The Wicked House of Caroline

"What do you mean 'it's real'?" Her brother's flushed face looked at her with disbelief. "Don't you have a horned serpent?"

"A horned serpent is different form a giant octopus!" Beks almost choked out. A crash sounded behind her, and she felt water spray against her face as another tentacle came down against the deck. She grabbed on to the mast, clinging on to the iron ring with the rope loops.

"Are you sure it's safe for us to be here?" Deo shouted as he looked at the writhing, boneless tree-trunk sized tentacle not three paces from him.

"He'll avoid the masts to start off with, so right now, this is the safest place for us," Robert said. Both his children looked back at him with concern and surprise.

"Daddy, how do you know this?" Beks asked, her eyes crinkling up.

"It's not my first time seeing a kraken." Robert sounded matter of fact.

"Man the harpoons!"

"Clear the deck!"

"Men over board!"

The entire deck was chaotic. Sailors were running around, and multiple voices filled the air, all giving different orders and warnings. Beks wasn't sure if anyone was following orders.

Wood cracked and Beks looked towards the bow of the ship. The very tip had a dark gray tentacle with black spots wrapped around it and was pulling it down. Her eyes went wide.

"Is the ship going to go down?"

"No, no, he's just scaring the sailors," her father told them.

A large piece of wood fell from the sky and landed with a crash starboard, nearly falling on to a sailor and crushing his leg. Deo's eyes crinkled up. "That's the rudder."

"How did a kraken know to rip the rudder off a ship?" Beks asked in a low voice.

"Krakens are quite intelligent. They're able to follow their master's orders well, rarely being told a second time," their father replied.

"Master? What do you mean master?" Deo frowned. "Does this kraken belong to someone?"

Their father let out an awkward laugh as he clung to the base of the mast. "Deo, Beks, your mother and I have never told you about this, and it's actually slipped my mind to tell you. Not that she's ashamed of it, but the nature of her career before she married me isn't exactly...legal."

Beks stared at her father for a moment. "Was Mommy involved in illegal trading when she was a sailor?"

"Yes...but rather than illegal trading, it was more...piracy."

"Piracy?" Both Deo and Beks gave their father and incredulous look. Deo was glaring. "Are you telling me that Mommy was a pirate before she married you?"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Beks asked with disbelief. "Do Wrath and Thad know?"

Their father averted his eyes. "Your mother didn't want to trouble you with her past. After all, Deo is heir to the duchy and then Beks was taken to Kadmium and was the late Queen's foster daughter. As time went on, we simply never talked about it." A terrified scream cut through his speech as a tentacle flung a sailor off the deck and into the sea. The family of three didn't pay any attention. "We can't bring it up in public, as if word gets out, any of us could be targeted because of the connection to Maritime Legacy."

Beks sucked in a sharp breath.

"Maritime Legacy?" Deo cried out. "The largest pirate fleet in these seas?"

Beks crinkled her eyes. "Didn't you say that you were kidnapped by them?" She stared at her father, who let out a tired sigh.

"Well, yes. That's how I met your mother." A thoughtful look filled his face as his thoughts seemed to drift elsewhere. "The first time I saw her, I thought I was hallucinating. No one could have been that breathtaking-"

"Pirates!" Someone yelled and the sounds of canons being shot came from the distance. Beks looked over her shoulder to find the source, but couldn't see past the sailors running around or the tentacles sliding over the deck, knocking things and people off.

Her father perked up. "It looks like the kraken's master is here."

"Do you know them?" Deo asked.

Robert nodded his head once. "It's been many years, but yes." He let out a heavy sigh and looked at the two. "Do you remember that I told you that your mother's aunt doesn't like me?"

Canons sounded from below deck and the ship rocked with the blast. Beks squeezed the mast even tighter. Sailors with spears were trying to stab the kraken tentacles, but the skin was thicker and tougher than it appeared. The spear tips could barely puncture the surface and before a sailor could press down to try to maneuver it and press it further in with force, the tentacle would move, knocking them off their feet at best or flinging them across the deck or into the sea at worst.

Beks and her family were all but forgotten in the chaos.

"We can't cling on to this forever! What if the kraken tears the ship apart?” Deo shouted.

“Don’t worry. It doesn’t have any reason to do that!” Robert replied. “The reports we heard all said that the naval ships were harassed, but not sunk.”

A powerful shake rocked the ship and the center of three masts creaked as it was pulled to the side. Beks looked up and watched as a tentacle coiled around the upper third of the mast and began to pull it down. The mast was secured firmly to the ship, making the ship tip portside. Midway on the mast, the wood began to splinter.

Beks shut her eyes and looked away, feeling her father’s arm over her head to shield her from any falling pieces of wood as the mast was broken off. Sails tumbled down along with the heavy metal rings attached to them. Ropes were flying with sailors avoiding the pullies. A few were hit, some even had their legs snagged, sending them into the air.

“I thought you said that it wouldn’t touch the masts!” Deo yelled.

“Perhaps its style of attack has changed in thirty years!”

“Daddy!” Beks had lifted her head and watched as another tentacle seemed to rise from the sea to one side of the ship and reached for the top of the mast they were clinging on to.

Robert narrowed his eyes and then swept across the deck. He grabbed Beks’ arms and pulled her towards him. “The bow!”

