“Is he crazy?” Adriana exclaimed.

“That’s what I told him.” Mattiew paced around the confines of their suite as she sat on the bed. “He just told me where his boat is gonna be tomorrow. We have until morning to...I don’t know, decide, I guess.”

“I mean, how is that even a question? Win the Bellirex? You’re not even a sorcerer!” Adriana threw her hands up.

Mattiew continued pacing in silence, gripping his short beard.

“You’re not thinking about going, are you?”

Mattiew sighed, pulling a chair from the corner of the room to her and sitting down, “I...what choice do I have?”

“Refuse him.” Adriana insisted.

“But you...you know what happens if I refuse.”

“Yes, but...what are the odds you actually make it past the first round? Have you ever even watched the tournament?”

“So what if I haven’t?” Mattiew folded his arms on the chair’s back and rested his chin.

“Most who enter die, Mattiew.” Adriana’s voice turned dark. “I’m not letting you throw yourself to your death.”

“What do you suggest we do? Wait for you to croak? I’m not some Gozark farmer. I should have at least a chance to hold my own.”

“Darling, you know I have the utmost faith in you. But these sorcerers? They’re unlike anything you’ve ever fought.” Adriana put a consoling hand on Mattiew’s head. “These families can raise the dead, call down storms and cyclones with a thought. Some can turn your very blood into gold. Most of them wouldn’t even have to look in your direction to kill you.”

“How long is it going to take to sail from Rosaria to Veyshtar? Two weeks? That’s more time than we’ll have if I say no.” Mattiew muttered, “If I can survive...a sliver of a chance is better than no chance.”

Adriana’s head hung. She withdrew her hand and wrapped her arms around herself. “If something happens to you because of them...I-I don’t know what I’d do. What if they trap me again? What if they…” Adriana choked off her own words. She didn’t even want to think about it, much less say it. “I won’t let them control me again.”

Mattiew stood from the chair and took a seat next to her on the bed. He wrapped his powerful arms around her shoulders and whispered, “I won’t go down so easily. I’m a quick learner.”

Adriana hesitated for a moment, silently adoring her husband’s confidence while contemplating her terrible options. “I don’t like it. I really, really hate it.”

“I know...but sometimes the only way out is the hard one.” Mattiew stroked her hair.

Adriana rested her head on his shoulder, facing an impasse. Then an idea hit her.

“How about this? We accept. You participate. But you don’t win. Instead, we demand them to lessen the curse’s effect on me as a condition. They can’t kill me before you have the chance to win the tournament. We use the time we have to try and break the curse.”

“But...you don’t have your mother’s ability. Isn’t she the only one who can crack those things?” Mattiew asked.

“Right…But we do have another option.”

“What’s that?”

“My parents’ pride and joy is their base of power. Their empire, per se. If I can make that power base shift their loyalties to me, we can turn this whole situation around.”

“What are you thinking? Exposing them to the public?” Mattiew asked.

“If I can get more influence over the house than them and threaten to debase them from everything they have, they’ll have no choice but to remove the curse.” Adriana muttered, “If they want their crown, it’s going to cost them everything they have and more.”

Mattiew kissed her. “That’s brilliant…Let’s do it.” He wrapped his arm around her. “By the Kings, we’re the heiress of the Callione house and the Captain of the Sea Scourgers. I feel bad for your parents.”

***

Rosalia’s harbor wrapped around a small lagoon off the greater Origin Sea that connected all of the Eight Empires.

Predictably, the biggest ship in the wharf was the Calliones’.

The ship was a Cudean-style Trireme. Long and narrow, yet strangely deep for a boat of its kind. It took around sixty men to man all the oars, not counting the helm.

At the front and back of the ship, the deck raised up slightly and was covered by two palanquins bolted onto the deck, providing shade overhead. Those two bits alone would cost the ship miles per day.

But it wasn’t like the Calliones knew or cared.

The hull of the ship was adorned in gold and painted with expensive dyes. Mattiew estimated the amount of purple paint the ocean rubbed off every time the watercraft took a trip could feed a Gozari family for a month. The ends of the keel had been coated in solid gold, forming two swan’s heads.

Mattiew turned to Adriana after taking in the vessel.

“I have to say it. This is the gaudiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Mattiew said. “It should be burned.”

“Is it the swans?” Adriana asked.

“It’s the dye. What’s the point in a fortune’s worth of purple if you aren’t going to stain the wood with it?” Mattiew shook his head. “What a waste.”

“I like this boat. The gold’s a bit much but I think it’s pretty. Though I’m certain your criteria was something stupid like the odds of it outrunning an Alazarite schooner.”

Mattiew opened his mouth to reply, but just smiled instead as he followed her towards the boat.

As Mattiew and Adriana reached the top of the plank that led onto the deck of the Calliones’ gilded ship, a man dressed in white servants’ linens took the bags that stored their luggage.

