"You’re not like other men your age," she murmured after a long silence, voice rough with spent pleasure. There was genuine surprise in the words and something almost like awe. "I thought... I thought you would be quick. Eager. Finished in minutes." A small, breathless laugh escaped her. "I was wrong."

Jake’s hand stroked slowly down her back, soothingly.

"I told you," he said quietly against her hair.

"I like to take my time."

Sera was quiet for a moment, still catching her breath.

Then she tilted her head to look up at him, something new and thoughtful in her expression.

"I’m beginning to understand that," she said softly.

Outside, the port town settled into its evening quiet. Inside the small room, the lamp burned low, and two bodies lay tangled together in the aftermath of something far more consuming than either had expected.

Sera’s fingers traced idle patterns on Jake’s chest, her body still humming.

Jake held her close.

*

When he woke the next morning, he was alone.

The bed beside him was empty and cool, suggesting Sera had left hours ago rather than recently. Jake dressed and made his way downstairs to find Maureen already in the common room eating breakfast and going over what looked like navigation charts spread across the table.

She looked up when Jake approached.

"Good morning," she said, her tone neutral but her eyes carrying faint amusement.

"Sleep well?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Well enough," Jake said, settling across from her.

"I’m sure you did." Maureen returned her attention to the charts.

"We’re departing in an hour. The ship repairs are functional if not perfect, and I want to get back to searching while we still have daylight. The harbormaster sent updated information about Elisabeth’s last known locations—apparently there have been sightings near the southern edge of Skun rather than the center where we looked yesterday."

"Did he say when?" Jake asked.

"Two days ago, a fishing vessel reported seeing a large ship appear near the southern islands, matching descriptions of Elisabeth’s vessel, though they didn’t get close enough to confirm." Maureen rolled up the charts.

"It’s the best lead we have, so we’re taking it."

They departed Baenil an hour later with Windrunner’s repairs holding and the crew rested enough to function despite yesterday’s combat.

Jake didn’t understand why she was so obsessive about the pirate queen. It wasn’t that big of a reward, nor was he missing anything. Jake thought to himself. He didn’t object to her decisions, but he could see the crew wasn’t fit to travel.

Maureen brought the ship up to altitude and turned toward Skun, this time approaching from a different angle and keeping higher above the water to avoid triggering another confrontation with Queen Mershala’s forces.

The flight took ninety minutes at cruising speed, the morning sun climbing higher as they crossed the bay’s expanse and the Skun Islands appeared ahead, growing steadily larger. Maureen kept the ship at two hundred feet altitude, high enough to maintain clear sightlines while low enough to spot details on the water’s surface.

They circled around for about an hour, trying to locate the mentioned vessel, but nothing could be seen. Except for the still water, there was no sound.

They were flying around the southern cluster of islands when Jake saw the cargo ship.

It was approaching from the east, a conventional merchant vessel with full sails and the low waterline that suggested it was heavily loaded with cargo. The ship was heading directly toward Skun’s southern edge, apparently unaware or unconcerned about the pirate activity that had made these waters dangerous.

"Do we warn them?" one of Maureen’s crew asked, pointing at the merchant vessel.

"They should know the risks," Maureen said, but her expression suggested she was considering intervention anyway because leaving civilians to be attacked wasn’t something she did comfortably.

The merchant ship crossed into the perimeter of the Skun Islands, and for a moment, nothing happened.

Maureen was considering letting that ship be the bait. She didn’t even process that thought; something was already happening.

Then the water beneath that ship began to move.

It started as ripples spreading outward from a point directly below the merchant vessel, the surface disturbed by something large rising from the depths. The disturbance grew rapidly, the water bulging and breaking as something enormous pushed upward with the inexorable force of a volcanic eruption happening in liquid rather than on land.

A ship emerged.

Not gradually—explosively, water cascaded off its hull in torrents as it breached the surface with a sound like thunder made from ocean spray.

It was massive, easily three times the size of the merchant vessel that was now desperately trying to turn away from the thing that had appeared directly in its path.

The ship that had surfaced was built in a style Jake had never seen before, all dark wood and metal reinforcement, with architecture that looked more like a fortress than a sailing vessel, its hull bearing marks and modifications that suggested it could operate both above and below the waterline.

At the bow, mounted prominently where a conventional ship would have a figurehead, was a flag bearing a dark whale shape with a skull positioned behind it, the symbol rendered in what looked like actual bone fragments woven into black fabric.

On the deck of this massive vessel, standing at the very front with one hand resting casually on the rail, was a woman who turned to look directly at where Windrunner was hovering two hundred feet above the water.

Jake focused with his enhanced vision, focusing on her face across the distance, and felt his stomach drop. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and the woman looked completely different. He knew her; he slept with her naked and vulnerable body just last night. The shock of recognition hit him like a physical blow, and he struggled to make sense of the situation unfolding before him.

It was Sera.

The woman from the inn last night had flirted with him and asked questions about their business and invited him to her room.