Deo released his hold on the mast as well and followed. Sailors were scrambling to try to fight off the tentacles as the boat rocked back and forth. The pitch was so steep, it was difficult to maintain their balance and run in a straight line.

“Can we get back to the fishing vessel?” Deo shouted.

“They should’ve sailed a short distance away to avoid the kraken. The ship is being tossed in the water; as a smaller vessel, they could get hit and sink at any given time,” Robert told them.

He all but dragged Beks around fallen sailors and a tentacle partially laying across the deck. Behind them, a cannon ball hit the deck, creating a hole that they barely missed as they ran.

“What if we get knocked into the water?” Deo yelled, half covering his head as he kept up with them.

“I’ll hold on to your sister,” Robert replied with a shout. “Try to any large piece of drift wood for her to cling on to.”

“Should I remove my petti skirt?”

“Only if you can’t help it,” Robert told her. He squeezed his daughter’s hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

A high-pitched screech seemed to fill the air as they reached the bow of the sip. Beks grabbed on to the wooden railing with her father and brother on either side of her. They turned towards the center of the ship and her eyes went wide.

The entire ship seemed to let out a pained wail as multiple tentacles pulled the ship apart.

Robert scowled and looked around. Beks could barely hear him muttering under his breath ‘where is it, where is it’. She tried to follow his gaze and watched as his eyes seemed to lock on to something past the bow.

A ship with three masts and pale sails was approaching quickly. While the sails appeared like any other, they were emblazoned by a dark red image of an octopus in the same design the palm-sized discs she’d seen at the fish monger’s and on the fishing vessel.

Beks’ eyes went wide as all the connections were made. The contacts on land, the fishing vessel that the old man making their fake documents was able to arrange for them, and her mother’s previous ‘career’. Even the suspicious paint used to disguise her brother and father’s exile markings.

“It’s the Kraken’s Whip! Maritime Legacy is coming!” Someone shouted, terrified.

“The Kraken’s Whipis your Great Aunt’s ship,” Robert said. He furrowed his brows. “We need to make sure they see us, so we don’t get caught up in the attack.”

“We don’t exactly have anything to signal them with!” Deo frowned.

Beks released the railing with one hand and clamped it on her brother’s shoulder. “Fire biha.”

Deo’s brows shot up. “I forgot about that.”

He adjusted his footing and Robert maneuvered himself closer in order to anchor his son as Deo raised his arms. He narrowed his eyes and punched into the air above his head, sending ball after ball of fire above them.

“Do you have fire biha?” One of the sailors had stumbled to a stop as he saw the flames. “Captain!” He turned around and yelled, but who knew where his commanding officer was.

“Is that a response?” Deo shouted as he leaned over the railing. From the sides of the approaching pirate ship, several streams of water shot into the air in the same sequence and amount that Deo had sent fireballs.

“Respond!” Beks yelled.

Deo instantly sent another series of fire into the air. He was almost disrupted when someone tried to stop him, but Robert whirled around and punched the sailor in the face before he could do so much as touch Deo.

The ship continued to creak as pieces of wood were snapped off. What appeared to be an entire sail was floating on top of the water. Bubbles were rising as a large, shiny dark gray mass began to rise from the water. Beks could make out its various black rings and spot as it emerged.

She was certain that with its tentacles, the kraken was easily larger than the naval ship and the fishing vessel combined. A large golden eye with a dark pupil came from the water and it flickered around. Beks leaned closer to get a better look.

The kraken’s darting gaze swept past her and darted back, lingering on Beks. She held her breath. What was one to do when making eye contact with a kraken?

“Is that Octavius?” Robert leaned forward beside her and squinted. “Octavius! Do you remember me?”

Deo and Beks snapped their heads back at him as if he’d lost his mind. Despite their thoughts, the kraken’s pupil went wide before contracting. The water beside it began to move as another tentacle broke the surface. It rose into the air, showering them with seawater. Beks shut her eyes and turned her head away to avoid getting water in them, only to hear her father let out a yell.

She turned her head to the side and screamed. “Daddy!” The tip of the kraken’s tentacle had wrapped around their father and plucked him out from behind Beks. Robert didn’t appear to fight it and lazily let his arms hang down in front of them. He didn’t struggle or reveal any sign of concern, let alone fear.

“It’s fine!” Her father let out a laugh and they looked up at him as if he were a madman. “It’s just my old buddy Octavius!”

A stream of water shout out from the side of the ship and hit Robert in the face, drenching him in an instant. Beks gasped as she watched her father raise his hand and run it down his face.

More creaks of ship sounded, and a shadow fell over Beks. The sun had almost finished setting as the pale sails with the red kraken seemed to appear beside the broken and heavily damaged Kadmus naval vessel.

A tentacle rose out of the water and moved towards the deck of the pirate ship while the pirates on deck were throwing ropes at the deck of the naval vessel. The sailors who remained on board readied their swords and tried to cut the ropes that had managed to be secured on deck, but they weren’t fast enough.

The pirates jumped from one ship to the other, swung in on ropes, and attached a gangplank to connect the two ships together. Deo pulled his sister closer to him and tried to stay as far away from the nearly split center of the ship as men and women brandishing weapons boarded.

