A lump curled painfully in my throat. “No, he wouldn’t.”

Clove pulled the cap back on his head, casting his face in shadow. “Isolde isn’t the only name we aren’t allowed to say.” He kissed the top of my head. “You be careful. And you watch that crew.”

“Watch them?”

“They look about ready to throw that helmsman overboard. And you with him.”

I clenched my teeth, looking past him to the Marigold.

“I’ll see you in Sagsay Holm.”

I watched him go, breathing through the sting smarting behind my eyes. The words he’d said about my father were dangerous things. They held the power to crush me. Because the most fragile hope I’d ever held was that somewhere in the flesh and bone of him, Saint had loved me.

There was a part of me that was terrified to find out if it was true. And an even bigger part that knew it would destroy me.

I climbed the ladder hand over hand until the sound of shouting made me still. I looked over my shoulder to see Holland coming through the archway of the harbor, wrapped in a blood-red cloak. I jumped back down, watching as she floated toward us, her sterling hair flowing behind her.

She was flanked by three guards on each side, taking up the width of the walkway. The dockworkers had to move out of her way, pushing down the slips as she passed.

“West!” Willa called out. She was watching with wide eyes from the railing.

He appeared beside her a moment later and as soon as he spotted Holland, he climbed over the side, landing beside me. “What is this?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered.

Holland turned down our dock without looking up, her eyes on the sea. The colors of the sunset danced over her face, making her cloak glow like a hot blade held to fire. She lifted a hand into the air and the guards stopped, leaving her to make the rest of the way down the slip on her own.

She smiled warmly as she stopped before us. “Thought I’d see you off.”

West glared at her. “Just in time.”

Hamish came down the dock behind Holland, marking in his log. He nearly crashed into her before one of her men took him by the collar and yanked him back. When his eyes finally lifted from the parchments, he looked as if he might fall over with shock. He stepped around Holland carefully, coming to stand behind us.

“We’ll see you in Sagsay Holm,” I said, turning back to the ladder.

“All I require of you before you leave is your deed.” She opened her hand before us, grinning.

“What?” I snapped.

“The deed. To the Marigold.”