“Sidra has given me advice I desperately needed,” Adaira said. “Knowing where this flower grows is going to help us solve this mystery. It could help us find Maisie.”

Torin was silent, and Jack took that moment to study him. The captain’s clothes looked looser, as if he had lost weight. His skin was sallow, and a few silver threads gleamed in his blond hair. Jack wondered if Torin had slept or eaten a proper meal since his daughter had been kidnapped. It seemed like he would slowly wither away without answers, and the thought made Jack feel laden with sorrow.

Torin drew a sharp breath and said, “If a Breccan was crossing the clan line, I’d know instantly. Sidra mentioned to me that she thinks the west is involved, and yet I don’t see how they could be.”

“They might be involved in a trade with one of our own,” Adaira said. “Not crossing themselves but sending the flowers over to the east.”

“I still don’t see how this is possible,” Torin countered.

“This is why you must let me go to meet Moray,” she replied. “To discover how we’re going to send this crate of goods over to the west without crossing the clan line.”

Torin made no reply, but he wanted to protest. Jack could see the captain’s frustration building, but Adaira added in a soft voice, “You and your guards have been searching endlessly, Torin. Let me help by doing this.”

Torin, at last, nodded and stepped back, clearing the way to the hut’s door.

Adaira turned to Jack. “Help me carry the crate.”

Jack took one side, Adaira the other, and together they slipped from the hut and began the careful trek down the rocks. Torin and a few of his trusted guards remained behind, ensuring that no one approached or caught a glimpse of Jack and Adaira. This trade-by-trial was still steeped in secret, and only a select few had been given knowledge of it.

Jack didn’t know what to expect. He tried to appear optimistic for Adaira’s sake, even as he felt more inclined to agree with Torin. The one thing he could be assured of was that the cave they were visiting was a forbidden place, and it would soon fill with water as the tide rose.

They finally reached the shore. A western wind blew, hot with curiosity as birds cawed and swooped down to the water. The waves surged and retreated, leaving pieces of conch shells and tendrils of algae in their wake. The sand was soft, crushed beneath Jack’s boots as he walked with Adaira, the crate bumping against his leg. The clan line loomed in the distance, a chain of stones on the beach smudged with the heat of the air.