“Secure the sailors! Don’t let any of them escape!” A woman’s low voice filled the air and Beks snapped her head towards the pirate ship.

A tall woman wearing dark clothing and a wide-brim hat stood at the very edge of the pirate ship’s deck. A kraken’s tentacle rose from the water and bent beside the edge of the ship, making a sort of ledge for the woman to stand on. The woman stepped on to the tentacle, her hand clutching a walking stick, as the tentacle maintained its height and crossed the short span between the two boats.

As she approached, Beks could make out the woman’s dark skin, her graying hair, and the interested expression on her face. Beks was fairly certain she knew who this old woman was.

The kraken brough her right beside Beks and Deo, stopping just on the other side of the railing. The woman with the flamboyant hat cocked her head to the side and looked them up and down before nodding.

“Amadeo of Caroline, gifted with strong fire biha and named the youngest Northern Commander in Kadmus’ history,” the woman said as she looked him up and down. After nodding to herself, the woman let out a bit of a disappointed sigh. “You look like your father.”

Robert’s pleased laugh came from where he was still hovering above them with a kraken tentacle around his waist. “Doesn’t he?”

“That wasn’t a compliment!” Deo and the old woman shouted at the same time. They both paused and then turned to look at each other, surprised. The old woman’s face softened, and she smiled approvingly.

She then turned her attention to Beks. Her eyes dilated as the kraken moved her closer.

“Rebecca of Caroline, the daughter with dawn in her hair....” The woman’s eyes seemed pained for a moment. “Trapped by prophecy and taken from home at such an early age.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head. She let out a sigh and reached out to almost touch Beks’ face. “But at the very least,” she said as her eyes crinkled up with satisfaction. “You look like a Lyone.”

Her heart slammed against her chest as she looked at the old woman still standing on the tip of a kraken’s tentacle. She could see a resemblance to her mother without having to look hard.

“Are you Great Aunt?” Beks asked. Around them, people were yelling and fighting, moving around, and falling, but somehow, none of the chaos penetrated their small space.

The woman lifted her chin and looked at Beks before lifting her free hand and grasping her hat, pulling it down.

“I am the captain of the Kraken’s Whip, the leader of Maritime Legacy, and your mother’s aunt,” she said, her voice softening as she said the last part. “Rebecca of Lyone!”

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She vaguely remembered that her mother once told her that she had a namesake on her maternal side of the family. Beks was never told who she was named after, but if her mother really wanted to ignore her pirate roots, she never would’ve named Beks after her aunt.

Once her father was released from Octavius, her Great Aunt’s kraken, they boarded the Kraken’s Whip. The signal was given for the pirate crew to return to their ship and within moments, the ship with the kraken on their sails was sailing away from a sinking naval vessel and a dozen lifeboats.

Beks stood on the portside, her shoulders drooping as she let out a disappointed sigh.

“You are worried about them?” the captain’s gravelly voice asked.

She shook her head. “No, they’ll be fine in those life boats. With the Kadmus navy patrolling beyond Kadmus waters, they’ll be found in a day or two. But that boat cost a lot of money to have built.” She looked over at her Great Aunt with worry. “How many have been sunk?”

Her Great Aunt raised a brow and took a step forward to stand beside Beks by the side of the ship. “Since they started straying from Kadmus waters, my fleet has harassed them, mainly focusing on damaging part of the ship to slow them down.”

Beks cocked her head to the side. “Why was this one ripped apart?”

“Because I suspected that they had taken you,” the old woman said as she lifted her chin. “We have been looking for you, your father, and your brother for three days.”

Beks’ eyes widened. “Then, Daddy was right. You’d find out we were coming.”

Her Great Aunt looked over her shoulder at Robert, who was wiping his hair with a towel. “We tried to guess the route you’d take to the West Islands as soon as I got the word. Your mother should already be on her way. I just happened to be closest to you.”

“Is the entire fleet looking for us?” Robert asked from the other side.

The old woman sneered as she lifted her chin. “Of course, the entire fleet is looking for you! The more eyes, the better, and the sooner we can find you. With the Kadmus navy appearing outside their territorial waters, it was a race to find you before they did. Even with half the waters between the West Islands and the mainland covered, we were still late!”

“You weren’t late, Great Aunt. You came just in time,” Deo said. “We can’t thank you enough.” Their Great Aunt’s eyes smiled.

“What thanks is necessary? You are my Great-Nephew and Great-Niece,” said as she looked at the two of them fondly. “As long as I am able, if you need my aid, I will come.”

Beks’ heart filled with warmth as she nodded.

“And for me, too, yes, Aunt Rebecca?” Robert asked with an earnest look.

Disgust filled the old woman’s face. “You are lucky I’ve sent Octavius ahead to call out to Inky....” Robert let out a cheeky laugh.

“Since you’ve found us, how can we contact our mother?” Deo asked.

Their Great Aunt motioned towards the water. “Didn’t I say? Octavius, my kraken, is calling out to Inky. I’ve also sent out a messenger bird, but Octavius will be faster.”

“Great Aunt,” Beks said. “What is Inky?”

The old woman’s sharp eyes turned towards Robert with a glare. “You’ve brought them this far, used Maritime Legacy’s resources, and still haven’t told them?”

