The Blood of Queens

Chapter 40

After hours of listening to nothing but the crashing of ocean waves against their small fishing boat in the dead of night, Joanna cleared her throat as loudly as she could to get her two friends' attention.

"Are we just not going to talk at all about what just happened?" she said.

"What's there to talk about? I let my emotions get the better of me and got duped," Charlotte said. "I warned you two not to come with me."

"Come on Char. We'd have run as fast as we could to catch up with you if we'd been away," Sophia said. "I'm not missing out on an adventure like this."

"I wouldn't call hiding in the Colonies an adventure. Especially considering our best chance at hiding will be in the Trade Cities." Charlotte ran her fingers through her hair, which had been dyed a coal black. Under the bright glow of a full moon, the stark contrast between her pale skin and dark hair made her look ghostly, ghoulish even.

"Isn't that where your kid grew up?" Joanna piped up.

"Yep," Sophia said. "It's a little dirty and the police get a bit more violent than they would back home but as long as you can claw up some money you can still live comfortably."

"Right. Well not all of us are trained spies who can camp out in any random wilderness," Joanna said.

"Whoa, and you think I'm the racist," Sophia said. "Just cause there are all sorts of races in there doesn't mean it's some anarchist hellhole."

"That... that wasn't what I meant. It's not like I haven't been on the receiving-"

Sophia hunched over laughing. "Yeesh, what is with you two? Am I the only one here with any sense of humor? Char's over there brooding again and you don't seem to understand sarcasm."

Joanna furrowed her eyebrows. "Well you imagine being forced to bail from the Island while leaving your son behind to a madwoman."

Sophia's laughter died down, replaced by a tired sigh. "What were we supposed to do? Scurry around looking all over an Island that wants our heads on spikes while we've got no leads at all?"

"Sophia's right. There's nothing useful we could have done back there," Charlotte said. Her gaze remained fixated on the sea. "The best we can do now is hope my sister figures out what's going on soon enough."

"Shit," Sophia muttered.

Joanna and Charlotte raised an eyebrow.

"Hearing Char say I'm right and that the best hope she has is her sister is like hearing half of humanity just died," Sophia added.

"It's true though," Charlotte replied. "Alex is her nephew, her blood. As poorly as the two of us get along, Victoria's smart and she won't let someone else down to spite me. We just have to trust her and survive long enough for her to find the truth."

"And what if she doesn't?" Joanna said.

Charlotte took in a deep, labored breath through her nose. "She will."

***

At least half a dozen other ragged fishing boats were moored along the side of the unwashed dock, littered with bird poop and patches of caked over salt on the rotting wood. Two chubby women in blue uniforms, ostensibly to screen sailors coming to the port of Augustine, were sitting on a pair of recliner chairs looking at the sunrise with slack jawed smiles.

"Overpaid, fat idiots," Charlotte grumbled under her breath. "Never thought I'd say I'm glad they're so incompetent."

She, Joanna, and Sophia walked right past the semi-catatonic guards without any incident. Ahead of them lay an already bustling seaside fish market. Even at the earliest hours of the morning, the markets were packed with people. It was the perfect place for the three most wanted women in the Empire to hide.