Lunars of the Caribbean

The First Lie Detector (35)

It was so late, the wind whipped about the Port. Nothing was the same. Not since Kaito left, and hadn't returned. They assured him Kai would be found and brought back. That he was still alive.

Somehow, he didn't believe them. How could he? They gave him nothing to believe in. They'd taken over Port Royal, they took Kaito, they took any chance of survival from anyone who could undergo such a horrid change as Levana's rule.

Port Royal was doomed, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

As he sat at his desk and wrote with his quill, begging for the King to send assistance to Port Royal, he found himself without hope.

To Rikan, it was as if Kaito was already dead. Levana would never relent in her marriage proposals to him. Kaito, only recently becoming a young man, was being forced to deal with a woman as tyrannical and monstrous as Levana.

He thought back to Kaito eagerly describing to him how that blacksmith girl, Linh Cinder, could overthrow Levana. If she was truly the Lost Princess of Luna, it could be possible. Rikan had only heard wonderful things about Cinder from those who knew her. Even Iko, a maid who worked for Rikan, knew of her skills and promise when it came to any challenge.

"If anyone could undo such evil," she told Rikan. "It would be Cinder."

Her words gave him some comfort days ago. Now, they were little more than echoes of a hopeless prayer. Either Kaito had died on the island prison, and Levana was covering it up. Or, he'd been kidnapped by her and was on Luna.

So, again, an explanation that ended with Kaito being dead.

Over and over again, Rika stressed how perilous the situation of the Lunar invasion of Port Royal was. That they needed help if they port was to remain under Great Britain's control. Anything that would catch the immediate attention of his majesty.

With one final statement, Rikan completed his letter, and folded it into an envelope to be sent to the King. He poured a spot of wax on the mouth after sealing it, and pressed his seal down.

The seal was that of a rising sun, with two birds on either side, flying towards one another. With every letter he sent, the seal gave him a depressing reminder.

His wife, the artist that created the seal, was never coming back. The love of his life was gone, and the only thing he'd been asked by her before she died, was that he take care of Kaito. It was her dying wish.

Now, after so many years of struggling, he'd finally, officially failed her.

He leaned back in his chair, wondering what to do. There was nothing he could physically do to stop what Levana was doing, nor save his some. But if he got this letter to the King, maybe that could save what was left of Port Royal.

Just maybe, there was a chance he could save his son.

A knock on his office door woke him from his daze. Startled, he scrambled to take his finished letter and hide it in his desk drawer. Under the drawer itself, so no one who opened it would be able to see it inside.

"Come in," he announced after sufficiently hiding his ticket to freedom from Levana.

Unfortunately, Rikan did not think far enough ahead to hide the remainder of his wax, his seal, his inkwell, or his used quill. All components necessary to creating a letter.

The person who entered the room knew all of this, and put two and two together. So, to prevent Rikan from sending that letter, they grabbed a tool from his desk.

A letter opener.

........................

There was a great deal of catching up to do. Much of it was due to the lack of communication before storming Dead Man's Island. That, and everyone one board - save Cinder - wanted to know if they could truly trust Kai with their plans.