To be safe, I spent the morning hiding in Kieran's quarters while he made his preparations. Although he offered me his bed, I didn't want to invite anything I wasn't ready to give, and it felt odd to share another man's bed so quickly after my passionate goodbye with Felix.
Around noon, Kieran reappeared, looking devilishly handsome in a long cloak that he shrugged off. "Well, my lovely Veil, I had to pull a few strings to get us clearance out of the docks, but I got it."
I actually slumped back in relief. "Thank you. That's incredible."
"And I had to use all the gold you gave me," he said with a grimace. "Sorry."
"Ah, well." I tried not to worry too much, even though I would have no money to purchase food or a way into Linden, the capital city. But Felix's dictum came back: one step at a time. I would worry about food later. "At least you got us clearance to leave."
"Well, not yet," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "One of the inspectors is coming by to see what cargo we're taking out before he signs off on our clearance to leave."
I quirked a brow at him. "Can't you just…outrun the guards? Isn't that what you used to do?"
He chuckled. "Of course, back when things weren't upside-down. But now, your favorite queen has some very nasty cannons pointed right at the mouth of the river. Anyone caught going in or out without express permission…well." He made an explosion sound.
I sniffed angrily. "Same cannons that she set on the city a few months ago?"
"The very same, Veil. The very same. So, c'mon. We've got to stash you somewhere."
I followed him out onto the deck of the ship where his crew milled around, casting me looks with various levels of suspicion. He led me to a door in the back of the ship then down a staircase to the dark belly. I dodged hanging meat and hammocks, stepping over ropes and around crates.
"Anyone ever clean up down here?" I asked, nearly tripping over a section of rope.
"Intentional, Veil. The more shit in the way, the less the inspectors will want to wade through it," he said with a coy grin. We reached the end of the room, and he rapped softly on the wall. A soft click and a handleless door appeared. Kieran pulled it open, revealing a small, empty room.
"Surprised you aren't trying to smuggle out more than me," I replied, climbing in and settling as best I could in the small space.
"As it turns out, I've got a nice sum of money to smuggle something in on the return trip," he said, grinning. "Now hush up and don't get caught, m'kay?"
The door closed, bathing me in darkness, and I took a seat on the floor, straining my ears to listen for the inspector. I wasn't sure how long I sat there, or if I drifted off again, but I started awake when I heard voices.
"…shame things haven't gotten any better. People are chomping at the bit to get goods and services out of the city." Kieran's melodic voice carried, probably louder than it should've been.
"Eh, we do what the new queen says," came the gruff voice of the inspector. "And she says we aren't to let anything out of the city."
"Does she now?" Kieran made a noise. "You know, desperate people pay more than they should."
"Yeah? And I got a Severian master staring at me from the shore, so I ain't about to do anything to raise his hackles. Even if you handed me a wife made of gold."
The ship creaked and I placed my hands on my knives, ready.
"Every man has his price." Kieran's voice was smooth and silky.
A long pause followed. "You gotta have enough gold to pay us both off."
"As a matter of fact, I think I have just that sum. Come, my good man."
I exhaled. I sure picked the right pirate to trust.
I must've fallen asleep again, because I jumped out of my skin when the door opened and was halfway to throwing my knife when I heard a breathy chuckle.
"Down, Veil," he said with a fearless grin. "And we've left the docks, so you're free to wander again. Maybe even take off that mask."
"Maybe," I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "Maybe I'll leave it on, just to be safe."
"You? Play it safe?" he snorted. "That's not The Veil I know."
I could've argued that The Veil he knew was dead, but I left it alone.
"C'mon, I want to show you something," he said.
After being cramped in that small space, it was nice to be out in the open air and daylight again. We'd left the docks, and the Forcadelian breeze billowed the sails as we made our way toward the mouth of the eastern river. But only a large Kulkan man was manning the sail rigging—the rest of them seemed to be assigned a different task.
"What are they doing?" I nodded to two other Kulkans at the back of the ship who were pulling pieces of wood off the hull.
"That's what I wanted you to see," Kieran said. "They're converting the ship. Quite impressive."
"Converting?" I said.
He smirked. "Follow me."
He gently pulled me up the stairs and onto the quarterdeck as the crew sprang into action. The two Kulkans rappelled over the side of the ship to unlock giant white paddles nearly the length of the hull. They tossed them onto the deck of the ship with loud thumps that echoed on the nearly empty bay. Then, working in two-person groups, they moved the paddles from the deck and onto the motor on the back until all five were locked in place.
"And now the fun part begins," Kieran said, beckoning me to follow him to a large steering wheel with a set of levers and gauges. They were all foreign to me, but Kieran pushed and pulled them as vibrations echoed through the ship.
"W-what's happening?" I asked, clinging to the edge of the bannister.
"You don't think we can use sails to take us upriver, do you?" he asked with a laugh. "We need a little bit more power. That's the steam engine you feel."
"Better get used to it," his second replied, coming to join us at the quarterdeck. Up close, the freckles smattering her pale skin were visible. "It'll be on until we get to Niemen."
"And there we are," Kieran said, eyeballing a set of gauges near his levers. "Let's be off!"
The paddles groaned forward, and the ship began to move. It wasn't any faster than the sails, but as Kieran said, we wouldn't be moving forward at all if we relied on wind and current.
