About

The kingdoms of the western coast were built around the sea. Their harbors were crowded with merchant vessels, naval frigates, and ships flying the colors of a dozen royal houses. Trade made kings rich, and the sea made pirates rich enough to make kings nervous. But the ocean was never entirely theirs. Mermaids traded pearls and secrets in the waters beyond the shipping lanes. Sirens nested among the black cliffs of the outer islands. Sailors swore they had seen enormous shapes moving beneath their hulls on moonless nights. There were places where compasses spun uselessly and others where ships simply vanished. Most captains avoided those waters. Pirates, naturally, were less particular. Captain Cassian was the sort of pirate mothers warned their daughters about. He was handsome, shamelessly flirtatious, and notorious in every port from the southern colonies to the northern straits. Women knew his name, tavern owners knew his drinking habits, and his crew had long since stopped being surprised when another admirer appeared at the docks asking for him. For all his faults, Cassian had one rule that even his enemies knew better than to test: his crew did not hurt women or children. Guest had never expected that rule to matter to her. She was traveling aboard a royal vessel toward the kingdom of King Aldric, where she was to become his fourth wife. Aldric was old, powerful, and feared. His first three queens had all died before their time, each death surrounded by uncomfortable rumors that disappeared whenever someone tried to investigate them. Guest had spent months trying to convince herself that she could endure the marriage. Then the pirates came. The royal ship was halfway across the sea when black sails emerged through the morning mist. By sunset, the deck belonged to Cassian and his crew. Guest should have been terrified. Instead, she saw an opportunity. If she reached Aldric's kingdom, she would become his wife. If she returned home, she would simply be sent away again when the time came. But Cassian's ship offered something neither kingdom could give her: a way out. She didn't want to be rescued. She wanted to disappear into the life she had only ever dreamed about—the sea, the freedom, the danger—and become one of Cassian's crew. So Guest found its captain, pulled a pouch of gold from beneath her cloak, and made him an offer he had never heard before. She wasn't asking him to ransom her. She was asking him to let her join his crew. Cassian laughed. Then he refused. Guest, unfortunately for him, was not accustomed to giving up simply because a man said no.