The Lost Prince (30 page)

“WELL?” Ronan demanded.

Dean shrugged. “I was out walking.”

“Out walking,” Ronan repeated. “FOR FIVE HOURS?”

Ronan’s voice shook the walls. Dean massaged the bridge of his nose and yawned. “I was walking and thinking.”

Ronan turned away with a growl. “Walking and thinking,” he spat. “Let me guess. You asked her to come with us and she said no. Broke your little heart, did she? What did you expect? I told you it would end this way. I waited for you on the docks half the night. I nearly left without you!”

“You should have.”

“I think Rook already did! I don’t know where he is. You left me all alone, in the dark. I thought we were partners.”

Dean shook his head. “Not anymore. I have to tell her the truth, Ronan. I’m going to do it today.”

Dean couldn’t have spun Ronan around any faster if he’d tried. “What?” Ronan straightened up with a start. He shot a hand to his temple as if his brain needed help processing the idea. “Hang on, what? The truth about us? What are you talking about?”

“It’s over, Ronan.” Dean’s voice was weary. He was staring straight ahead in a daze. “We’re done here. I saw the golden orchard last night. Waverly showed me.”

Ronan closed his eyes and shook his head, his anger replaced by confusion. “Seaborne, you’re not making sense. Back up and start at the beginning. Tell me what happened.”

Dean did exactly that. He told Ronan what he had learned about how the island worked. He told him about Zenhala’s
poorer subjects and who provided for them. He told him what would happen if the golden harvest was stolen. “Having gold to trade doesn’t mean there’s gold to spare. They need it to feed whole towns of hungry people.” To his credit, Ronan understood perfectly. The look on his face told Dean what he already knew. The golden orchard was off-limits. They weren’t that kind of pirates.

“We can’t let One-Eyed Jack sack the island,” Ronan said.

“No. Not after seeing that village. I won’t let him. I have to tell Waverly the truth before it’s too late. It’s the only way.”

Ronan scoffed at Dean’s proclamation. “The way to do what? Land yourself in a cell? Slow down. Let me think.” Ronan walked to the window, gingerly testing his sore ankle step by step. When he got there, he leaned against the sill and exhaled mightily. “All right. This isn’t as bad as you think.” He turned around to look at Dean. “You don’t have to tell anyone your secret. So what if you’re not the prince? You never said you were. They came to you with that. You just did as they asked and jumped through their hoops. If you take their blood test today and fail, it’s a disappointment, but they can’t hang you for getting their hopes up. You haven’t stolen anything but their hearts.” He wagged a finger at Dean. “No one has to know you’re a pirate.”

“What about Rook? For all we know, he’s already gone. You said so yourself. He’ll get word about this place to One-Eyed Jack, and when the storm breaks, the pirate king will have a whole
month to loot the island. This only works if we come clean. At least then, people here can protect themselves.”

Ronan opened his mouth and shut it again without saying anything. He tried to find fault with Dean’s logic, but came up dry. Ronan slumped into a chair by the window. “Rook.” He said the name like a curse word. “Should’ve killed him when we had the chance.”

Dean smiled grimly. “Doesn’t exactly square with the Gentleman’s Code, does it?”

“What if we run like we planned?” asked Ronan. “We can still leave here today. Right now, before the storm hits.”

Dean shook his head. “I can’t leave. First of all, One-Eyed Jack will follow me to the ends of the earth. I know he will. Second, everyone here thinks I’m the prince. They believe it now. We can’t steal from these people, but we can’t bolt out of here either. Lord Kray’s a good man … an honorable man. Now that he’s met me, all bets are off. He won’t take the throne if I disappear. He’ll keep sending out trade ships to find me. And they’ll keep coming back with half-measure harvests when the people here need more. I’ve been thinking all night, but there’s no way around it. If I want to help these people, I have to tell the truth.”

Ronan sighed and leaned his head back. “They hate pirates here, Dean. With good reason. They’ll lock you in a tower and throw away the key when they find out what you are.”

