Princess at Sea (3 page)

A confused anger at myself warmed me as I held my skirts with one hand, the ladder with the other. It wasn't fair. None of it. Whom I gave my heart to was no longer linked to the crown, yet I was still ruled by it. I left him with his cards, as silent and as frustrated as I was.

The wood framing the hatch under my hand was warm from the sun, and I lurched onto the deck. Like a blow, the wind struck me, pushing me and making my skirt flare. It wasn't cold, but so strong a force took getting used to. My toes gripped the wood, polished by sun and sliding ropes. Squinting from the glare, I held back the brown curls that had escaped my topknot.

I was facing the stern, and the clouds behind the tilting horizon were blue with rain. The waves were choppy since the wind was blowing against the current, tearing the wave tops as tonight's storm grew closer. At the wheel, Captain Borlett gave me a sympathetic nod, looking stiff and uncomfortable at his unintentional overhearing of the royal argument. I thought he looked inexcusably relieved that it wasn't his responsibility to put an end to it.

A welcoming nicker pulled my gaze to my horses, standing tethered against the wall of the galley shack at the bow. The black animals were here only because Alex's horse hadn't taken to the water, and Contessa had rightly insisted they should have matched animals.

I didn't mind riding borrowed horses myself when we went ashore to assure the populace that they really did have a queen, and she had our mother's elegant, regal beauty even if I didn't, but the royal couple should be on horses in which we were confident. Jy and Pitch were well behaved, and had been trained for water travel even before Kavenlow had given them to me. The gelding was my favorite. I had named him Jy, short for Jeck's horse, which is what I had called him before knowing he was really mine.

Contessa's voice pulled me to the railing where Alex had nearly pinned the white-clad woman. Her fair skin was even paler in anger, and she had taken a defensive stance, with her hands on her hips, looking like a fishwife despite her wearing enough silk to make a tent. Alex, too, had lost his teasing air, having a stiff attitude with his chin high and his jaw set. His freckles were lost behind a red tinge. My mood of exasperation shifted to one of bother. She must have insulted his honor. It was the only thing that could arouse the fun-loving man's slow temper.

Setting aside my thoughts of Duncan, I went to the railing, then forward across the sloping deck. “Contessa,” I called, but neither of them heard me over the wind.

My sister drew her heart-shaped features tight, pushing herself away from the railing and boldly into Prince Alex's space. The two of them made a handsome couple in their finery despite their anger. “You're wrong,” she said, loud enough for the sailors below to hear, and I cringed. “You may have wiggled your foul way into my palace, but your Misdev cruelty will not gain one foothold in Costenopolie as long as I breathe!”

“And you are a silly woman who has no inkling of how the world works,” he said. From the wheel came Captain Borlett's audible intake of breath.

“You chull!” Contessa shrieked. “And you're a royal snot who can't see the ocean for the waves. The power to chop the hands off thieves will
not
be given back to harbormasters and village leaders. Kavenlow will hear every complaint before sentence is cast. I don't care how much it pulls from the coffers. I will see your sword broken and you slinging chu before I let you convince me otherwise!”

“The sword of my grandfather will not break,” Alex said, setting a hand atop the handle.

I came abreast of them, not sure how to interfere without ending up publicly reprimanded. It was embarrassing, and I didn't like it. “Ah, Contessa?” I started, tension slamming the air from me when she lunged forward and pulled Alex's sword.

My hand went to my topknot where I usually kept my poisoned darts. “Contessa!” I shouted, lurching to stand between her and Alex as she struggled to hold the heavy sword.

The point dipped as the fiery woman looked from me to Alex in frustration. “If your sword won't break,” she threatened, “then I'll be rid of it.”

“Contessa! No!” I cried, reaching out even as she twisted her body and threw Alex's sword out over the water. I held my breath, watching in a horrid fascination as the hazy sun glinted on the highly polished metal. Alex's green eyes went wide in disbelief; he was too shocked to move. Soundless over the wind, it cut cleanly into the water—and was gone.

She had thrown his sword into the waves. She had thrown his grandfather's sword where none could find it.
Suddenly frightened, I tore my gaze from the gray waves laced with froth. I could see the new Misdev/Costenopolie alliance that I had worked so hard to foster shred like cotton. Her temper had dealt a blow more severe than had I murdered the prince in his bed.

