Alina surveyed the room—she noticed that on the chaise, her nightdress and dressing robe hung off to the back beside a wine red gown Alina had never seen before.
She held up the nightdress and robe—they had been freshly laundered, all stains of the previous night zealously scrubbed away. For a bunch of cursed pirates, she did have to admit that they were rather clean.
She glanced at the door—she could take advantage of the lack of the Captain to change. But then her eyes caught the desk as she recalled the hidden drawer she'd spotted the night before.
When would she have a second chance, after all?
So Alina abandoned thoughts of changing and instead headed for the desk. She ignored the map and ran her fingers over the discrepancy in the wood. She then ducked underneath the desk. It was dark, but she felt about the underside of the desk, finding a latch.
She ducked to the floor, flattening herself as the hidden desk dropped down, then crawled out to stand. Bracing herself on the desk, she stood and pulled open the hidden drawer.
Inside was a notebook, a stack of letters, and a ring with distinctively large emeralds, and gold forming tiny double-headed eagles, an interpretation of the firebird, as the setting of the ring.
Alina held it up to the rising moonlight coming in through the window, mixing with the dying dusky glows of the sinking sun. She'd remembered Governor Keramsov teaching her the trick, in some of his kinder moments.
The way the light hit the jewel—it couldn't be glass. This was the real deal.
Alina turned it over in her hands. She'd never expected to hold such an important bit of Old World regalia in her hands. But here it was—the Lantsov Emerald.
She pocketed it, glancing towards the door again—but she did not hear any bootsteps, nor did she see anyone.
She glanced back down to the letters—it was in the elegant, crisp letters expected of nobility. Alina would know—the Governor had Ana Kuya teach them all how to do it. Alina had even managed it, although she had to take care for her own letters to not look like chicken scratch.
They were addressed to Nikolai. A quick glance down at the signature revealed everything.
It was from the tsarina, Tatiana Lantsov.
Alina set the letters back in the desk. She didn't need to go through something so private.
Instead, she turned her attention to the journal, leather bound with real parchment pages bound inside. She opened it—the handwriting inside was more messy, but she caught snatches here and there.
Sea witch—Pirate Lords—Captain Daiyu—Morozova—the Flying Dutchman.
One phrase in particular caught Alina's interest. Sea goddess?
She turned the page to see if there was more—but there was nothing. Alina frowned and closed the book—only to look up and see what looked like a demon standing across the desk from her.
It was roughly humanoid, with claw-like onyx limbs peering through the sleeves of the teal jacket and white puffy-sleeved shirt. Its eyes were wide, black, and soulless, its jaws gaping with black fangs dangling out.
Alina fell back against the chair, dropping the book entirely. She grabbed onto the chair as she scrambled to her feet, ready to use it as a weapon or a shield.
"Stay away from me," she warned.
The creature ignored her, instead striding to the side of the room and pulling a golden tassel. Blood-red curtains dropped down and covered the window, cutting off the moonlight.
The monster was gone. In its place stood the Captain.
"Put down the chair, Miss Starkov." He smirked. "I told you Genya was right, that you wouldn't like how we look in the moonlight."
"Saints' bones," Alina whispered.
"The moonlight reveals our true shapes," he explained, stepping closer to her. "The full extent of our curse."
He then swooped down and picked up the journal Alina had dropped. He glanced at the open hidden desk drawer, then back to her.
"Thank the saints, I was afraid I wasn't being enough of a bad influence." He winked, gesturing emphatically with the journal. "Petty thievery suits you—but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to return that ring."
"A pirate's upset about stolen property?" Alina arched an eyebrow. "How ironic."
The edges of his mouth twitched, as if he were trying not to laugh. "I'm aware of the irony, Miss Starkov, but all the same I'd prefer you hand it back over without a fight."
He held a hand out. Alina removed the Lantsov Emerald from her pocket, but did not give it to him yet.
"What, you mean you didn't steal it?" Alina couldn't help but tease. "Then the letters were true and the sirens were right—you are Prince Nikolai Lantsov, the missing son of the tsar and tsarina!"
His expression grew more solemn. "Alina. . ."
She blinked, startled by the use of her first name. There was so much emotion in the utterance of her name, but she could not comprehend all of it.
Still, she placed the ring in his hand.
"Thank you." He placed the ring and the book back in the hidden desk drawer and closed it. Alina could hear the latch clicking back into place.
Alina crossed her arms over her chest. "Prince Nikolai, then?"
"I didn't deny it, did I?"
"No." Alina figured that was as much confirmation as she was going to get. "How did you end up the captain of a cursed pirate ship?"
"You were from Port Keramzin, am I correct?" Nikolai strode even closer—there was very little space between them now. "One of Keramsov's orphans, I'd take a gander?"
Alina felt heat rise in her cheeks. "I was trying to hide that."
"I figured as much when you told me you were a Starkov," Nikolai explained. "I knew you were Captain Daiyu's daughter and I figured that only Governor Keramsov would have taken you in."
