Was it her imagination, or was it getting bigger? She’d kept an eye on the ship for five days, and it was there every time she looked. The winds had died down, and the captain had resorted to steam for the rest of their journey to St. Helena. Though if that ship carried her enemy, it wouldn’t matter if the Belonging was docked at the island.

St. Helena was a thriving port, but it wasn’t England. Sarani wouldn’t be able to hide there, not for long anyway. Rubbing clammy palms on her trousers, she almost jumped out of her skin when a large shadow loomed beside her. Her kukri blades were in her hands before she recognized the man.

The duke’s laconic quartermaster.

“Planning to gut me from navel to nose, Princess?” Gideon asked.

She tucked the weapons back into their sheaths. Gideon was huge. She doubted she could reach his chin even with the tip of her blade. He looked like many of the men from her homeland, with rich dark brown skin that gleamed in the sun, but his huge height and blue eyes made her wonder if he was mixed with some kind of Nordic Viking. His bald head was shiny and dotted with sweat.

“No, and don’t call me that.”

“Why?” the large man said. “You are a princess. Pretending you are not serves no purpose.”

It does when people want you dead.

“Regardless, it’s just Sara now. Did Asha return to the cabin?”

“No, she wanted to watch the sunset.”

Sarani turned her head to where Asha sat cross-legged on the deck, her lips rolled between her teeth, and stared out to sea. She’d just finished playing the shehnai and was now focused on the glimmering ocean.

The maid looked up, her eyes caught on the sky, her jaw sagging with wonder. “It looks like Joor,” she said.

Sarani felt something tug on her heart, her eyes flicking to the sunset. It did look a little like Joor. An explosion of red, orange, and gold, like the sky was on fire. The slightest hint of a storm blackened the edges, adding an unusual depth to the striations of color. She drew a ragged breath, letting nature’s beauty sink in for a scant moment, though the anxious pressure in her breast didn’t abate.

By her count, they had a week left to get to the coaling port at St. Helena. She’d overheard Gideon saying that they’d caught some favorable winds, which had cut the journey short a few days, and the captain’s judicious use of his steam propellers had helped. However, if that shadow of a ship caught up to them, she knew she would be bringing trouble to Rhystan and his men. She had to know what that ship meant, and what better time than the present to ask the man who could give her answers.