The fourth day on the ship, I wandered aimlessly, not really searching for anything in particular. I had gotten bored listening to Carter and Ace's chats and watching Sorin, Sophie, and Rafe learn some dice game the crew had made up. So, I decided to walk around for a bit.
Eventually, I climbed the many stairs to the upper deck, stumbling upon Devolan who was standing hunched over a table in the navigation room. She was mumbling something to herself while staring at a letter on heavy cardstock splayed on top of a map. My eyes narrowed. The paper was formal and expensive, and how Devolan got her hands on that was... odd.
"Whatcha up to?" I asked, not bothering to knock as I walked inside. Devolan's face snapped up, surprised. She very carefully folded her letter.
"Oh, just going through some stuff," she sighed, sweeping a few gold trinkets and the letters into a drawer. Then she examined her map again.
"I didn't expect to find you here. Hiding."
She laughed. "I'm not hiding."
"Mmm," I hummed, wiping a finger along one of the few stolen paintings hung up on the walls. "You're hiding. But from what is the question."
She glanced up at me then, intrigued. "Well, you're the one who knows everything. You tell me. Why am I hiding?"
I grinned, finally entertained for the first time in days. "You have charcoal on your sleeve."
Devolan looked down, staring at the black spot on her shirt, then back up. "So?"
"So you always use ink. Never charcoal." I paused. "But I do know that both Ainsley and Carter use charcoal–Carter for his drawings and Ace to sketch inventions. Now, you are not usually careless, so if you had been snooping, you wouldn't have a charcoal mark. But I don't think you were snooping. How am I doing?"
Devolan's face was hard. "My guess is that you and Ace hooked up, and during your... activities, the charcoal from her notebook rubbed off on your sleeve. And you want to know what I think? I think you like her. A lot. I think you're avoiding her because of how much you like her. So I think that's why you're in here. Hiding."
Devolan was quiet for a moment. Then she laughed bitterly. "There's no way you got all of that from a smear on my shirt."
Grinning, I shrugged. "You're right. I didn't. Rafe heard you two last night. He told Sophie which I overheard, and the rest I kind of just went with." I watched Devolan's lips part in shock. "But out of curiosity, how much of that did I get right?"
She scoffed. "You... you are-"
"Right? Hopefully?" I grinned.
"Was all of this just to get me to admit that I like Ainsley?"
"Possibly. Is it working?"
"So what if I do?" Devolan snapped. "She's... she's different once you get to know her. And she's smart and funny."
"You should tell her how you feel." I shrugged.
"You leave in three days. There's no point."
"There's always a point."
"You're not helping."
"Name one time I've been good at relationship advice."
"She may not even like me back."
"At least then you'll know."
Devolan thought for a moment. "I think she may like that girl, uh, Dalia, right?"
"Dalia?" I asked, shocked. My head shook. "No, Ace barely goes near her, and I don't think she's ever talked directly to her."
"I don't know... there's something weird about the way she looks at her."
So she sees it too. Slowly, I said, "Ace... doesn't like strangers and we hardly know anything about Dalia. She's probably just on edge."
Devolan nodded and let her eyes fall back down to the map, tracing the edge of the shorelines. "Probably." But I heard the uncertainty in her voice and wished I could say something to help.
———————
Another day turned into two until we were only a day away from reaching Ravraryn. Sorin and I lounged for most of the day, finding whatever shade we could. We talked for a while, mostly about his parents and sister, and after, Sorin ended up falling asleep with his head on my lap.
Sometime later, I watched Devolan walk across the deck briskly, looking at the ground. My brows furrowed. She had an expression on her face I couldn't decipher, but she seemed on edge. In fact, she has for days. It made me uneasy.
Devolan climbed the stairs to the upper deck and disappeared into the navigation room, shutting the door behind her.