"Impressive," I said, finally acclimating to the vibrations.
"I'd say so," Kieran said, casting a playful look at the second. "Sarala thinks I should spring for a newer ship. One that doesn't make as much noise."
"Hard to believe we can sneak in anywhere with that thing," she said, pushing him out of the way to take control of the wheels. "Now get off my deck."
Kieran just laughed and walked me to the very front of the ship, now empty of crew members who were still working to keep the newly converted ship afloat. The wind whipped my hair out of the braid, but it felt good. In the summer, sometimes the only place to get relief from the sweltering heat was to stand near the water.
I glanced behind me to where Sarala was guiding the ship, and I could feel her disdain. "Why do I get the feeling she's pissed off?"
"Well, since I had to give away all your money to get us passage, I have no money to pay them," Kieran said. "So I said you and I are screwing as payment. Which, of course, looks great for me. But they also don't get a cut. Unless you'd like to try your hand at sleeping with them."
I should've expected as much from him. "Thanks."
"Hey, you're the one who doesn't trust them," he said with a knowing look. "One word from you and they'll all drop to their knees—"
"No need for that," I said, leaning over the bannister, gazing out onto the kingdom that was once mine.
"They'll know one day," he said.
"Maybe." I looked at my hands, enjoying the splash of the water as it hit up against the hull. "How long until we reach Niemen?"
"Ah, well, that's a tough question to answer," Kieran said, joining me at the bannister. "Depends on how the currents go, you know? In the summer, the rains come in the afternoon and the rivers swell. Swollen river means stronger current. If it gets bad, we've got to pull into a city to dock until it goes down."
I squinted at the dark sky. "Looks clear to me." But summer storms were common in Forcadel—violent ones, too.
"And even if we don't get any, the stronger the current, the harder the ship has to work to get us where we're going. So it's a crapshoot."
"In your professional opinion, what do you think?"
"One week to the border, then perhaps another five days until we reach the port city closest to Linden," he said. "We can't take you all the way to the capital, I'm afraid. Water doesn't go that far."
"No, I know. As close as you can get is fine." Linden was nestled in the mountains, or so I'd seen on a map.
"What's your plan when you get there?"
"Working on it." I just hoped the letter Katarine wrote would be good enough to get me an audience. It would've been much easier had she been here with me. Or even Felix.
I allowed myself a little smile as I thought about him donning my mask and carrying on what I'd started as The Veil. Perhaps he truly regretted what he'd said to me before the world had gone to hell. Didn't mean I forgave him for the rest of it, but I had faith that he and Katarine would continue to protect my people in my absence.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Kieran asked. "Me, I hope."
"Just thankful that I have people I can count on," I said, running my hands along the ship's smooth railing. "I thought I'd be doing this all alone. I can't imagine people would want me…" I glanced at the crew, making sure they were out of earshot. "Back on the throne."
"Oh, you were beloved," Kieran said, leaning over the railing beside me. "And just wait until they find out you weren't off at art school or wherever they said you were, but you've been moonlighting as the also-beloved Veil. People will throw themselves at your feet."
"This all depends on whether or not I can convince Ariadna I'm worth helping," I said dryly.
"If you ask me," Kieran drawled, turning to grin at me, "the first step in doing anything stupidly optimistic is to believe you can. So, if you already doubt yourself, you won't be successful. And among your many idiotic accomplishments, dethroning a queen seems rather simple."
I barked a laugh. "You think?"
"Well, as I recall, you sank that Niemenian ship last summer," he said with a smirk. "How'd you manage that one?"
"It wasn't Niemenian," I said. "It was actually a Kulkan ship full of produce. I merely commandeered it, put it out in the center of the bay, blew it up, then told everyone it was Niemenian."
"Mm. Right under Corbit's nose, hm?"
I grinned, remembering all the work I'd put into it. It had been my first "big catch" as The Veil, when I'd moved from taking on small thugs and street criminals and started working on the criminal underbelly of Forcadel.
"You turned them in to Llobrega, didn't you?" Kieran asked. "Did he know you were The Veil before August died?"
I nodded. "Apparently. He said he was going to arrest me until…well, until he saw how happy I was. And also, I'm sure, because I handed him two notorious criminals."
"But you were The Veil after you returned to Forcadel, weren't you?" Kieran said, tapping his fingers as he thought. "So…?"
"Felix and I had an agreement," I said softly. "I could continue to do The Veil stuff until my coronation." My cheeks warmed. "For a while, anyway. Things went a bit…what did you call it? Upside-down."
"Do you love him?" Kieran asked.
"I…" Something inside me wanted to say yes, but the sound of him telling me to reassign him stopped me. "It's complicated."
"So…" Kieran slid closer to me. "Does that mean we could sneak back to my—"
I barked a laugh and elbowed him. "No, it doesn't. This is a business relationship, Kieran."
"And you and I can get down to business—"
I gave him a dry look, and he chuckled. "Fine, fine. I can only suppose you must be choosier with who gets to share your bed. But you know…Pirate King has such a nice ring to it."
I shook my head. "I think that my undying gratitude for your help will be enough." I paused and gave him a look. "But seriously, thank you. I don't know what I would've done otherwise."
"Oh, don't thank me yet," he said. "Favors, favors, Veil. They do add up."