**hi guys!! I'm so excited bc the semester is over in a month and then no more classes til fall. I might even start posting twice a week when I'm out of school, who knows ;) **

Chapter 19

They thanked Susie and Jeckel for their time and headed back downstairs with, Lyla suspected, not many more answers than before.

Lyla wasn't sure what to make of the previous conversation, determinedly contemplating the wooden banister as they walked back the way they'd came, though she felt Aveline and Ari's gazes on her.

"You're allowed to ask questions, Lyla," said Aveline gently. "I'm sure you have some."

Lyla flushed. "That woman, she... she was a courtesan, right?"

Ari lifted a shoulder and then dropped it. "More or less."

Lyla quietly looked at her hands. "I'd never seen one before."

"She's a friend," Aveline explained. "Jeckel's in the smuggling business, and he houses some of the girls for free. He knows how difficult that life is."

Lyla felt a rush of sympathy for the tough-looking woman upstairs, mingled with some guilt.

Aveline nudged her. "It's not your fault. No one can help the station they've born into."

"Jeckel and Susie aren't suffering," Ari assured her. "They've made an alright living for themselves. Not to mention, people like them have eyes on the inside. They help us sometimes when we're on a job. If anyone knew anything about your prince, it would be them."

They opened the door back to the bar, boisterous noise rushing back to greet them. Eli and Jamie had come inside, Lyla saw, and Eli was flirting with the barmaid while Jamie sat leisurely on a bench and scowled at her shoes. They glanced up at the others' approach.

"I told you two to wait outside," Ari said, annoyed.

Eli shrugged. "It was cold out. Also, that took way longer than ten minutes-"

"We found out what Tristran's clue means," Jamie cut in.

"What?"
"We asked around." She sounded almost smug as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs at the ankles. "Apparently 'Benodet' is the name of a small village in Eastern Mauviri."

Lyla recognized the second name— Mauviri was a small kingdom that made most of its money by the fishing industry. Most of Apreuna's exotic fishes were imported from there.

"I knew that," Ari snapped.

"Truly?" Jamie twisted her lips in amusement. "Then why didn't you tell us before?"

"You know, I'm tired of these wild goose chases," He complained in place of responding. "Dashing from kingdom to kingdom... and all we've found is a dead body."

"This could be where the royals are being held, Ari," Lyla pressed. "Tristran left us that note for a reason."

"Whatever. Fine." Ari made a dismissive gesture with his fingers. "I'm hungry, and it's late. I say we go back to the ship and have supper before we do anything else."

--

The ship's cook, who Lyla was beginning to love, made honeyed chicken with green beans and bread for supper. Aveline spread out a large parchment paper on the dining room table while they ate, and scribbled thoughtfully on it with a quill pen.
"It's a timeline," she'd clarified. "So we can begin piecing together the events." Occasionally Ari stole the quill from her to make his own edits. This was what they had so far:

April 12- Tristran disappears

26- Anonymous tip given to Q. Rowena alerting her of his kidnapping

30- The rest of the royals disappear

31- Tybalt Sybell (or impostor) checks into Tarrah

May 1- Beginning of Midyear Festival, Leilani (allegedly) spots her brother at Tarrah

2- Rowena recruits ridiculously attractive Ari and Aveline

Sometime after that - The kidnappers murder Sybell and use his mansion to temporarily house the royals

Then Benodet??

??????

"These are all just conjectures, of course," Aveline said, sinking back into her chair. "It seems the likeliest course of events." She rubbed her face tiredly, accidentally getting a smudge of ink on her cheek.

Lyla had no idea what time it was. She imagined it was past midnight, but no one seemed to have any plans of going to bed anytime soon.

Surprisingly, Lyla didn't feel tired- keyed up, perhaps, from stumbling upon Sybell's corpse earlier. The whole discovery had suddenly made everything they were doing seem so real, and dangerous. If Lyla wasn't careful, she could very well end up being the dead body.

A shiver scampered down her spine at the thought like a snake, a cold scaly body withering against her flesh.

"Perhaps we should take a break," Ari suggested, plucking the quill from Aveline's hand before she accidentally poked herself in the eye. "In the meantime, let's all share our darkest, most clandestine secrets. Jamie, you go first."

Jamie glared at him. "As if my secrets are anything to yours, pirate."

"You and Aveline aren't real pirates, though, correct?" Eli put in. He rested his chin in his hands, looking somewhat concerned.

Ari turned to him, obviously entertained. "As opposed to fake pirates?"

"I mean," Eli revised, "What sort of criminals are you? Are you like Robin Hood? You steal from the rich, give to the poor?"

"We're poor," said Ari. "That counts, right?"

Lyla thought she saw Jamie's mouth lift before she turned her face away.

As soon as she heard the crew upstairs shouting instructions to push off, Lyla wandered back to the upper deck. The island was gradually vanishing in the distance; soon only the tips of Olwen's mountain glaciers remained visible above wisps of clouds as the ship bobbed further away into the clutches of the ocean.

"Pretty, innit?" Lyla turned around to realize that Henry stood beside her. His boyish freckles stood out in the dusk.

"I'd never seen snow before," she admitted, wondering why she was telling him this. "Are the stars not ever visible in the winter kingdoms?" It had been bright outside earlier, but a colorless kind - as if it had snowed upside down, caking the sky with pallid frost. Now it was simply dark.

