have Drake confused with an entirely different person.

Drake swallowed. “I’m a criminal,” he admitted all at once so the words would come out.

Dmitri did not flinch. “Good. You might stand a chance of keeping up with Tansy.”

“You’re not serious? Are you serious?”

Dmitri’s thick, gray eyebrows angled up. “If we’ve reached the point in negotiations where you’re asking me if I’m serious, you need time on your own to consider. Don’t engage in any criminal behavior while in the Glade. I don’t have the time. Katyrinna and Alexander will have more details for you on expectations and daily routine and such.”

Dmitri stalked to the palace and up the stairs, leaving Drake alone in the streaming sunlight. His eyes followed Dmitri’s exit to the palace until the massive wooden doors swallowed him up. Drake had no reason to follow the man inside. Rosaliy emerged soon after, carrying a pair of bags slung over her shoulder. She appeared to be heading around the back of the palace. He felt an equally strong compulsion to go talk to her as to avoid her. Since those compulsions were in conflict, his feet did not move, and she disappeared around the corner.

The line of birch trees rustled and caught his eye. Drake had never been fond of trees; all those branches moving on their own were constantly sending him on alert looking for arms and legs that were really made of bark and wood. In this case, however, the motion did reveal a person standing in the shade. Drake had a nagging suspicion.

He made his way to Daniella and stood next to her. She had chosen a good vantage point on the activity on the side of the palace. They both watched Rosaliy place stones in an intricate pattern on a flat stretch of close-cropped grass. Quita launched herself from Drake’s shoulder to explore the birch trees.

“Does that monkey still have a summoning stone inside its body?” Daniella asked, breaking the silence.

He really did not care. Granpulpo would have been a welcome distraction. With a healthy dose of accusation in his tone, he asked, “You suggested that I stay here? To look after children?”

“I did suggest that,” she mused. “Luckily, you had more credible supporters. I think Dmitri suspected my motives.”

Drake suspected her motives.

“Who would have had anything nice to say about me?” he snapped.

“The Naxturae you freed from imprisonment,” Daniella answered calmly. “One of whom is the children’s grandfather. They said you were quick-thinking and resourceful. The Flifary Seer and her obnoxious assistant said you helped others at great personal risk to yourself. Rosaliy’s brother was adamant about your alarming underworld connections and proclivity for getting tossed into prison.”

See, that sounded more like what he had expected.

“But Dmitri merely saw the advantage in having a criminal mindset in order to thwart criminals. Even the brother begrudgingly admitted you seemed to be quite loyal.”

“But why you?” he asked.

She had an automatic answer, like she had prepared for this conversation. “You don’t trust anyone, and these children do seem to be in constant danger. It’s a logical connection.”

“No,” he argued, disbelieving. “You love those children. There’s something else.”

She did not reply. Arlana and Athena had appeared down below, directing Rosaliy to move all her rocks to different places and then back again.

“I kidnapped you,” he pointed out.

She smiled, a little flicker across her face, still smooth from a lifetime of subdued emotion. “You did. And I took them. This all started with me.”

It all started with Iketa, Dalor, and Ocery and their ridiculous quest for supremacy, but Drake understood Daniella’s reasoning all the same.

She looked over at him, her ice blue eyes nearly making him shiver. “You would have been harder to fool,” she said. “I would not have been able to take the children under your watch.”

He was speechless. He felt the magnitude of the odd compliment.

“Do you realize,” she said carefully, staring forward, “you’re the only person here I know.”

“You are very good at manipulating people,” Drake said with equal amounts of compliment and accusation. “It’s not hard to understand how you were such a powerful queen.”

She shrugged. “I have an uphill battle to convince you to stay. I imagine you’re hard at work trying to deny your feelings, so I thought you might be susceptible to mine.”

“No,” he disagreed sulkily. “My feelings aren’t the problem. You’re very convincing, though.”

Issabeth had appeared down below with the pearl. There seemed to be a good deal of gesturing and arguing over what was coming next. Horses had appeared, and Dmitri, and even Zaphia. Cade and Hale had come to stand just out of the way.

“I don’t belong here,” said Drake, surprising himself when the words came out of his mouth instead of staying in his head.

Daniella did not disagree. In fact, she nodded. He realized he had spoken for both of them. He wanted to tell her it was ridiculous for her to assume she did not belong. This was her family after all. But he very much understood why she felt like an outsider, and his argument would have been hollow.

“Don’t run,” Daniella said out of nowhere.

“Is that an order?” he mumbled.

“No,” she answered quickly. “I think it’s advice, but since you’d have to be mentally unstable to take advice from me, consider it a personal request.”

“Well, as soon as Queen Katyrinna and Alexander return, my decision makes itself,” he scoffed. “I’ve never met a parent who liked me.”

She flicked her eyes sideways, evaluating his words in the measured, analytical way she took in everything around her. “They chose you, didn’t they?”

Her eyes flicked back to the scene down below. With a brilliant flash, Katyrinna and Alexander were standing in the middle of the glowing stones, Katyrinna clutching a bundle with a shock of curly blue hair. If there was ever a time to escape, now was it, but Drake felt Daniella tense next to him. She made no move to join the joyous crowd greeting the Queen and her curiously-hued baby.

“Are you nervous?” Drake asked.

She sniffed, disapproving of his word choice. “I’m uncomfortable with the unexpected,” she disagreed. “I’ve hurt these people deeply, yet I’m dependent on them.” She sounded annoyed with herself.

“As soon as their children are safe and sound, you’ll be welcomed back. Besides, you have no memory of your past. They won’t be cruel enough to hold against you what you can’t even remember doing.”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, I imagine I was counting on both of those things.” She sighed. “I was hoping for something definitive upon their return—a memory, a message, the children returning in a fire-drawn chariot streaking across the sky.” She scanned the sky, which was absent of fire-drawn chariots or children tumbling to the ground through any means.

Drake felt Cliff’s watch, heavy in his pocket. He was going to regret his words, but he said them anyway. “I’ll help you bring them home.”