Chapter 43:

Ari's chest ached. Tears were sliding down Aveline's cheeks, and she was covering her eyes if to hide it.

"Avie." Ari closed the distance between them in two strides, letting his hands slide up underneath her hair to cup her cheeks. "Shh, Aveline, sweet, it's alright." His first mate gaped at him, tearful and piercing and miserable, and he wiped her tears with his thumb, slowly moved her hands away from her face. "Shh..." Ari wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she let out a quiet sob into his chest, and rested his chin on the top of her head.

Ari let her cry, though his first instinct was to panic, but it was the most emotion Aveline had shown in weeks; and the other part of him nearly collapsed in relief.
"Whatever it is, we'll fix it, I promise," he soothed.

"No." Aveline's voice was scratchy and muffled from his coat. "We can't."

"Why not?" Ari let out a small huff, took her shoulders and pulled away to face her. "Tell me," he whispered. Pleading. "Talk to me. I will drop everything else for you, you should know this-"

"I know you would Ari, of course I do," she pleaded, "but you have enough on your plate right now, and-"

"None of that matters. Not when you're hurting."

She tried to pull away, but he let his fingers encircle her wrists. Not yet. "What's the matter? Is it Camille?"

Aveline glanced at him, startled. Her eyes gave her away; they were large and frightened, like a spooked horse. Ari lifted his chin slowly. So he was right.

Her voice was barely audible. "I'm supposed to do this on my own."

"No," Ari said raggedly. "We don't do things on our own. We're a team. If you were in my position you would be forcing me to let you in right now-"

"But this is different!"

"Different how?"

She didn't respond, and Ari let out his breath through his nose, trying to control his frustration.
"I wish you could just be honest with me."

"I'm always honest with you," she argued.

"No," he shot back. It was windy out, and drizzling tiny pinpricks of rain, but Ari knew he couldn't leave the beach until he'd had an honest conversation with her. He was anxious, and tired, and he just wanted everything out on the table. Whatever that meant. They'd deal with it. "Not this time. Something is very wrong, and you think I don't notice but I do."

The wind railed against them, lifting the back of Ari's overcoat and ruffling Aveline's curls.

Ari stood his ground. He needed to hear this, and she needed to say it. Say it.

A droplet of rain stung his cheek, and Ari waited, and finally Aveline's shoulders slumped, like she was surrendering.

"I just feel... off."

Ari held his breath. "Off?"

Aveline nodded.

Ari bent down to her height, trying to make eye contact. "It hurts?"

"Not really. Just feels..." her brows furrowed, taking on that distracted expression that she now sometimes wore. "Strange."

"Where?" Gently, not making any sudden movements as if not to frighten her away, Ari gently touched his finger to his temple. "Is it in here?"

Aveline shook her head.

Next Ari unfolded his hand across the cross-tied fabric at his chest. "Here?"

"No."

"Is it..." he jerked his chin towards the open ocean besides them, at the waves churning and flashing their white, frothy surface. "There?"

"Yes. I can't.." Aveline's eyes squeezed shut. "I can't tell you now. Someone could be watching."

"The ship?" Ari suggested

Aveline relented.

She walked back to the ship wearing his coat, her steps just a bit too quick while her eyes were just a little too bright, and then Ari knew what was happening with Aveline wasn't emotional at all. It was something the matter with her; not wrong, necessarily, but strange and different and familiar all at the same time.

He opened the door to the Captain's quarters and closed it behind them, where only the cat sat curled up in a contented tortoiseshell ball on his duvet. The small flame in his lantern on the table flickered slightly as he strode past.

Ari turned around, opening his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything Aveline thrust her arm towards him.

"Look at it."

Forehead wrinkling, Ari reached for her hand, rolling up her lacy sleeve with light, uncertain fingers. Tiny white lines stood out starkly on her palm, like ivory branches. Ari's breath caught; he turned over the inside of her wrist, let his thumb skim over the shimmery blue tint. The skin there was slightly cooler; not quite glowing but pale and ashy.

Shock flitted across his face and he looked at her in disbelief. "Are you...?"

"It started after we first met the coven," Aveline confessed in a rush. "I spoke with Dahlia, and... I think the medicine she gave me..."

Comprehension dawned, and then Ari cursed himself for not seeing it before. "It changes you back to your normal form." He swore. "I didn't even think about that. Shit."

"I doesn't happen completely unless I'm in the ocean. I think."

He pulled back slightly. "Does it hurt?"

"Not now."

