To Catch A Thief

Chapter Twelve

Because it's the first night of the balls, Friday is declared a national holiday. Even though there's no school, I wake up early to the sound of ship horns and seagulls. Usually these don't bother me, having been raised by the sea, but something in me is electrified this morning. It's the threat to Alessio at the ball, I tell myself. Nothing more.

I make the most of my early rising, heading to the Damnation and going over contingency plans with Reddy. He's not really listening as I explain how, depending on when I leave, I can always meet up with him after knowing his plans for this voyage. Reddy paints as I examine the nautical map and try to calculate the currents. He's working on something even more experimental than before. A large seagull takes up most of the canvas, painted in painstaking detail. Behind, only the slightest detail is given to two people sitting on the edge of a dock. His brushstrokes are thicker than before and it takes me a second to remember it's because Alessio stole his paintbrush. I force back a smile.

Reddy's hair falls over his eyes and he pulls it back, getting streaks of red paint in it. For a second it reminds me of the clumps of blood Alessio ran his fingers through after I killed Karina and her sister, but I put that thought out of my mind.

"Do you think you'll ever marry?" I ask Reddy.

"What? I'm only twenty." He sets his paintbrush down and turns to face me.

"My dads got married when they were seventeen and nineteen."

"They were different. You were too young to see, but they had something real. I'm not surprised your dad hasn't recovered. Love like that, it doesn't leave easy."

"It sounds like a curse."

"Don't say that. I know your dad would do it all over again, even if it ends the same way. Me? I'm scared of love, but I don't think it's a curse. I think this kingdom is the real curse, what it did to your dads."

"Then it's a good thing we're leaving soon."

"Speaking of leaving, don't you have somewhere else to be?"

I stand up. He's right—I should be getting ready for the ball. I had stolen some makeup earlier and needed to figure out how exactly to put it on. My dress is also still in my house, the driest place I could think of after the torrential rain we've been having. 

I say goodbye to Reddy and go to retrieve my dress.

The port is quieter than normal today, most of the navy celebrating the rare day off. Even the seagulls have fallen strangely silent, leaving for an eerie walk back to the wooden house.

I sneak in through the window, but it doesn't matter. Stephanie is already in my room, staring at the dress. I thought I had hidden it well, but she's laid it out on my bed and sitting next to it. I try and throw my leg back out the window, but she's already seen me. She grabs one of my legs and drags me back into the room.

I fall flat on the floor, clutching my head from the impact.

"You didn't really think I'd let you go to this ball, did you?" She laughs.

"It's for the prince," I say.

She laughs harder.

"Every time you leave this house you manage to make a mess. I can't let this happen anymore. I think I'm gracious in letting you go to that school even after you killed that boy."

"I didn't—"

"If that wasn't enough, you went and messed up a wedding you didn't even attend. You're lucky I let you off easy for getting your brother to kidnap the groom."

If you ask me, she did not let me off easy. My arms are a testament to that. I keep my mouth shut. Endure, I repeat to myself.

"It's not like you're going to find a husband there. You let the one man who might want to marry you get away. I let you go to the docks because we both know that's where you're going to spend the rest of your life. You're the only one in this family that will never rise above. No, you're too mean for that. That's why I can't let you do this. I can't have the face of a murderer haunting the balls."