“Great Aunt, I haven’t had the chance!” Robert said. Beks squinted her eyes. There were plenty of chances when they were on the fishing vessel and even earlier, but she didn’t reveal her father.

The old woman clicked her tongue and then looked at Beks. “Inky is your mother’s beast. We of the Lyone bloodline have an affinity with sea creatures. Octavius, for example, is mine. I’ve raised him since he was found clinging to the side of my boat.” Great Aunt Rebecca’s eyes crinkled up with mirth. “But Inky is different. Sybil was almost a teen when she first met Inky, who was nearly full grown. He seemed to have been tangled in rope near a trench and was trying to rub up against a ship to remove them.

“I still remember that day. Your mother nearly gave me a heart attack! A massive creature was nearly capsizing her boat and she jumped off, on to its back, and began using water biha to slice away at the ropes binding it. Inky didn’t know what was going on and began thrashing.” The old woman lifted her hand to her chest and pressed her hand against it. “I was terrified that she was going to be dragged down. I even called for Octavius, but Inky got loose. He swam away, leaving Sybil to get on the ship on her own. I thought it was the last I’d seen of that ungrateful creature, but it didn’t go far from your mother’s boat. Since then, he’s been following your mother.”

“Can he understand my mother?” Beks asked. “Can those with the Lyone blood communicate with animals, like a beast talker?”

“That would make this easy, but know, we cannot,” Great Aunt Rebecca replied with some disappointment. “At best, we can understand a beast with have an affinity’s to’s mood and they can understand our wishes, but as far as communication the way we are speaking right now, no.”

Beks’ shoulder slumped a bit. Wrath may have something more to learn, but it seemed that the two were different.

“Isn’t this like you and Snowflake?” Deo asked. “You always said that he was very smart and seemed to understand you.”

“It sounds like that is the case, but snow flake is not a sea creature.”

Robert rubbed his chin and had a concentrated look on his face. “Regarding Inky, how far was he and the Leviathan’s Throne?”

“Not too far. We should cross paths with them by dawn if all goes well,” the old woman said. “Krakens’ calls aren’t as loud as a leviathans’, but a leviathan should still be able to hear one.”

Beks stood up straight. “Did you say leviathan?”

Her father nodded and didn’t seem to think anything of it. “Yes, Inky is a leviathan from the Irasar Trench west of the West islands. Warm water leviathans are larger than cold water ones, but they aren’t well suited for the cold waters of the north.”

“Then where does Inky go when Mommy is home?” Somehow, the thought of her mother’s leviathan shivering and unable to be near her mother was a pitiful image.

Robert raised a brow. “Inky lives in the waters west of Sagittate, where there are underwater geysers that keep the water warm. It’s just that his preferred food is in the south, so he is often gone to forage. You touched his head when we took you on a boat when you were an infant.”

“How can I remember such a thing?” Beks sighed with a roll of her eyes.

“Your Grace!!” A voice shouted and they looked towards the boat, past her father. Mr. Reidan was rushing towards them. His eyes were red, appearing shaken. “Are you all right?”

“I should ask you that, Mr. Reidan,” Robert said as he lifted a hand and patted the man on the back shoulders. “Are you sure you don’t want to join the fishermen to the West Islands?”

“No, Your Grace,” Mr. Reidan replied. “I will follow you as long as you permit me to.”

Great Aunt Rebecca narrowed her eyes at them and raised a brow. “What did you do to this old man that made him bind himself to you?” she asked with a suspicious frown.

“Saved his life,” Robert replied. “He was my driver when I was on my exile, and he didn’t recognize the guards. They thought he was suspicious, and we over heard them planning to kill him along with me.”

“They did not know I speak Esuser,” Mr. Reidan told them. “His Grace said that if wanted to, I could come with him. He knew that if I returned, I could be targeted, so, here I am.”

Great Aunt Rebecca sighed and rubbed her forehead before looking at Robert. “You always were frighteningly charismatic.”

“Thank you!”

“Once more, not a compliment.” She looked at Beks and Deo and gave them a nod. “Come, it’s late. My crew will bring your belongings on board and let the fishing boat be on its way. You can stay in my chambers tonight.”

“What about Daddy?” Beks asked.

Great Aunt Rebecca let out a snort laugh. “Him? He knows that Sybil is coming.”

“How can I sleep?” Robert asked with a lopsided smile.

Beks and Deo exchanged looks and followed their Great Aunt to the captain’s chambers. Deo spent the night on a plush red chaise with his legs and an arm hanging off the site despite Beks’ attempts to convince him to take the bed.

“You’re not that much shorter than me,” Deo had told her in a firm voice. “Just take the bed.”

Perhaps it was the stress incurred when the Kadmus naval ship found them and brought them on board, but Beks was exhausted and fell asleep rather quickly. The lanterns in the room were still lit when she closed her eyes.

When she opened them, light was coming from the windows on the far side. Beks squinted and tried to reorient herself when she didn’t recognize the decor. She’d fallen asleep quickly the night before and didn’t get a good chance to look around. The captain’s chamber had a four-poster bed with a canopy built into the ship. There were plenty of pillows and a few thin blankets. Deo simply plucked some has he passed on his way to the chaise.

There was a wardrobe, a writing desk, a table by the side of the bed and a trunk at the foot of it. Everything save the old trunk that was nearly as wide as the bed was bolted to the ground.

