“It’s not ideal conditions,” he said at last. “You’ve seen how slow our progress has been this morning. That storm three days ago drove us slightly off course, and we’ve hit the coast too far south. Now we’ve got the wind and the current working against us. An hour ago, I wasn’t concerned, steady going would get us there eventually. But now…”
“We have to put to shore,” said a panicked voice behind us. “At once.”
I turned to my personal maid, Sierra, with a flash of guilt. I hadn’t even thought of her since the crisis began. She had always been a diligent and attentive maid but had been strangely absent and distracted since we started the voyage. It hadn’t occurred to me her strange behavior might be motivated by a fear of the ocean, but I couldn’t mistake her terror now.
She leaned forward. “I can’t swim,” she whispered to me.
I frowned across the water at a gleaming stretch of sand, picturing the map of the Four Kingdoms. We were working our way northward, toward Arcadie, our planned first stop in our tour. But southward lay Lanover, Celine’s home kingdom, and its capital of Lanare. Putting a comforting hand on my maid’s arm, I turned to the captain.
“So you’re saying even though Lanare is further away than Arcadie, you could reach it faster and with less strain on the damaged ship?” I asked.
The captain rubbed his chin again, looking at Oliver uneasily before turning back to me. “That would be correct, Your Highness.”
I faced my brother. “You’ve already decided Celine can’t stay in Arcadie. You were planning to beg a carriage to take her to Lanare as soon as we arrived. But that just means more travel for her. It makes far more sense for you to take the ship south now.”
Celine made a noise of protest, but since she had to break it off to be sick over the side of the rail, it didn’t carry much weight. Oliver rubbed her back, murmuring about staying cool. Celine had strong feelings about being sick, but she couldn’t afford to lose control of her emotions and overheat the baby. At least that was the theory. No one—including the ship doctor—had any experience with the combination of fire powers and pregnancy, but everyone agreed it was better not to take any risks.
She had only just discovered the pregnancy before we set sail and had been determined to proceed as planned. Our trip had already been delayed for years, delegations traveling back and forth to finalize various trade treaties with only officials to represent Eldon. When Celine said she wanted to tell her family the happy news in person, my parents had agreed. At that point, Daisy, Daria, and Cassie had already joined us at our palace to prepare for the voyage, and the Arcadian royal family were expecting our arrival. After so many delays, my parents were uneasy about how it would appear if we canceled at such a late point.
But no sooner did we hit the open seas than Celine began to feel ill. And the further into the voyage we got, the sicker she became. We had intended to finish our tour in Lanover, rather than starting there, but Oliver now wanted Celine settled with her family as soon as possible.
They didn’t know if the illness would last the whole pregnancy, and my sister-in-law was in no fit state to conduct official visits. Oliver hadn’t said whether he was more concerned about the risk of her causing a diplomatic incident by losing control and blasting part of the Arcadian palace, or whether he just wanted her calm and comfortable in familiar environments. And it didn’t matter. Both were valid.
I pointed at the shoreline. “There seems to be some sort of beach there. Put me ashore with the longboat, along with Sierra, and Arvin, and a few guards. We can continue on to Arcadie while the ship takes the rest of you south to Lanover. I’m sure once I explain the situation, King Henry and Queen Eleanor will understand.”
Chapter 1
I stood on the beach, watching the longboat row away from me, back to the ship. Our haphazard and somewhat damp disembarkation on a deserted beach wasn’t the arrival in Arcadia I had been expecting when we set out from Eldon.
“Your Highness!” Sierra waved for me to join her further back from the water.
The slim girl, slightly older than me, beckoned again, and I slipped through the milling guards toward her. I had no trouble keeping sight of my maid since the sunlight bounced, almost painfully bright, off the blond braid that hung down her back.
There had been debate, of course, but eventually everyone had agreed to my plan—with some modifications. Daisy, Daria, and Cassie had all insisted on accompanying me, driven by varying mixtures of responsibility to our original diplomatic mission and desire for adventure. Oliver capitulated only when Celine reminded him we had pigeons on board and could send a message to the Arcadian capital. Given how long it had taken us to make the necessary arrangements and get all the relevant people to the beach, I hoped the carriages Arcadia had been requested to send wouldn’t be far away.
I waved at the distant figures on the ship as the sails were slowly raised again. Soon they would be in Lanare, and Celine could have some relief from her illness. Once the repairs had been completed, the captain would return to Eldon as fast as he could sail to bring our family’s personal doctor back to attend her. The two of them had been conducting experiments on Celine’s power for years now, and there was no one better to attend her given this turn of events.
From the captain’s dire mutterings as we prepared for departure, he was looking forward to being home again so he could have some hard words with the shipbuilders responsible for checking the vessel before the expedition and declaring it seaworthy.
I tugged at my left sleeve, feeling the lump of material I had wedged in there. Now we had stepped foot in Arcadia, I didn’t mean to let the family heirloom out of my possession for a moment. The handkerchief—the only working godmother object my family had left from past generations—was not only a useful tool, but a sign of my mother’s trust. She had passed it down to me, not Oliver. And now circumstances had proven her right. I would be taking responsibility for the delegation—primarily an Eldonian one, despite the presence of Daisy and Daria from Trione and Eliam—and representing our family without my brother by my side.
And I was more than ready for the chance to stand alone.
“Your Highness!” Sierra appeared beside me, apparently determined we remain glued to each other’s sides. A surprising development given her absence on board ship.
I nodded to her, but my attention was focused on locating the other girls. They had been sent with the delegation so they could experience the Four Kingdoms—a small adventure away from their familiar homes. I couldn’t help but be conscious it had already become something more of an adventure than their families had likely been expecting.
I eventually spotted them together, Daria their calm center as always. Her brown skin shone warmly in the sunlight, her demeanor reserved. You wouldn’t guess she was several years younger than me—not given the way she expertly managed the terrifyingly adventurous Princess Daisy. The thirteen-year-old Trionian princess currently hung off Daria’s arm, saying something to her at a fast pace, her whole body quivering with the excitement that was only hinted at in Daria’s eyes. I suspected Daisy’s family, at least, wouldn’t be surprised to hear she had catapulted herself into unexpected adventure.