Contessa's color was high, and she met my horrified look and Alex's expression of shock with absolutely no repentance. Her satisfaction melted into surprise when Alex swooped around me, and before I knew his intent, picked her up, and dropped her over the side. Her shriek of surprise cut off with a splash.

“Fetch my sword, wife,” he whispered, his jaw tight in anger.

“Contessa!” I shrieked when the call for man-in-the-water went up from three different throats. Panicking, I pulled three knives from my waistband. The first I threw to thunk into one of the twin lines holding the mainsail. One side of the massive sheet fell in a sliding sound of canvas amid shouts of distress. The second went thunking into the lead of my black gelding, freeing him. I had a third knife which I wanted to stick into that fool prince Alex, but instead I used it to rip my outer dress off. My heart pounded and my fingers fumbled in fear.
Contessa . . .

“Where is she?” Alex said, his angry satisfaction dissolving as he peered over the railing and watched the waves. Slowly, he moved to the stern of the boat to stay with the disappearing bubbles. “She hasn't come up yet.”

“She's drowning,” I said, shoving my dress into him so hard he almost fell back.
Stupid landlubber. Doesn't know a bloody thing.
“Her skirts are pulling her down. Congratulations. I think you're the new king of Costenopolie.”

His mouth opened, and his face went ashen under his blond bangs. I had no time to spare for him. Whistling for my horse, I ran to the stern, and as Captain Borlett reached out in alarm and protest, I scrambled over the railing and fell ungracefully into the water.

Captain Borlett's call cut off with the shocking, swirling cold. A second, muffled whoosh of sound shook me as I pushed to the surface. It was Jy, having jumped the railing right behind me. Pulling in a huge breath of air, I dived. The sounds of organized panic vanished.

Salt water burned my eyes as I looked for a shadow in the murky dusk the clouds had made of the ocean. Nothing. I came up, gasping. Jy was nearby, his feet darting down as if trying to trot. His neck was arched and his eyes wide in excitement. I thanked God I had spent the last three months training him to follow my whistle. Kavenlow had thought it was a vain, silly, woman thing to have a horse come when called. I wished he had been right.

From above came the sound of Duncan shouting my name. The boat had slipped farther away despite the remaining sails having been dropped. I went to dive again, pulling in so much air my lungs hurt. I upended myself and went down.
Oh God. What if I can't find her?
My parents' deaths, allowing a prince of Misdev to wed my sister; what would it all be for if I lost the only person I had a tie with?

My breath slipped out in a trail of bubbles at the gray shape darting past me, my first fear of sharks dying when I realized it was a stingray. It was followed by a painful strike of hope as I followed its motion to a wildly struggling shadow.

Contessa!
I thought, striking out for her, feeling that my arms were too slow and my motions useless. She was deep underwater, almost lost in the gloom. Panic showed in her violent motions. Fire burned in my chest. I had to surface.

I clawed my way up, breaking the surface in a fear-laced breath. The boat was far ahead, stalled in the mounting waves. Beyond were the warships, their heavy momentum making it harder for them to turn. Jy had begun to follow them, my call forgotten. I dived again.

The numbing rush of water filled my ears, making my pounding blood a goad, driving me down. Her shadow grew. Fingers stretching, I grasped her wildly waving hair. Face to the surface, I kicked myself upward. Her weight held me down. Too slowly, the surface brightened.

A muffled sound of bubbles, carrying her sob, urged me upward, pushed by my sister's last breath. Arms aching, I pulled us to the soft smear of sky made gray by too much water. I broke the surface, gasping. My limbs trembled as I pulled her up. She burst out in a panic-driven gasp of air. I managed one good breath before she pushed me under, frantic to escape.

The influx of air gave her the strength to keep her face above water, and I kicked away and surfaced. Her eyes were wide and unknowing in terror, the blue of them shocking in the depth of fear they showed. “Tess,” she managed, water slipping past her mouth, and she reached out to push me under again.

The sounds of a distant rescue vanished in a swirl of in-rushing water. Breath held, I went passive, letting her get a full gulp of air while she unintentionally drowned me. My thoughts were screaming in a shared panic, but I walled them off. I had to call my horse back. There was no chance if fear ruled me. If I couldn't get him to return, Contessa would drown both of us.

