Cursed Without A Crown

14 | Goodbye, Ravencorff

A FEW HEARTBEATS LATER

It was his fault. He was the idiot, the only one to blame, yet he knew that constantly proclaiming his foolery out loud was a worthless feat. So to compensate his desire to express himself, Judah wordlessly resorted to shooting poisoned daggers at the confused Shade perched by his side.

Naomi, the one who had succeeded in confusing him more than Kora ever did, continued to stare at the map in her hands as if she couldn't believe that she'd missed such delicate detail. Which Judah could just not understand.

How was it possible that Shadowclaw Island had escaped her notice?

"Naomi," Judah called out when he couldn't take her prolonged silence anymore, "we can't go through with this anymore."

"No," she replied firmly, not taking her eyes off the parchment.

Judah closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and tried again. His patience was wearing thin. "Naomi," he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, "I know that this obviously means a lot to you, but it does not mean-"

"Yes!" she suddenly interrupted, finally looking up from her lap to lock an excited gaze with Judah's surprised one.

"Yes!" repeated Naomi once more. She searched his face then, as if looking for something in particular. But when she only found a clueless expression, she huffed in annoyance.

"Your Highness," she stretched the title, her elation promptly giving way to impatience, "the opportunity for you to ask what has me so excited is now, if you'd be so kind."

Judah was tempted to roll his eyes. Trust the exasperating Shade to leave no room for vagueness.

"I don't know why I encourage you," he said, though he could gradually feel the slight fear that had struck him ebb away. "Besides, if we're being honest, you're excited more than half the time. But since you have managed to doom us both to the infamous and inescapable island, I suppose I do want to know what has warranted such excitement." He waited before arching an eyebrow. "Perhaps a way out?"

"Correction." Naomi grinned and lifted the map, pulling out the envelope that had been layered between her skirts and the parchment. "As it appears," she drew out a neatly folded piece of paper and waved it in front of Judah's face, "I have not doomed us all."

When she didn't say anything else for a while, Judah let out a frustrated sigh. "Would you care to share what you have in your hand?"

"Why, I thought you'd never ask." Still grinning, Naomi dutifully unfolded the note and swung it across his face again. "You see, Your Highness, though I didn't entirely read the map, I did notice that this treasure hunt's final destination was indeed Shadowclaw Island. So naturally, I had to find an alternative."

Judah took the note from her hand. "And I assume you did."

"Not precisely," she replied. "Turns out, that particular chore has already been done for us."

Judah roamed his eyes over the handwritten text after he'd righted it in his hands. "Wait," he recognised the words immediately, "this is-"

"Our way out!" He looked up to find Naomi beaming at him. Seeing her face shine the way it did in the firelight, Judah couldn't help but notice how pretty she was.

Her brown eyes shone brightly the way they always did when she had something up her sleeve, and her lips stretched so wide that Judah wondered how she hadn't developed fractures in her cheeks from smiling so much.

When she opened her mouth, however, the spell she'd temporarily had on him dissolved into nothing.

"As you can see, I was never at fault to begin with."