She sat up and stretched, looking towards the chaise. Her brother was no longer there, but she wasn’t alarmed. Deo tended to get up earlier than her, having been used to an early training regimen.

Beks straightened the clothes she’d fallen asleep in and put on her boots before walking towards the door. She pushed it open just enough so she could look outside.

It was bright and she squinted. She opened it further and found that several crew members were cleaning the deck. The sails were tied up and the ship bobbed up and down, but they didn’t seem to be moving further.

Beks took a step out and someone called to her.

“My lady, you’re awake! With you like breakfast?” A thin man with a coiled rope in one hand came to greet her and Beks drew her head back.

“I...yes, a little, would be good.”

“All right, all right! I’ll tell the kitchen!” The man appeared excited and rushed off, only to be stopped by another crew member, admonishing him for not asking if Beks wanted to wash her face.

They didn’t give her a chance to reply. In accented Jasper, they told her to wait while they went to retrieve a wash bowl and some fresh water. Beks nodded, but continued to look around. She stopped the next person who crossed her path.

“Excuse me, but have you seen my father or brother?” she asked.

“Oh!” The pirate nodded his head energetically and pointed to the quarterdeck above her. She nodded and thanked him before rounding the deck to get to the stairs.

Robert stood with Deo and her Great Aunt with their backs turned to her. She quietly climbed the stairs and walked around them to stand next to her father. “What are we looking at?”

Robert nearly jumped and looked at his daughter. He sighed and shook his head as he raised a hand and placed it on her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you, Beks. I was looking at your mother’s ship.”

“Mommy’s ship?” Her heart quickened as her brows shot up. She followed their gazes out at the horizon and saw a vessel approaching. Beks tilted her head to the side. “The sails are black?”

Great Aunt Rebecca let out a small hum. “Your mother was to be my successor. The next pirate queen.” She paused and looked at Robert with a scowl. “And then this one appeared and ruined everything.”

Robert chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “You can’t expect me to give her up, Aunt Rebe-”

“I told you call me Captain!”

Robert sighed. “Captain,” he said, correcting himself. “I love her and want to be with her. I’m not one of those idiots who would sacrifice a mutual love under the guise that the one I’m in love with would be happier doing something else. I want to be happy. I want them to be happy. I want to be happy together.”

“You don’t need to convince me....” Great Aunt let out a snort. “I know my niece. If she didn’t wish to be with you, you wouldn’t be standing right now.”

“How long will it take until they reach us?” Beks asked.

“Less than half an hour,” the old woman told her.

Beks nodded. “I’m going to wash up before she reaches us.” Part of her was concerned that if her mother saw her too unkempt, even in their circumstances, she would worry. She rushed back downstairs to the captain’s chamber and found that a clean basin and a jug of fresh water was waiting for her. She rinsed her face, patting it dry with a worn towel lying beside the jug. Just as she finished, someone knocked to let her know her meal was ready.

Her simple meal was a seafood porridge, which she ate as fast as she could without burning her tongue. By the time the last spoonful reached her mouth, a ship of similar size to the Kraken’s Whip. Three masts with black sails and a white outline of the same kraken symbol showed that they were part of the same fleet.

Along the sides, carved characters painted with black and outlined with white read ‘Leviathan’s Throne’. Beks narrowed her eyes. Wasn’t that the ship that smuggled Laurence and Mr. Kessse to Sagittate?

“It was Mommy’s ship?” No wonder her mother had assured her that she could get a ship on such short notice. It wasn’t just any ship; it was her own.

“Beks! Deo!” A woman’s voice came from the ship as it slowed down to a near halt beside their Great Aunt’s ship.

Beks’ eyes began to water as a sourness came over her. She walked closer to the railing and placed her hands on it as she saw the familiar woman now wearing pants and a tunic instead of a long gown with fur. Her thick, black hair was pulled back into a long pony tail as she rushed down the steps of the quarterdeck.

“Mommy!” Beks cried out as relief filled her. She gripped the railing to keep her legs from growing limp under the wave of relief.

Her mother’s eyes turned into shining crescents as the crew members on Leviathan’s Throne tossed ropes across a gap to the crew on the Kraken’s Whip. Shouting was heard as friends greeted each other.

The side railings were quick to be opened on both ships and a large gangplank was slid across and securely attached. The system was well practiced and within a matter of moments, the gangplank was secured, and her father ran past them. Deo and Beks exchanged glances and pursed their lips in unison.

Robert rushed towards the gangplank, yelling ‘Sybil, my beloved’ loud enough that it startled some pirates who were waiting across the gangplank, on the Leviathan’s Throne. Before Beks and Deo managed to finish crossing on to their mother’s ship, their father had reached their mother and threw his arms around her waist.

He lifted her off her feet and swung her around. When her feet touched the ground once more, he raised his hand and gingerly touched her face. Sybil chuckled and put her hand over his, holding his cupped palm against her cheek as she met his intent look with one of her own.

“I came as soon as I could,” Sybil said in her low, rich voice.

Robert stroked the corners of her eyes with his thumbs as his eyes crinkled up. “So, did I.”

The corners of Sybil’s full lips pulled up just a bit. “Did you miss me?”

“Miss doesn’t begin to describe what I feel when we’re apart.”