"Alright, alright, everyone already knows you're a too-clever fox," Alina mumbled. "Get on with it—I don't know what this has to do with you, anyway."
"Do you remember the scandal, with a missing Imperial Navy ship a few years ago?" He glanced to the map, his finger trailing along the marked path from Ravka to Port Keramzin. "It was supposed to go to Port Keramzin, with supplies and soldiers to help further secure the Port against pirates."
"The ship was captured, wasn't it?" Alina asked. She then frowned, furrowing her brow. "But wouldn't we have known, that the Prince was onboard?"
"I wasn't on that ship under my true name." Nikolai let out a laugh that sounded more like a sigh. "I took the name Sturmhond for the first time when I took my required military service. I didn't want a position as an officer, like my brother. I wanted it to mean something, wanted to prove myself. So Sturmhond was an ordinary sailor aboard that ship."
His expression hardened. "But they knew what I was. That's the only reason I survived, when the pirate captain recognized me for who I really was. Thought I'd make a good hostage. Too bad for him, that he was such a poor leader. It was rather easy, to send him and his closest mates to the bottom of Davy Jones' locker, for the Dutchman to collect on them."
Alina gasped in horror. "My mother—"
"It wasn't your mother." There was sympathy in Nikolai's hazel eyes. "That was before my time. The new captain had come about after the Flying Dutchman took her."
"Why didn't you leave, then, if you had support here?"
"Another layer to the Volkvolny's curse." His eyes found Alina's medallion, glinting in the candlelight. "If you kill the captain, end their cursed immortality, you get stuck with the position, until the curse is broken."
Alina was struck with a feeling of pity for the pirate prince in front of her. "I— I had no idea."
"It's all very complicated." Nikolai turned towards the desk, leaning over it and gripping both sides. Alina walked around the edge, her fingers trailing the edge of the wood. "We've spent so much time finding witches and seers, people who would know how to fix this. Some of it's been trial and error, shared experience over many years."
He looked back up to Alina. "I don't know what will happen to any of us, after this. I don't even know if I will remain the captain of this ship. But I promise, Alina Starkov, when this curse is broken, you can go wherever you please—whether that be here, or home, or elsewhere."
Alina blinked, she had not expected that—especially a choice in the matter.
The map suddenly looked far bigger, far greater, and she feared she might drown in the opportunities now on that table. She'd wanted a way out of the Governor's control, out of arranged marriage to Commodore Oretsev.
And now she'd found it.
"You don't have to decide now," Nikolai added. "I understand there is a lot to decide."
Alina nodded, taking a moment to form her next question.
"Is there anything else I should know about you? Any other secrets?"
"Perhaps one." Nikolai smiled. "I'll admit, I'm the type to try and do any job well—even the ones I accidentally stumble into and get cursed by."
"Which means?" Alina raised an eyebrow and made a gesture prompting him on.
"Which means I may or may not have ascended the ranks, among the Court of Piracy." He was jovial, teasing again. "Rumor has it that one Captain Nikolai Sturmhond is the Pirate King, respected in all ports filled with scoundrels and ne'er do wells."
"That's real then?" Alina recalled thinking that part of her romantic pirate novels were made up. "I thought that was a legend."
"We're all legend, darling." Nikolai gestured around the cabin. "This ship, me—even that white hair of yours, there's many interesting stories about that."
"Like what?" Alina tugged at a white lock that had come loose of her braid.
"Not your hair specifically, sweetheart." He reached out, letting a lock fall through her fingers. "But they say that young girls with white hair have been touched by Death himself and has felt his kiss."
Alina shivered at the thought. "A frightful story."
"I'm sure." Nikolai's hand rested on the hilt of his sword as he glanced up to the window. "There's a lot of frightful things on the seven seas—but there's more to it than that."
"There has to be wonder and treasure, too, or else no one would be a pirate," Alina added.
She met his eyes with a new understanding—it was like she was looking at him for the first time, all over again. The handsome Pirate King, who was holding her hostage to break a curse her mother had helped put on her ship.
Why did this sound like the plot of one of her novels?
"Do you need food sent up from the galley?" Nikolai asked, oblivious to Alina's swirling thoughts. "We have one of the finest chefs here—too bad none of us can eat, yet. I think he's looking forward to the feast we'll have once the curse is done more than we are. He's an artist, you see."
"I probably should eat," Alina admitted. "I've never had much of an appetite."
"That'll change soon enough." He clapped her shoulder. "The sea has a way of waking your appetite—and not just for food and gold."
Alina bit her lip, willing herself not to blush at the implications of what Nikolai was saying.
Not that he wasn't handsome and charming, but when she felt his hand on her shoulder, she couldn't help but see a hand with jagged obsidian claws once again.
She pulled away from his touch, and Nikolai turned away.
"Right, sorry. I'll get someone to help with that, Miss Starkov."
He left the cabin, and Alina realized she missed him saying. her name, even. though he had only done so once.