The lyre was nothing like I imagined. Two polished wooden arms stuck out like bulls’ horns on either side of the tortoise-shell base. A bar connected the arms at the top, and seven strings stretched from the bar to the bottom of the shell. It looked like an ugly combination of a lute, a harp, and a dead turtle.

Rylander propped the instrument on his lap, holding it at an angle. His fingers plucked slowly, and the music hummed, filling the tavern with a familiar song of tragedy and love from the Isle of Cava. Barmaids and patrons alike stopped and stared.

I closed my eyes and listened. The mesmerizing melody weighed on my soul as the song melted into the sound of my heartbeat, building in tempo. It started off with hardship, and the heavy tune dragged me along, tugging my consciousness under a current of grief. A knot balled at my throat. Tears stung my eyes, and I opened them.

Rylander strummed faster. The rhythm wrapped around my heart and squeezed. My pulse increased. My breath quickened. My awareness slowly faltered, and the warm bar became a cold, rainy night. The dusty floorboards became the slick deck of The Freedom, rising on a wave in a churning sea. As the ship slanted, I clutched the open cabin door to keep my balance, and the hand before my eyes had shrunk. The fingers were short, the knuckles sunken into pudgy baby fat still clinging to my bones. One peek inside the captain’s cabin showed it wasn’t mine. My father’s black and gold trunk and a modest table were the only furnishings beside the bed draped in dark furs. A cot—my cot—lay on the floor beside it, plush with pillows and a burlap doll. Cassandra. I hadn’t seen her red yarn braid and lopsided stitched smile since…

Skies! I was seven again.

“Papa!” I called, squinting through the rain beating against my cheeks. A thunder crack drowned my high voice as the prow slammed the ocean, falling off the crest of the monstrous wave. My bare foot slipped out from under me, and I fell hard on my arse. I pushed up, trying to stand, when two dark shapes by the rail stilled my hands and my breath.