Loud coughing came from behind Robert, causing the couple to be pulled from their two-person world. Deo and Beks stood two paces from their parents with dull expressions as their Great Aunt let out the disruptive cough. She seemed to give her niece a knowing look before briefly tilting her head towards the two adult children.

“Beks!” Sybil immediately pressed her palms against her husband’s chest and pushed him away to get to them. “Deo! You’re all right!”

“Mommy.” Beks smiled and stepped forward as her mother abandoned her father to get to her.

Sybil pulled her towards her and wrapped her arms around her, pressing her head against the side of Beks’ as she shut her eyes. “I believed that you would survive, but until I see you now, with my own eyes, I still feared the worst.” She squeezed Beks and didn’t seem to want to let her go. “Your father and brother would fare well against the assassins, but you....”

Beks gave her a wry smile. “If anyone was unlucky, it would be the paladins who pushed me off the cliff. I doubted they believed I’d survive the fall.”

“The gods had the Great Oracle predict your future. Of course, you’d survive. How can you not when you have yet to fulfill that damned prophecy?” Sybil’s hands rested on her shoulders and gently pushed her away to get a better look at her face. “And who are the gods to bow to the will of mortal paladins?”

Beks nodded in agreement and Sybil turned her attention to Deo. She studied her son, but was satisfied that he had managed to reunite with his sister as they agreed upon.

“Beks has a lot of tell you. She was of great use when she found me,” Deo told her.

Sybil nodded. “All right, tell me everything. Come to my quarters.”

“You still have your quarters here, my beloved?” Robert asked with a curious look.

“I may not be on board, but the Leviathan’s Throne is still my ship,” Sybil told him with some pride. She looked at Beks and Deo. “Thad and Wrath are still sleeping, but they’ll be happy to see you all.”

“You three talk. When the children are ready, send them out to me,” Great Aunt Rebecca told them. “I want to see if there is any improvement from their lessons.”

Sybil nodded and Beks looked from her mother to her Great Aunt. “They’ve had lessons?” How were they able to get a teacher on a pirate ship? For a moment, she was impressed with how resourceful her family was...and then somewhat worried that they kidnapped the teacher.

Her great aunt seemed to notice the brief look of concern on her face and laughed. “It’s not the formal lessons you’re thinking of, Beks,” she said with an amused smile. “Thad uses air biha, so I am having one of our air biha users teach him. Wrath is showing signs of beast talking, so we are trying to sharpen her spirit core to facilitate the process.”

“I’ll send them out when they wake,” Sybil assured her aunt. The old woman nodded and turned back to her ship. Beks followed her mother into the captain’s quarters with her father and brother. The room was a bit larger than her great aunt’s quarters, but similar in format. The large bed with the canopy was bolted to the floor.

Sitting up on the edge of the bed was Wrath with Thad beside her, wiping her face with a clean towel. As soon as the door opened, the two youngest children turned their heads. Thad dropped the towel.

“Daddy!” Both he and Wrath shouted. Thad shot up, about to rush forward when he remembered his younger sister and turned around. He helped Wrath wiggle off the bed and then released her to run into their father’s arms.

Robert knelt down on the floor and raised his arms, laughing as he welcomed his two youngest children. ‘Wrath, Thad....” He kissed the top of their heads and squeezed them. “I am glad you are well.”

“Daddy, I’m learning air biha with a master Great Aunt brought to me! Master Remy says that my control is excellent, and soon, I may be able to fly!” Thad rushed his sentence out in one breath.

“Fly?” Deo’s brows rose. “Is that possible?”

“Of course, it’s possible,” Wrath replied as if she were the one experienced in the matter. “Your imagination is limited.”

Deo squinted down at her and then ruffled the top of her hair with his hand. “Good morning, Brother Deo. I missed you, Brother Deo. I’m glad that you’re safe, Brother.” He spoke in an annoyed voice as Wrath flushed and tried to push his large hand away.

“You already know I missed you!” She pouted and stepped away from him. She looked towards Beks as Beks hugged Thad. “You, too,” she said, trying to appear nonchalant. “I missed you, too.”

Beks chuckled and Thad looked up at her. “She said that you were the weakest of us, so she was worried.”

Beks’ expression softened. “You were worried about me, Wrath?”

The little girl puffed out her cheeks and looked away. “Only a little.”

“A little, huh?” Beks said as she reached down and brought her hand to the top of Wrath’s head. She paused, waiting to see if Wrath would bat her hand away. Wrath stayed still, almost expectant. When Beks paused, Wrath frowned and craned her head up so that the top of her head touched Bek’s hand. Beks smiled and gently stroked the top of Wrath’s head. “I missed you a lot.”

Wrath flushed once more and looked away. She darted behind her mother and buried her face in her mother’s side. Sybil chuckled and stroked her head.

“I know you are both happy to see your father and brother and sister-”

“Only a little!” Wrath said, her voice muffled by Sybil’s leg.

“Yes, yes, only a little.” Sybil played along. “But your Great Aunt has returned, and she wants to see what you’ve learned.”

Their faces it up and Beks smiled. It seemed her two younger siblings thought highly of their Great Aunt. The two of them rushed to wash up and change, taking turns behind a changing screen, before rushing out to leave the adults to talk.

