Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Forty-three(Part 1 of 3)

"Are you almost done?"

"Men!" Amelia Rose narrowed her eyes, buttoning up her new naval coat. "So impatient." It smelled like sweat, but it wasn't the worst-smelling clothing she had ever stolen. It was probably the biggest. She widened her eyes. "You're not—you're not looking right?"

" I'm looking at the wall," Aiden said, sighing. "How do I know you didn't look at me?"

"Because I have no interest."

"Really?" Aiden asked. "I don't mean to pry—I really don't—but that sounds like a lie."

"Be quiet," Amelia Rose said cinching her belt on until her pants were gathered around her waist like the top of a paper bag. The pants and shirt were new, but she was wearing two coats now, her mother's and the naval one. Now that they were back in Aydesreve, it was hotter than ever. Luckily she'd worn stiffer riding habits for longer amounts of time. She tied back her hair and fit her new hat on. She spun around.

Aiden was nudging an unconscious officer with his foot.

"Do I look like a man?" she asked.

Aiden looked at Amelia Rose before his lips twisted into a suffocated smile. "Please don't ask me that," he said.

She sighed. "Let's just go," she said. She headed towards the door, looking back at the two half-naked officers. "Should we hide them?"

"We'll be done before we're found out. The crew already started leaving the ship in rowboats." Aiden said. Amelia Rose nodded, before opening the cabin door. He was right. Now that they were back in Aydesreve, they'd overheard plans. Some officers would be stationed along the shoreline and controlling the locals. The rest of the crew was to man the cannons and navigate for any battles with the Coronis.

Amelia Rose flinched when a few officers passed them, but no one noticed that they didn't belong. On Fairburn's larger vessel, the pair blended in. In fact, most naval crews were made up of hundreds of people. It was impossible to know them all. Together, Aiden and Amelia Rose made their way up a narrow ladder and onto the main deck.

Amelia Rose's stomach sank at the view of Aydesreve. Tall ships barely ever came to the sleepy desert town. And when they did, they were there for the years' harvest. They never came carrying the navy and the mayor's runaway wife as a stowaway. Truth was, confronting her problems felt like the unnatural thing to do when she had spent the past two months running.

"What if they found him?" Aiden asked, cautiously mentioning the issue neither of them wanted to talk about.

"Does it matter?" She kept looking at the sandy coast of Aydesreve. Thin patches of grass and dry sagebrush adorned the dunes. Little boats shook in the harbor, spastic in the wake of the Scholar II as it tarried away in the bay. If they really did find Tanner, it didn't matter much, because Amelia Rose's and Aiden's life were already over in this town considering what they'd done to Mr. Holden. "We are the most wanted people in this area." Aiden closed his eyes tight and walked towards the wheel, pulling at her wrist when she wouldn't stop staring at her home. Amelia Rose focused around the main deck, but there were barely any officers onboard. The vessel was patrolling the coast, most likely searching for the Coronis. There was a great clattering in the gundeck below their feet. More officers were preparing to sink the Coronis the moment they saw it, and Aiden had no doubt that if it was a war of heavy artillery, the Coronis would be underwater within minutes.

Aiden bowed at the helmsman in greeting. Amelia Rose trailed behind, hands tucked behind her back like she saw one of the other officers doing.

"I'm here to relieve you," Aiden said. "You're wanted in the Officer's mess."

The helmsman tightened his grip on the wheel, glancing quickly at the compass rose before readjusting direction. "By who?"

"By um," Aiden tapped his foot. "Lieutenant Wagner."

"Who?"

Aiden looked at Amelia Rose over his shoulder. He forced a crackling laugh. "He says he doesn't know who Lieutenant Wagner is."

Amelia Rose scoffed before balling her hands up into fists. Aiden looked back. "Yeah," he scratched his head, fluffing out his blonde hair. "He's not going to be happy about that. Big ego. Bigger nose." Amelia Rose couldn't help but wonder if he was actually describing her father.

The helmsman bunched his lips together, but bowed regardless and headed toward the ladder. He looked back, eyes running over Amelia Rose. "I don't recognize you at all."

She stepped back, pulling her naval hat on tighter over her head. She opened her mouth, but Aiden interrupted her. "Seems you don't recognize anyone at all." He glanced at Amelia Rose. "Typical."

The officer's jaw shifted. He spun around and disappeared below decks. Aiden had one hand on the wheel. Amelia Rose took it from him. Inside her pocket, she fished for her collapsed spyglass. She opened it up and looked out around the coast. The waves were jumpy. The sky was still golden with a morning glow. At the horizon, the ocean was nothing but a flat line. There was no land for miles off the Aydesrevean Coast. Further north were the Firefish Islands, a paradise that was much cooler than the Tranan Desert and apparently, much more colorful.

Due north in the bay, Amelia Rose spotted something. It was a galleon of considerable size—The Alphard, Tobias Zelley's ship. Fairburn had spent some time boasting over Zelley's death and his command of the pirate crew. And it seemed odd to her—for the Navy and the Pirate Syndicate to be working side-by-side. But if Fairburn had no intentions of doing the Navy's work, then...

Amelia Rose collapsed the spyglass and put it back into her pocket. She turned the wheel just a bit, leaning up on her toes so that she could read the vessel's compass. The ship listed slightly before turning in the bay.

"Where are we headed?"

"Target spotted, Captain." Her lips curled into a nervous grin.