"So this is what you've been hiding all this time?" Ari's hand agitatedly reached to push his hair back. "And you've been managing it by yourself," he realized. "Why didn't you say anything to me, Avie? That's so unlike you."

Aveline twisted her fingers in her hands. "I would have, but then everyone was so busy, and then there was the princess..." then she stopped abruptly, as if she'd said too much.

Ari didn't miss it. He angled his head to the side. "What about the princess?"

"Camille figured me out, Ari." Aveline pulled away from him and began to pace the brief length of the floor. "She pulled me aside about a month ago to confront me about it; she said she wanted me to... change, you know, and work for her. She threatened me, said she'd hurt the coven, and my friends, and you-"

"Wait, wait, wait." Ari paused, all of this new information bouncing back and forth in his head like a tightly wound spring. "Work for her?"

"I know." Aveline sighed. "At first I thought she just wanted to have some sort of mermaid pet, you know, for her valuables collection or something, but it's more than that. She mentioned her father, and how he's working with someone... and then we saw Alexei in the city, Ari," her voice broke on the word. "I don't know for certain, but then it's all adding up, and to think that I put everyone in danger; you, Lyla, the children-"

"Alright, it's alright, it's fine, everything will be alright." Aveline had started to pale. "Avie, I promise. Listen." Ari stepped forward, put his hands on her shoulders. "First of all? You don't have to worry about me."

"But Camille-"

"Is a spoiled princess." Ari was almost relieved to be teasing her again. "Come come, Aveline, I'm insulted that you think I'd have any reason to be afraid of that lunatic."

At that, Aveline cracked a smile. "I know, and trust me— if she was only threatening the two of us, I would have laughed in her face. But then there was everyone else; Jamie, and-"

At that, Ari had to interrupt. "Jamie's gone, Aveline." His stomach clenched as the words left his mouth, and he let his hands fall back to his sides.

Aveline blinked. "What do you mean she's gone?"

"She left. Last night."

"What?" Her mouth parted. "Did she give an explanation?"

"She said a bit, after I spoke to the king. She doesn't trust the people here- as well she shouldn't- and she missed Ben, and I think she just wanted to be home," he admitted. When he'd knocked on Jamie's door the morning after their celebratory dinner in the square and found her room to be empty, Ari couldn't say he was surprised, but he'd expected some sort of goodbye, at least. Something. "Then, this morning, a servant told me she'd left to Apreuna the night before."

"I'd wondered where she was..." Then Aveline was studying him, a knowing twist to her lips. She was starting to look like herself already. "I'm sorry."

Ari shrugged. "It's fine."

"It's not, but that's alright." Aveline let it drop. "Then she's safe, at least, thank goodness, but Lyla..."

"That does present a problem," Ari said grimly.

"You see? I told you-"

"But," he cut in, "it's nothing we can't handle."

Aveline sighed. "Ari-"

"Just..." Ari caught her hand as she lifted it. "Hear me out." His mind was already racing, puzzling out the matter faster than he could keep up with. Ari gestured for Aveline to sit down, and he sank into the mattress beside her. "The way I see it, all we have to do is to see Lyla back to Apreuna safely. They wouldn't dare touch her; not with her relation to the royals, but just to be on the safe side, we'll convince her to leave. As for Eli...  if we keep him as far from this as possible. Kaidia and Verignes are much too closely allied for him to be in any danger, especially considering his father."

"I'm not worried about Eli anymore." Aveline's face darkened. "His father is here on Kaidia business to investigate Verignes, he's only just told me. They had to keep it very secret, but that's why they've come."

"Damn." Ari took a second to mull over this new development. "I suppose it's a good thing— less enemies for us." Then he exhaled, crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, I suppose."

"He should have told you."

"Well, I haven't exactly poured out my heart and soul to him, either." Aveline lifted a shoulder, brushing the matter off— Ari knew the feeling.

"We obviously have quite a bit to catch each other up on."

She giggled, and he felt the corners of his mouth quirk upwards.

"I'm serious! I detest it when you ignore me, Avie— I miss all of the gossip."

"I'll take that into consideration next time." Aveline stuck her chin into her hands. "Then, what about us? And the children? Alexei nearly saw them at the tavern today. The Capital is dangerous, even more than we anticipated-"

"We'll leave," Ari urged. He brought his legs up and crossed them at the knee, leaning forward. "It's almost ridiculously easy, Aveline— once we cross over Verignes borders, then we're safe."