Rafe then came out of the berth, eyes fleeting to me and Sorin. He took a double-take. His steps paused. I watched his gaze fall down to Sorin who was still sleeping heavily. His hand was now intertwined with mine. It was as if Rafe malfunctioned, as if he couldn't process what he was seeing. He pointed a finger in front of him and swished it between me and Sorin. "You and... you... Sorin and..."
Sophie walked from the berth and grinned. "Oh, Rafe! There you are! What..." she looked at me and Sorin, her smile brightening. "Oh, hey, Vera!"
"Hi," I said, choking on a laugh. Rafe finally blinked and looked at Sophie.
"Aren't you going to ask her something?" He asked incredulously. His hand motioned to me and Sorin again.
"Oh, right!" Sophie snapped her fingers as if remembering something important. "Have you talked to Devolan? Are we on s-"
"Not that!" Rafe exclaimed. "That. Them. Sorin and Vera!"
For a moment, Sophie looked confused. She looked at me for an answer, but I was biting my lip to stop myself from laughing. "What about Sorin and Vera?"
"Th-that they..." his voice faded. I saw realization hit him. "You knew!"
"Knew what?!"
"That Sorin and Vera are together! That's what!"
Sophie's mouth opened in shock. "You didn't know?"
"No! She..." he looked at me, "You didn't tell me!"
"She didn't tell me either!" Sophie was laughing now. "But it was pretty damn obvious. Carter fo-"
"Carter knows?!"
Sophie tried controlling her laughter. "Honey, everyone knows."
"Ace?"
"Yeah."
"Dalia?!"
"Yeah. Baby, you are late."
"But how?!"
I felt Sorin shift above me. He flipped to his side and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Who's making all that fucking noise?" He mumbled. Slowly, one of his eyes opened groggily. He peered up at Rafe and gave a lazy grin. "Oh, hey, kid."
"Hey?! Don't 'hey' me, you asshole! I can't believe you didn't have the decency to tell me!"
Sorin closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. "Vera, what is the kid upset about? And can you make him stop yelling?"
I laughed. "He just found out about us apparently."
Sorin's eyes snapped open. He looked up at me. "So... everyone knows about us? Can I kiss you in public now? I mean, don't get me wrong, sneaking around was fun, but it got old after a while."
"I just-" Rafe scoffed. "I feel like I don't know you anymore." He turned quickly and went back down to the berth.
Sophie was stifling another laugh. She clicked her tongue. "I should go check on him." And then she too disappeared.
I grinned at Sorin who had looked back at me. "Well that was interesting," I said. "You think he'll get over it?"
Sorin laid his head back down, closing his eyes. "He'll be fine." Chuckling, I bent down and kissed the top of Sorin's head, and for a moment, all was well.
Later that night I talked to Rafe. He was still sour about finding out about Sorin and me last, but to my surprise, he was supportive. We both agreed that Sorin had changed for the better.
The next day we hung around the deck–Devolan was still nowhere to be found–and we spent the better part of the evening packing up our things and chatting excitedly. All of us wanted to get back to Ravaryn. All of us wanted to go home.
"I'm going to go see my dad," Carter announced. He threw his clothes in his backpack. "Once we get back."
"You're doing what?!" Rafe exclaimed, laughing. "I thought you were terrified of the man."
"I am," Carter responded carefully. He was grinning. "But things are different now. Maybe... maybe it's time. Maybe he's changed. I have."
Sophie beamed. "Carter, that's great."
"Yeah," I agreed. "It is." But something pricked my heart.
Sorin said, "I'm going to go see my family. I think it's been more than long enough." He paused. "Do you want to meet them?" It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. Surprised, I looked up at Sorin only to find him smiling earnestly down at me.
I gave him a grin back. "That sounds perfect." Sorin bent down and gave me a small kiss.
Behind us, Rafe groaned. "Just because I know about you two now does not mean that you can be all lovey-dovey on each other 24/7."
Sorin broke away long enough to look at Rafe and say, "What, like this?" He went down and kissed me again, hand resting on the back of my neck. I laughed but let him kiss me.