They sat around a table that could sit six people and began to recount their individual journeys with each other. Robert’s was the shortest, followed by Sybil’s. Deo had a bit more to say and then brought up Bek’s biha well and spirit core.

The news didn’t seem to surprise Sybil. Instead, she furrowed her brows and went quiet. “In a way, this explains quite a bit. The chances of Beks being born without either considering her lineage was extremely small, to the point that it was highly unlikely that she’d be born without one. If the spirit core and biha well clashed and cancelled each other out, then of course the immersion pool wouldn’t detect them.”

“The problem is that though I have both, I don’t know what my spirit core is capable of and, while my biha well seems limitless, I can’t use biha directly. I can only give it to others.” She lowered her eyes, still somewhat disappointed. “By myself, it is useless.”

“It isn’t useless. In addition, Beks, you’ve just started learning and familiarizing yourself with your biha well and spirit core. You don’t yet know all the possibilities of them,” her mother told her. She looked at Robert. “Have you been able to contact Erik or Harald?”

“Yes, it took some time, as Beks’ urapearl only has mine and Deo’s connected to it. Both of ours are in our respective offices, so it took some luck for Erik to be near the urapearl long enough to notice that we called,” Robert told her. “The defensive procedure for the duchy are in place and His Majesty is awake and regaining strength. He’s started walking, but still gets a bit out of breath.”

“Speaking of His Majesty,” Beks said as she sat up. “Brother Laurence gave us an order the last time we talked, before we left Varkana.”

“An order?” Her mother raised a brow as she looked up from the head of the table. Her father, seated on her mother’s immediate left, stopped peeling shrimp to put in her bowl and looked towards Beks with surprise.

“Rather than go back to the island, Brother Laurence wants us to go the Sagittate to fetch him,” Beks told them.

She watched her parents turned towards each other and exchange looks. “That shouldn’t be a problem...after all, the exile stele don’t reach Sagittate, so we won’t be affected,” Robert said.

“Is His Majesty fit to travel?’ Sybil asked with a furrowed brow and concern on her face. “When my crew brought him home, he was clinging on to life.”

Beks nodded. “He’s not as healthy as he was before the incident,” she replied with some disappointment. It was obvious that Laurence wouldn’t be, but it was still disappointing to say aloud. Even with his diligent therapy and practice, as well as his improvement since he woke up, they couldn’t tell her when he’d be close to normal. “He is walking on his own, but for limited distances.”

Her mother seemed to sink into her seat to think and her father spoke up. “He won’t be doing much walking on a ship, but the journey isn’t without its difficult points. Will he be all right going through Stromwal?”

“He was unconscious when he came through the first time, so he was strapped down to avoid falling and hurting himself further,” her mother told her. “But he’s not aware of how violent the sea is.”

“Sybil, we can’t coddle him,” Robert conceded. “If he wishes to leave Sagittate, then we will have to bring him out.”

She gave him a small nod. “You’re right. We can’t wait for him to come to full health. The longer the Fourth Prince and his father are in power, them more difficult it will be to remove them when the time comes.”

“We need to find out how much support they have in court,” Robert said as he tapped the table top with his hand. “There was a lot of opposition to him taking the throne, but with the king as he was, everyone was forced to decide on the matter. If they find out that the king is alive and well, we may have significant support for him.”

“As long as he is alive and well, and fit to rule,” Beks said with narrowed eyes. “If they are unconvinced and continue to see Brother Laurence as sickly and injured, therefore, unfit for the throne, then they will default to the Fourth Prince.”

“What about the Second and Third Princes?” Deo asked.

Beks took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Aside from neither of them having any urge to rule, they weren’t trained for the position, either. “The Second Prince is a soldier, and the Third Prince is a priest. With what ability do they have to be a ruler? Perhaps they could counsel, and offer advice to their brother in their related fields, but neither of them were primed to rule.”

“The Second Prince also lost his hand. His dominant one,” Robert added with a frown. “Though it is no fault of his own, and he still retains significant fighting ability, as well as leadership, there are plenty who would criticize him simply because he lost a hand.”

“And the Third Prince was a priest. He took the Water of the Covenant.” Deo looked around the table, earning frowns at the thought from his parents. If the Third Prince, though perfectly healthy otherwise, took the throne, having taken Water of the Covenant meant that he could not have children.

He would need to name an heir in one of his siblings’ children. As of right now, none of his brothers had children.

Beks narrowed her eyes and her lips pulled into a tight line. An heir could secure the position to rule to any of the brothers. Laurence and Lady Eleanor didn’t have any children yet, and at the moment, it wasn’t advised for them to try. They weren’t married either, which would render a child born before marriage incapable of inheriting any royal title in Kadmus.

The twins weren’t even legitimately engaged to her, so they were out of the question.

Irritation filled her as she was forced to accept the fact that Luther currently had the closest claim to a legitimate heir. He and the new oracle were planning their wedding, and as long as a child was born after the wedding, they would be considered a legitimate heir.

Nexus had already informed her that the new oracle was now living in Luther’s courtyard. If they told her that those two were cohabitating innocently, she’d laugh and asked if they’d drunk too much wine to have such a delusion.