The air smelled of salt and the wind carried the sea’s spittle with it. The sun in the sky was out of place for the way Mattiew’s insides turned.

Mattiew’s gaze locked on Andar’s crooked smile, but he refused to give his father-in-law the satisfaction of seeing his displeasure.

“For once in your lives…” Andar croaked. “The two of you made a wise decision.”

You say that like there was a choice to begin with.

Andar chuckled. “Come with me. We’ve much to talk about. Adriana, go get settled.”

“You don’t get to order me around, Father.” Adriana said.

“You’d be so bold as to speak to me like that in your current situation, child?”

“You’d be so bold as to squander your only bit of leverage over something this petty, geezer?”

Andar sighed and shook his head, “Fine. Do as you wish.”

Adriana walked off with a reassuring confidence in her stride.

That’s my girl.

Neither of them would let Andar get the impression he had them in the palm of his hand.

“What do you want?” Mattiew suppressed his contempt.

“There’s much that must be done in order for you to enter the Bellirex, especially given your status as a commoner.” Andar said.

“I’d like to reiterate: Wouldn’t it be easier to blackmail some other poor girl whose loved ones were actually sorcerers? I’m just some guy who’s good with a sword and a sail who happens to love his wife. A pretty bad option to place your bets when among the most powerful sorcerers in the world.”

“It is because you are unassuming that I believe you will excel in the tournament, Mattiew.” Andar said, “The Rajgarhi Guru, Ramachandran, once wrote, ‘There is great power in powerlessness’. Your past records against sorcerers prove that.”

“I bet you say that to all the commoners you puppeteer.” Mattiew said.

“My house will see to it that you are provided with everything you need to combat your opponents.”

“I’ll do fine on my own, thanks.” He wouldn’t take charity from the least charitable man in the world.

“The task I have given you is unreasonable, but I did not give it to you to see you fail. I want that crown more than I want to destroy you.”

Mattiew hesitated. The further he got into the tournament, the more time they had. Plus, he did still have to worry about staying alive.

“What are you offering?” Mattiew asked.

“Every contestant needs two prerequisites to be fulfilled before they can enter the tournament.” Andar explained, “First is a Kingmaker.”

“You’re gonna have to explain this stuff to me. I’ve never had the money or desire to see a Bellirex.”

“A Kingmaker is a Nightborn who manifests an ancient consciousness in order to proclaim people as king. Only by the endorsement of a Kingmaker can you enter the tournament.”

“Where do I find a Kingmaker?”

Andar grimaced, “Kingmakers only ever choose those who have the potential to become rulers. You are a common pirate. We’ll take a Nightborn who agrees to act as your Kingmaker and have them fake it. The tournament organizers try to vet fake Kingmakers through a mana density test, but I have an imposter who can’t fail.”

“Who would that happen to be?”

“The arcane elemental I sent with Harpax to fetch you.” Andar said, “The second prerequisite is a band of followers numbering at least one hundred able-bodied fighters.”

Mattiew did a bit of arithmetic in his head and scrunched his nose. “That’s a lot of coin. You really willing to shell out that much for this?”

“Of course not.” Andar said, “But your Scourgers’ bail will be far cheaper.”

Mattiew jerked his head towards Andar. “What?”

“It’s rather convenient.”

“It absolutely is not!” Mattiew replied. “Do you even know where they are?”

“Rotting in an Alazarite prison, I hear.” Andar muttered.

“Yeah. And they blame me for that. They despise me. There’s not a chance in Irkalla of them agreeing to work with us. They’ll probably cost you more than mercenaries. By the gods, you have your own guardsmen!”

“I’m not wasting every coin in my coffers and leaving my properties unguarded to get you followers. Softening your...handicaps is already costing me enough. Either you have followers and you enter the Bellirex or our deal is void and I find a champion who does have an army.”

“What am I supposed to say to them, huh? Tell them I’m breaking them out of jail so they can throw away their lives for the sake of your petty little circlet?” Mattiew asked.

Andar shot daggers at Mattiew with his glare, “It is not just a circlet, you insolent boy. The Ouroboros of Tiamat holds more power than you know.”

“Then hire some damn goons, if it’s so powerful.” Mattiew stared down Andar’s murderous eyes.

“Promise your pirates a cause to fight for. That much should do it. Give them a place where they can live their lives, away from the corrupted systems of the Empires, or whatever it is you commoners want out of us.”

“And when they find out I’m lying?”

“It will all work itself out.” Andar’s assurance was more than worthless. “We will make a stop along the Alazarite coast where your comrades are being held and bring them aboard there. That is all.”

Mattiew gritted his teeth as Andar hobbled away towards the boat’s back tent. He couldn’t possibly promise them that. To betray their greatest wish in such a way...He wouldn’t blame them for the cruelty they would retaliate with.