The next evening, I sat behind the desk in my cabin, staring hard at my compass as if I could unlock the blasted thing through sheer will alone.

When my father gave it to me, he said it was a map to the wealth he’d accumulated through two decades of pirating. He also alluded to a key, suggesting that when I was ready, I would figure it out.

Well, it had been five years, and I was no closer to breaking open the compass than I was at age fourteen.

With a weary sigh, I set it on the desk and hunched down to study it from a different angle.

“Is it broken?” Reynolds sat across from me, writing in his notebook.

Over the past twenty-four hours, he’d settled seamlessly into his role as the new quartermaster. After filling that notebook with a list of the day-to-day operations of the ship, he spent the morning recruiting men for the gun crew and handling the collection of food, water, and wood for our impending voyage.

Now, I just needed to figure out our destination.

“The compass works.” I rotated it slowly and tilted my head, examining the polished brass edges.

My crewmates understood this instrument meant more to me than anything in the world. But they didn’t know it was a map to Edric Sharp’s treasure. They didn’t even know the treasure existed. I trusted no one with that information—especially not a man I met only yesterday.

But as my quartermaster, he would need an explanation for why I spent so much time in my cabin, attempting to break apart a perfectly good compass.

“My father gave this to me. It’s some kind of puzzle.”

His eyebrows knitted. “What does it solve?”

The location of unfathomable plunder. Riches beyond what my crew could ever want or need in a lifetime.

More than that, I hoped it led me to a letter from my father, parting words of love, something from him I could absorb into my soul.

“I don’t know.” I rubbed my head and sat back. “Whatever it is, I need it. We need it.”

“May I see it?” He held out a large hand.

My hackles bristled, and everything inside me screamed protectively. I kept my expression neutral, however, and passed it to him with feigned indifference.

He lifted the lid. Fiddled with the navigational needle. Swiveled north to south and back again. “Is there a key?”

“Yes. But I don’t know if it’s a physical object, a lever, a code, or something else entirely. There’s no visible keyhole.”

“You’re certain it’s a puzzle?” He handed it back.

“I’m certain it’s more than a compass.” I marked the flash in his eyes and his quick attempt to empty his expression. “What are you not saying? Do you know how to unlock it?”

“No, that’s not…” He rolled his bottom lip, making me wait through an agonizing pause. “I know of an inventor, a magician of instruments, someone who could decipher whatever that is.”

“You say?” I jumped to my feet, my heart racing. “Who? Where is he?”

“She…” He gave me a stern look. “Will not see you.”

“Why not? I’ll pay in coin. Whatever she wants. Where can I find—?”

“You’re not hearing me, Captain. She’s extremely private and suspicious. Her interactions are done in secret, and she surrounds herself with viciously loyal guards. I have never met her. I don’t even know her name, and if I stepped onto her turf, she would have me killed simply for knowing where she lives.”

“If she’s such a mystery, how do you know so much about her?”

“I just do.” He rose from the chair and paced to the windows behind my desk.

“Someone you know must have access to her. Who?”

With a hand braced on the pane above his head, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Perturbed. Uncomfortable. Definitely avoiding eye contact.

Then it dawned on me with harrowing clarity.

“Priest.” I slumped into the chair and groaned. “She receives him.”

In more ways than one, I suspected. Any woman with a pulse wouldn’t turn away Priest Farrell.

Except me. I’d sent him off my ship, and now… Confound it, I had to find him.

And see him again.

And ask for his help.

At what cost?

My stomach sank. “There’s no one else? No other blackguards she’ll speak to? What about other inventors?”

“None that I know.” He shifted, leaning his back against the windows. “Is this really that important?”

“I’ve been trying to decipher this thing for five years.” I grabbed the compass and stood, my insides buzzing with rising hope. “Where is Priest?”

He closed his eyes through a resigned breath. “I’ll take you to him.”