Rafe threw a bunched-up shirt at us. "Okay, okay. You can stop now." Sorin and I both pulled away and we all busted out laughing.
And that's when I realized someone was missing. "Where's Ace?" I asked. But before anyone had the chance to respond, a voice from the deck shouted,
"Land ho!" And we all paused. We paused long enough to hear the crew begin the preparations for docking. We paused long enough for it to sink in–the knowledge that we were going home.
Sophie and Carter looked at each other and quickly grabbed their bags. Then, together, they darted up to the deck. Rafe grinned at them and followed slowly behind them. Sorin slung his bags over his shoulder.
"You ready, little assassin?"
I smiled. "Lead the way, Lieutenant."
______________
Sophie and I stood together, watching as the crew members docked the ship. I turned and surveyed the deck, looking for Devolan with creased brows. She still wasn't anywhere to be seen. The new first mate was calling out the orders in her absence.
My stomach was churning. Something wasn't right. But I couldn't figure it out.
"What's wrong with you?" Sophie asked. "You were just smiling."
"Something's wrong." I shook my head. "I don't know what it is; I can just feel it."
She frowned. "What's bothering you?"
"Devolan. She's always disappearing and-"
"Well, she's probably with Ace," Sophie laughed. "Come on, you remember when you first started having feelings for Sorin–when you just wanted to be alone together. They're probably just saying goodbye privately. It's okay."
I inhaled. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's... it's okay."
But I couldn't shake the feeling.
We began unloading all of our stuff once the gangplank was put into place. Taking multiple trips, we all carried our bags to the edge of the dock, placing them in the dead grass covered in light snow, off to the side.
Even though she wasn't even leaving, Dalia stayed near Carter and Sophie. I paid Devolan extra to charter Dalia back to Althyni which Dalia was more than thankful for. She had been so ecstatic when I told her she was going, she had hugged me. I stood there awkwardly until she was done.
Now, Carter and Dalia hugged, saying their goodbyes. They had known each other for less than a month, but both of them still had tears lining their eyes. Dalia turned to Sophie next and the pair embraced each other.
Finally, I heard the sound of boots on the gangplank and turned. Devolan was walking toward us with a grin, eyes fixed on me. She walked past Rafe and Sorin and the trio that was still hugging and went straight to me.
"So, I guess this is goodbye again?" She said, her tight smile broadening just a little.
I didn't smile back. I was trying to find some truth in her eyes, some explanation for her behavior. She might like Ace, but this wasn't Devolan. "I guess so," I said softly.
"Well, whenever you need a boat to kill a prince again, Vera," she gave a light but exaggerated bow, "you know how to reach me." She turned away–sans a hug–and was starting to walk away when it struck me. The breath seemed to be knocked away from me.
"Dev," I called, making the captain stop and turn. "I never told you we were going to kill a prince." Devolan looked confused for a moment, but I saw the moment she realized her mistake. I saw the alarm on her face. "What did you do?" I demanded. But before Devolan even opened her mouth, there were frantic footsteps on the dock of the ship and Ace appeared over the handrail.
And I'd never seen so much horror on her face as she yelled, "It's a trap!"
That's when an arrow flew in the air and sank into the flesh of one of Devolan's crew members. The man clutched his leg and let out a cry of pain but was caught by two fellow crewmates before he fell.
I whipped away quickly and was astonished to see a small group of soldiers wearing the Ravaryn crest and colors step out of the treeline. The first line had long swords that were drawn and large shields. The second line was full of archers, arrows already notched. And the man who stepped out in front of them all, a general whose name I didn't remember, held nothing but a scroll of parchment.
He was the one who spoke first. "Welcome back, Scarlet Assassin. It's good to see you... alive," his eyes darted to Sorin, then fell to Devolan. "Captain Devolan Monté I take it?" She nodded tightly. I watched him grin as my hands clenched tightly at my sides. "The great King Orson thanks you for your gift." His eyes went to me again. "Let's begin, shall we?"