The only thing that seemed sure was the fact that our days were numbered. One way or another, Holland was going to make her move. And if she did, the Narrows would never be the same.

I watched Clove standing at the end of the dock with his jacket buttoned up to his chin. I slipped my hands into my pockets and breathed into the scarf wound around my neck as I walked toward him. The sea was gray and blustery, fighting dusk.

He said nothing as I came to stand behind him. His cheeks were reddened by the wind, the tip of his nose rosy.

“Do you think Saint can do it?” I watched his face as he stared out at the water, thinking. His pale blond hair had come out from under his cap, blowing around his face.

“I don’t know,” he said. Clove hadn’t been happy when I told him that we’d gone to Henrik. He was even angrier when I told him what I’d offered him.

I didn’t know what my father would say when he found out what I’d been up to. I could only hope he’d play along. Getting a merchant’s ring for a criminal was next to impossible. But if I wanted the Roths to come through with the safety net we needed, I had to have it. “Six days.”

“Six days,” he repeated.

The Trade Council meeting in Sagsay Holm would bring together every licensed trader from the Unnamed Sea and the Narrows. If Holland had her way, she’d secure approval from the Council to open her trade to Ceros. If I had mine, she’d never get the chance to sail our waters.

Clove would have to move fast if he was going to get to Ceros and back to Sagsay Holm with Saint in time.

“What do you know about the midnight, Clove? Honestly.”

He sighed. “Nothing. I only know that your mother took it when she left Bastian and that she didn’t want it found.”

“She told you about it?”

“After one too many glasses of rye.” He smirked. “I wasn’t sure it was true until Holland told the same story.”

If Isolde had taken it, she’d done it for a reason. The only thing that made sense was that she didn’t want the midnight in Holland’s hands. Midnight’s worth was in its rarity. After it was unveiled to the Trade Council of the Unnamed Sea, it vanished, making it no more than a myth.

“I don’t even know why I’m doing this,” I whispered, watching the water flash silver in the rising sunlight. “Saint would never do it for me.”

Clove turned slowly, looking down at me. “You can’t really believe that.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He snorted, shaking his head. “That man would sink his fleet for you, Fable. He’d walk away from everything.”