"I know." She leveled her gaze, frowning. "But the crossing over is the problem. The royals are suspicious of us, and they have every reason to be."

"We'll be fine," he insisted. "We're vicious pirates, remember?"

"Right." Aveline rolled her eyes. "I'll remember that when we're both dead."

Ari laughed.

Aveline twisted a thread from his quilt around her finger. "And then..."

"And then we're finally free," he said. "The crew needs us back at the ship, anyway. And you won't have to set foot in another ugly palace ever again if you don't wish to, alright, Avie?"

"If I set foot in the ocean again, Ari, I'll change, and I have no idea what happens if I don't-"

"Listen, Aveline, I promised you when we were young that you wouldn't ever have to go back there, and I intend to keep that promise. We'll find a cure; we found one before. Until then, you have to trust me. Can you do that?"

"Of course I can," she replied without hesitation.

"Good." Ari gave a short, relieved sort of laugh and looked at his palms. "Because I've been attempting to do all of this by myself, and I've been failing miserably."

"You're right, you have been." Her smirk disappearing, Aveline held out her hand in the space between them. Ari considered it for a moment; small and calloused and pale, the tiny webbed lines in her hand flickering faintly in the dim glow of the room. "We make decisions together, from now on."

Ari grasped her hand in his, skimming his thumb over her knuckles. It was familiar, if a bit cooler than he remembered. Aveline's amber eyes across from him were as recognizable to him as his own reflection.

"Together," Ari agreed.

"Excellent." Aveline stood up. She looked more like herself already; a faint spring in her step, curls bouncing as she skipped to the door. "Then, let us inform Inez at once— I have a plan."

-

"Yes, yes," said King Cedany, "but are you certain you must leave so soon?"

"Quite," Ari lamented, shaking his head with his best expression of remorse. "If Her Majesty Rowena could spare us, but we would not wish to trespass on your kindness any longer."

Morning sunlight streamed in through the crystal windows of the king's throne room. Ari had worn his best; a cream-colored vest under a black waistcoat with ruffled sleeves, an open collar, and dark breeches. Aveline beside him was dressed to match in an ivory corset gown; cloaked in lace, in Verignes fashion, with tiny cloth roses the color of coal sewn up the skirts.

King Cedany's lanky form lay draped over his throne like a quilt, and his expression was utterly unreadable. Ari was grateful for Camille's absence, wherever she was— that the king did not seem to take his daughter seriously was gratifying, but their plan could not depend upon it.

"Would you be willing to delay your departure until tomorrow?" King Cedany proposed. "Camille is holding her birthday ball at the palace, and she would hate for either of you to miss it."

Ari tried not to look at Aveline, who had stiffened at his side.

"Yes," she said, "be certain to give the princess our good wishes and regrets." A curl had fallen out of her glossy updo, and she breezily whisked it behind a shoulder with one cream-colored glove.

"Then, you have your payment," said the King, speaking with his chin in his palm. "You may take your leave."

Aveline nodded curtly, taking Ari's arm as they both turned away. Ari held his breath as they walked across the marble floors.

"Oh, and Carondolet?" Cedany boomed from behind them. Ari slowly faced the king, who was standing.

"Yes, sire?"

"You will be so good as to remember our conversation at the tournament when you see Queen Rowena, correct? You understand how important it is to maintain alliances."

Ari summoned his brightest, most artificial smile. "Of course, sire."

Aveline's arm tightened around his as they left, both wearing equal expressions of false indifference as they pretended not to notice the king's gaze burning into their backs.

The next twenty-four hours could pass in a million different ways, and while Ari had tried his best to prepare for every possible scenario, he knew there was a chance that things would not end in their favor.
For now, he could only cross his fingers and wait.

The sun was high in the sky by the time they exited the royal lodgings, and it took a moment for Ari's eyes adjust to the light as the large wooden doors creaked open for them. Aveline tensed, and as Ari blinked he became very aware of the presence of nearly the entire royal guard standing before them in the garden, perspiring in the noonday heat, their faces grim and menacing. In the front stood Camille, wearing red lip rouge to match her bright red gown that flashed in the light like dripping blood.

Ari exhaled. "Well, shit."

"Ari Carondolet and Aveline Dimitri," declared the princess, looking about the smuggest he'd ever seen her. "You are under arrest for suspicion of the murder of the Earl Cedany of Verignes. Please come with me."

**so... i can't remember how many chapters are left, and I'm too lazy to check. Things are about to get much worse, lmao. Anyways, on that note, love you guys, thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote! (that rhymed. lol)**