She leaned forward and clasped her hands in front of her, leaning her forehead against them. “The Fourth Prince is going to be married soon. If he has a legitimate heir before Brother Laurence and Lady Eleanor, nothing short of a coup d’etat will be necessary.”

The Fourth Consort would not give up his son’s and grandchild’s position.

Her parents looked at her with worried gazes.

“His Majesty and Lady Eleanor aren’t married yet. They had pushed their wedding back because of the late Queen’s death,” Sybil said in a low voice. “If they’re married outside Kadmus, there is bound to be speculation that the marriage is false by the Fourth Prince’s supporters.”

“Is there any way we can delay the Fourth Prince’s wedding?” Deo asked, looking at his parents and then at Beks.

Beks raised her eyes. “Another death or war that consumes so many resources, that the royal family cannot afford to have a wedding.” Unlike commoner marriages, and some aristocratic ones, the royal family signed the legal paperwork finalizing the marriage and all the benefits attached to it on the day of the wedding, in front of the gods and the people.

The pomp with a royal wedding was both to instill awe, assert legitimacy, and show the importance of the marriage agreement. The paperwork would all be prepared beforehand, reviewed by both parties, stamped by the various entities required, including witnesses, and then presented for final signature and a blessing at the wedding.

“We can’t very well bring the King and Lady Eleanor to Kadmus for a wedding. We’re as crazy as they are if we think they’re going to allow that!” Sybil said as she slapped her hand on the table and scowled. “As soon as the Fourth Consort hears word of the King setting foot on Kadmus, he’ll send every assassin in the kingdom after him.”

“I don’t want Brother Laurence to be married poorly, either,” Beks said with disapproval. “They’ve postponed their wedding, which was planned for so long and was supposed to be magnificent. Now, it’s Luther and the oracle who are going to benefit from all the plans that had been put in place.”

“Well....” Her brother leaned back against his chair and crossed his arms. “At the very least, they won’t have your wedding dress.”

Beks gave him an acknowledging nod, but her mother sat up straight. Her face darkened as her lips tightened. “What does he mean ‘your wedding dress’?” she asked in a dangerous voice.

Robert swept into explain the detail to his wife: how they ran into the paladins who tried to assassinate Beks by pushing her over a cliff, how they found her wedding dress in a chest they were carrying.

With each word, the fury on Sybils face grew and the ship itself began to sway more than normal. Robert’s hands shot across the table and grasped her arms to calm her. “We’ve taken care of it, Beloved. That scheming oracle won’t have a chance to wear Beks’ wedding dress.”

Sybil shot up in her seat, her wooden chair tumbling back behind her. “Beks won’t have a chance to wear her wedding dress! Do you know how much time went into just preparing the materials for that dress? How many skilled hands had touched it? How many people had worked on it, sewing their blessings into it?” she asked, looking at husband and son. “The late Queen took apart her own engagement gift to sew on a pearl on to Beks’ dress. I hunted and skinned only the purest white sables in the dead of Sagittate winter to prepare the fur trim that every bride of Caroline should wear!”

Beks lowered her eyes. She had the pearl, but had hoped that since the fur had been removed, it was safe elsewhere. Fur of that quality was expensive. There was a good chance it had been saved.

“Mommy, they had it blessed at the Shrine of the Goddess of Marriage for the new oracle,” she said as she looked with a beseeching expression. “The moment it was, in the eyes of the gods, it was no longer my wedding dress.”

Sybil’s anger didn’t lessen. She turned her head away and circled the table. She wrapped her arms around Beks shoulders. “How much will they dare to disrespect you until they are satisfied,” she said behind gritted teeth. She pressed her head against Beks’ and closed her eyes. “We will prepare a better dress for you. One untouched by soiled hands.”

Beks nodded. “I look forward to it.”

Robert gave her a thoughtful look. “It is a good thing that you’re not marrying Luther, Beks. I have always known he wasn’t the most dependable prince.”

Sybil sneered at her husband. “Were you not the one who agreed to the marriage?”

“Is it an easy matter to reject a monarch?” Robert asked, raising a brow. “And at the time, I had high expectations of Luther.”

“He was only a baby then. How high could your expectations be?” Sybil frowned.

Robert waved his hand in front of him. “I admit, I made a mistake. Had I known his character then, I would have staunchly refused the engagement. if the late Queen really wanted to marry Beks to one of her sons, there were two other options.”

Deo let out a muffles snort laugh. “Two other options? It’s funny that you’d say that.”

Beks kicked him under the table and shot him a silencing glare.

Robert looked at his son curiously. “Do you think there is something wrong with the Second or Third Prince? You and Beks have spoken highly of them.”

“Yes, it seems that they’ve been of great help to your sister on the island,” Sybil agreed.

Beks drew her lips inward.

“Of course, Beks would want to speak highly of them,” Deo prodded, ignoring his sister’s death glare. He gave her a look that told her that he wasn’t going to stop, and that she might as well tell them.

She had to some time.

Eventually, this had to be brought up with Laurence, as well.

Her parents were there with her now and it was an opportune time.

Beks closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Though the engagement to Luther is broken, I believe that Brother Laurence will want, and need, me to remain in Kadmium after he retakes the throne,” she began in an even voice, watching her parents’ reactions. When they didn’t speak, she continued. “Knowing Brother Laurence, there is a good chance he will offer me one of the twins for marriage.”