Chapter 374:
Daphne
I leave my cabin, my occasional depression gone now.
The night air hits my face—cool, salt-tinged, alive. The stars are scattered across the sky like broken glass, each one flickering with its own distant light. The moon is full, casting silver across the water, painting the waves in shades of gray and white.
I sit on my favorite seat. The throne. The one the pirates prepared for me like an altar, the one they scrub clean before every use, the one that sits at the head of the deck like a promise.
I lean back. Close my eyes.
The wood is warm beneath my palms.
I feel movement. Someone settling at the base of my throne. I open my eyes.
Naia is sitting at the foot of the chair, her legs crossed, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders. The beads in her hair click softly as she moves. She's not looking at me. She's looking at the stars.
I close my eyes again.
"Captain, you're in a stellar mood today."
"Am I?"
"Are you not?"