I exhaled, sinking out from under her. My sister's motions grew violent as my support dropped away. The muzzy gray of the world's water surrounded me, insulating me from her terror. I fell deep into my thoughts, willing my magic to surface. My left leg throbbed, and my head pounded as I pulled on more magic than I was capable of. I had to call my horse. I had to find Jy's thoughts.

As my lungs burned and my reason screamed to surface, I sent my awareness out, slow and cold from the surrounding water. The quick thoughts of the stingrays were distracting, their mirror-bright minds like flashes in the dark. Desperate, I searched more carefully, following a faint emotion of cold water making limbs slow and unresponsive. It had to be Jy.

Fastening on feelings that weren't mine, I slipped my thoughts into the intelligent animal's, the way made easy by frequent practice. Air slipped past my lips and ran a fast trail to the surface in relief. I had found him.

Immediately, I struggled to the surface lest our joined thoughts make Jy think he was drowning.
Here
, I thought, relief flooding me as the levelheaded horse obediently turned and headed away from the
Sandpiper.
From the deck came Duncan's hail. I caught a glimpse of him, standing at the stern beside Captain Borlett, leaning halfway over the railing.

Contessa clutched at me when I surfaced, reason clearly having broken through her panic. Strands of blond hair were in her face, and fear had twisted her expression—but she wasn't panicking anymore. “Tess,” she sobbed, the water seeping past her lips. “I thought I killed you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've killed us both. I can't stay up. They won't get a boat to us in time.”

“Jy is coming,” I said around a cough. “Grab on to him.”

Her eyes widened, and the hint of hope made her look like an angel, downtrodden by the ignorant rabble of humanity. “Jy?” she said, sinking as she exhaled.

I pulled her up, going under myself. The sound of Jy's splashing was muffled, and when I shook the water from my eyes, he was there.

Contessa was coughing violently, sinking lower into the water with her motions. I grabbed Jy's mane, pulling her hand to lie beside mine. Her thin, pale fingers trembled, then clutched the horse's mane with a frightened, white-knuckled strength. Sobs mixed with her hacking coughs as she hung on, the thin muscles of her arms showing under the sodden silk.

Draping one arm over Jy's back, I hung low in the water, content to do nothing as my body shook, and exhaustion made its claim on me. Contessa wouldn't stop crying. The
Sandpiper
's momentum had left us far behind, and if it hadn't been for Jy, we would have drowned. The two heavy warships had finally gotten themselves turned about and were heading back in wide angles against the wind.

I couldn't see him yet, but I heard Duncan's voice come strong over the waves; he was in a dinghy. Jy's ears pricked in recognition, and the slap of waves against wood and the concerned voices of crew members grew audible.

“Tess!” Duncan exclaimed, when the shadow of the low-slung boat came alongside Jy, still swimming toward the
Sandpiper
, his ears pricked at the memory of hay and mash. “Tess, are you all right?”

“Get her in the boat,” I said, coughing when an errant wave smacked into me. “Hurry. I don't know how long she can hold on with the water pulling at her.”

Still crying, Contessa grasped for the wiry, sun-browned arms reaching for her. With a great deal of noise, they pulled her in. The boat rocked violently, and she hit the planks with a sodden thump. Her coughs turned to retching, and she pulled herself up to vomit seawater over the far side of the boat.

I was next. The grip about my wrists was painfully hard, and my front scraped the side of the dinghy as they pulled. I landed at the bottom of the boat with a shoulder-hurting force. The wind cut into me, chilling me through my wet underthings. Duncan put a coat about me, and I clutched it closer. Pulling my legs under me, I sat up and wiped my face, not yet fully cognizant that I was alive, and Contessa was alive, and we were both going to see the sun set tonight.

“Quick. Turn around,” Duncan was saying, though the able-bodied men had already done so. I pulled my head up to find Jy beside us, swimming strongly to the
Sandpiper.
There was a sling aboard one of the warships. He would not be left to die, no matter how the captain might fuss and bluster about the approaching storm and the time needed to get the animal back on board. Not after he had saved the life of his queen.