“There is no king’s ring.”
“I left it on the other ship.”
I glanced down at my hand. I’d pocketed the king’s ring when we were boarded, but I replaced it now. Then I reached into the tinderbox for a badly worn piece of flint.
But Strick smiled. “There is no evidence of a ring ever being on this hand. No discoloration of the finger, no impression on the skin.” She stood tall. “You are not Prince Jaron. What is your name?”
His shoulders hunched. “I am Jaron.”
“No, you are not.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “You are very brave, and what I’ve seen from you thus far is perhaps the most courageous act of any person on this deck. I want you to know that I sincerely regret having to kill you now.”
Now she turned to address her crew. “The first show of loyalty is to carry out my orders, so, pirates, I am giving you the chance to prove yourselves. Every one of you who gave me your oath today will administer one lash to this boy, this imposter, assuming he is still alive after everyone has had their chance.”
“No one will touch him!” I shouted, now standing on the lower beam. It had taken four strikes of flint to light the torch, but now it was bright in my hands. I raised it toward the nearest sail. “You will listen carefully and do everything I say, or I will turn this ship to ashes.”
Strick glanced up at me and folded her arms. “Prince Jaron, welcome to the Shadow Tide.”
I leaned in, certain I had not heard her address me correctly. “Pardon?”
She squinted. “I welcomed you here, Prince Jaron.”
“Ah. No, I’m King Jaron. I’m a king. We even had a ceremony to make it official. Which is a problem for you. To capture a king is an act of war.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m aware of that.”
“So you will release me and my friends, or —”
“We are not at war, Jaron.” She threw out a hand. “Could we discuss this in a more private place? I feel like I’m shouting to the entire sea.”
“None of us are going anywhere until we agree on terms. First, you will provide a lifeboat to Roden, Tobias, and Amarinda, well stocked with food, and get them safely off this ship.”
Strick frowned. “The Shadow Tide has only one lifeboat, and I won’t give it up for three people whose lives do not concern me. But I will guarantee their lives here at least until we reach our destination. Under two conditions. First is they obey my every command. Second is that Roden will give the same vow of loyalty that Tobias and everyone else on this ship did.”
Roden’s head turned sharply back toward her. “Only me, not Amarinda?”
“Her vow will be willingly given.” Strick turned back to me. “Your threats mean nothing, Jaron. You won’t set fire to a ship with three of your friends on board, unless …” She pointed at Roden. “… unless winning means more to you than their lives. Because this boy will pledge loyalty to me, or he will die here.”
I lowered the torch in my hands, calling back, “I will win before this is over, Captain. But Roden may do as he’d like now. He was never particularly loyal to me anyway.”
Strick smiled and said to Roden, “Well?”
Roden looked up at me for advice, and I subtly nodded back at him. What other choice did he have? Once he made his pledge, Lump untied Roden’s arms and he was ordered to sit with the rest of the men.
“I’ve kept my promise thus far,” Strick said. “Now will you keep yours and come down?”
I forced a smile to my face. “Absolutely. And since you have so kindly invited me and my friends to join this crew, I will do you a favor as well.” To the rest of those on deck, I said, “I am the Carthyan king, and with Erick’s death, the title of pirate king also returns to me. You will heed my orders now. If any of you were planning a mutiny, out of fears of this being a cursed ship, you will stop with your plans at once.”
Wrinkles formed between the captain’s brows. “There is no curse.”
“I agree. It was foolish of them to think so.” I turned back to the rows of assembled pirates. “Hear me now. You’ve given your loyalty oaths to Captain Strick, and now we all must trust her with our lives … or deaths, I suppose, in Erick’s case. This is especially important if you are one of the many pirates here who believe this is a cursed ship.” I gave just quick applause to the captain, the applause she had waited for earlier and not received. Unfortunately, she still didn’t receive it, and I felt foolish for applauding alone, so I stopped.
“Did you say this is a cursed ship?” one man near the back called.
Avoiding Strick’s glare, I replied, “No, I said that many of you believe it is a cursed ship, and although I’m sure you have good reasons for this belief, it can’t possibly be true. There simply is no evidence of it. Now, imagine that there was a scarlet-haired girl on this ship — that would be a sure sign of trouble, but none of us have seen anyone like that, which means there is nothing to fear.” I looked over at Strick, whose face was rapidly twisting into knots. “There, I have reassured them and I will come down.”
I continued along the beam toward the nearest ladder, but one of the pirates stood and said, “There is a scarlet-haired girl on this ship! I saw her when we boarded.”
“There is no curse on this ship!” Roden climbed onto one of the crates stored on the deck. “Do your oaths mean nothing to you? Sit down and maintain order!”
Strick smiled down at him, even as she glared up at me, which couldn’t have been easy to do. I had started down the ladder myself, but before I got far, Lump grabbed me by one leg and yanked me down to the deck, quickly stepping on the torch to extinguish it. When I stood, he raised a fist, growling, “We never made any agreement about your safety!”
“Stop!” Strick said. “We won’t deliver him covered in bruises.”
“He’s no threat,” I said, eyeing Lump. “With a name like his, he probably can’t hit hard enough to leave any marks. What is your real name anyway? Pudding? Kitten?”
Strick grabbed Lump’s fist as he raised it again. “I said no.”
“You’ll let him get away with what he said up there, what he tried to do?”
“No, he must be punished.” She frowned at me. “Get down on your knees.”
I snorted. “Absolutely not.”
This time, she eyed Lump, who clubbed me in the back, forcing the air from my lungs. I hunched over, trying to draw a breath in again, then stood up straight. “I will not kneel, Captain. That is not in me, no matter your threats.”
“Why not? What terrible thing would happen if you simply bent the knee to me?” She stepped closer. “What are you afraid of, Jaron?”
“Spice cake. Once I had this nightmare that one was chasing me —”
She raised a hand against me, but from behind us, Roden said, “He’s afraid of heights.”
Strick pointed to the beam where I had just stood. “He got up there.”
“Up there is nothing.” Roden pointed higher, to the crow’s nest. “It’s great heights that he fears. It’s a cloudy night and will probably be a cold one. If you want to punish him, put him up there.”