Henry rubbed at a smear of dirt his nose. "Sometimes. Haven't you ever seen a cloudy sky before?"

"It doesn't even rain in Apreuna. The sky is always blue."

Lyla watched Henry's dimples show slightly as he peered upwards at the deepening evening. He was rather young to be running around with criminals, she thought.

As if to heighten her point, one of the littlest children came skipping up to them, then—  one of the boys, Lyla couldn't remember his name.

"Nikolai," Henry said with some surprise. "Didn't Inez put you to bed?"

Nikolai shrugged, though he wore cloth pajamas and was clutching Aveline's stuffed bear to his chest.

"Where are we going now, Henry?" Carefully shifting the toy to one arm, he clambered up to the railing alongside them and popped his head over the side to watch the churning waves below.

"Inez says we're off to Mauviri," Henry told him.

"Is the Captain almost done with his job?"

"Almost. Isn't that right, Lady Lyla?"

Nikolai's dark eyes slid to Lyla. They were huge, and Lyla had no idea why small children always had such long eyelashes.

"I think so," she said tentatively. "I'm not sure how long this is going to take."

"I should put him to bed," Henry groaned before Nikolai could respond, pushing himself off of the railing and flexing his toes in his boots.

Lyla politely studied the floor as Henry took ahold of Nikolai's shoulders, unsure if she should follow.
"Do you want to come?" Henry offered as an afterthought.

Curiosity peaked, Lyla accompanied them to the children's bunk downstairs.

The same array of hammocks lined the room, and a few lit candles rested on the nightstand. Inez sat on a cushion against the wall, and clearly none of the children were asleep; they each took turns climbing over Inez's crossed legs as she exerted apparent effort to concentrate on the book she read.
Inez stirred at their approach.

"Nikolai," she reproached automatically, rising to her feet to greet them. "I was wondering where you were. Henry, did you finish your chores?"

Henry rubbed the back of his neck, clearly discomforted. "I'm fifteen, Inez, not one of the children."

"Really?" Inez's hand lifted to ruffle his hair. "You act like one."

Lyla's skirts swished slightly as two of the boys chased each other around her, tuning out Inez's reprimands. Henry hurried towards them, his halfhearted scoldings following the children around the room.

Finally Inez settled back against the wall, heaving a deeply pronounced sigh, and Lyla sat beside her.

The little girl- Imani, Lyla thought- immediately scampered up to them and plunked herself down on the cushion. Her hair had been carefully pleated into a shiny black braid.

"Hello, Lyla." She ribboned her fingers together in her lap as if trying very hard to be proper, and Lyla grinned.

"Good evening, Imani."

"Aveline and Ari haven't come to see us," Imani directed the comment towards Inez. "Are they very busy?"

"Very busy," Inez yawned.

"Henry said they're saving princesses." Imani twisted back towards Lyla. "Are you a princess, Lyla?"

Lyla pulled her legs into her chest. "No. Do I look like a princess?"

"Mm, a bit," Imani decided, straightening her braid. Then she crawled back to her feet to go join the other children where they had settled down to lay on the floor with Henry and read a picture book.

"They're quiet," Lyla said suddenly. Inez arched an eyebrow. "I mean," Lyla amended, chuckling, "quieter. Quieter than others would be at their age."

Inez glanced at her.

"I grew up with my fair share of children," Lyla pointed out.

"Yes well," Inez's gaze dropped to the floor. "They've been through a lot."

Lyla frowned. "I suppose being kidnapped by pirates would be a traumatic experience."

She imagined the little ones had been offspring of people Ari and Aveline had killed; evil barons or over-taxing lords of some such. They obviously didn't kill children, but she imagined they had orphaned quite a few.

The thought made her wince.

"Ari and Aveline have taken to you," Inez remarked. "It's probably because you aren't nosy."

"They've been very kind." And nothing like Lyla had expected.

Inez bobbed her head firmly; and Lyla wondered how abrasive Inez had ever become so loyal to Ari and Aveline in the first place.

Henry ambled back to them as the childish noise began to gradually cease. He lugged a water flask out of his pocket and downed it in seconds.

"Mauviri it is," he confirmed, wiping water from his mouth as he let his head fall against the wall.

Inez tucked her chin on her knees. "Have you been to Mauviri, princess?"

"Lyla hasn't been anywhere," said Henry. "Haven't you?"

Lyla shook her head somewhat wistfully and hoped they didn't think she was naive, even though, upon reflection, she realized she probably was.

"You picked the right people to travel with, then. Ari and Aveline have been everywhere." Henry's elbow jutted into her side like a pointy, bony branch. "Ari said you found a corpse today."

"I did."

"See? New experience."

Lyla's stomach twisted. "I just hope that's the last one I see for a while." She didn't want to think of Prince Tristran's body bloated and motionless as Tybalt's had been. Or any of the other royals, for that matter.

Neither Henry or Inez replied, and Lyla didn't have time to worry herself about it further. Her eyes began to feel heavy as their hushed voices began to discuss the plans for the next day. The last thing she recalled was smooth whispers and the smell of mint leaves as sturdy arms softly lifted her up and carried her to bed.

**P.S. THANKS FOR 4K!!!**