“What if I tell them myself? If I can warn them in time, maybe they’ll show me some mercy.”

Ronan shrugged. “You going to stick your neck out on a maybe?”

Dean rubbed the back of his neck, an appendage he had grown quite attached to over the years. “You can still run, Ronan. You don’t have to get stuck here with me.”

Ronan tapped his ankle. “Wouldn’t get very far, would I? I’m lucky I can walk without a crutch right now.” He shook his head. “Best belay that talk. You remember Gentleman Jim’s orders as well as I do. No one gets left behind. We’re in this together.”

Dean nodded. “Hand in glove.” He was about to get up and shake Ronan’s hand when he heard a muffled cry coming from Rook’s room. He and Ronan exchanged puzzled looks, and got up to investigate. When they entered the room, Rook’s bed was empty. “Where is he?” Dean asked.

They heard the cry again.

“That came from the closet.” Ronan opened the door and found a person tied up inside. He was bound and gagged with a hood over his head.

“Rook?” Dean pulled off the hood, but it wasn’t Rook underneath. It was Jarret Ralian.

“What the devil?” Ronan sputtered.

“The devil is right. Something’s very wrong here.”

“You think?” Before Dean or Ronan could untie Jarret and ask
how he got there, they were interrupted by a forceful pounding at the front door.

“Dean Seaborne! Open up in the name of the law!”

Ronan and Dean looked at each other as though they’d just locked eyes with Davy Jones. “What’s going on?” Ronan asked.

Dean ran his hands through his hair. “This is a setup.” He threw the hood back onto Jarret’s head and shut him up in the closet. “Come on,” he said, leading Ronan out of Rook’s room. “We have to get rid of them. Can’t let anyone find us like this.” Ronan slammed the bedroom door behind him, muting Jarret’s cries. The pounding on the front door persisted. “I’ll answer it,” Dean said.

He took a second to get in character and opened up the door. Arjent Ralian, his two elder sons, and a trio of palace guards were standing behind it. None of them looked very happy.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Dean demanded. “What do you mean ordering me around in the name of the law?”

“Precisely what I said,” Lord Ralian replied. “As minister of defense, I
am
the law on this island.” He pushed past Dean into the apartment. His entourage followed. Dean tried to block their path, but it was no use.

“I don’t remember saying you could come in.”

“I don’t remember asking. I’m looking for my son. He didn’t come home last night. As his father, I am understandably concerned.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

“He was last seen in the company of your friend Rook,” said Junter.

“Seen either of them this morning?” Jin asked behind a wicked smile.

Ronan and Dean looked at each other like two explorers caught waist deep in quicksand. “Can’t say that I have,” Dean lied.

Arjent Ralian smiled knowingly. “Well. You don’t mind if we have a look around, do you?” He nodded to the guards, who started opening doors and looking inside trunks.

“Actually, I do mind!” Dean protested.

The guards did not heed Dean’s words. They went right on searching the apartment. “Is this how you treat your prince?” Ronan asked.

Lord Ralian stifled a laugh. “Still clinging to that, are we? My, but you are persistent.”

“How dare you?” Dean asked, feigning the appropriate level of outrage. It was clear that the time for pretense was over, but he didn’t know what else to do. “Get out of here now, all of you. If you’re lucky, I won’t tell the regent about this insult.”

Dean stopped talking when Junter Ralian whipped off the cover to Sisto’s cage. It was empty. Now Rook
and
the bird were missing. The day was hardly an hour old, and it had already gone from bad to worse.

“Hello?”

Waverly Kray knocked on the open door, and Dean winced. When he heard her voice, he knew the game was up. If she came in, there would be no way out. Not for him. Not anymore.

“Lady Kray?” Arjent Ralian said. “What are you doing here?”

She entered, cautious and confused. “I came to see the prince.” Waverly crossed the room to Dean. “You were so upset last night, I wanted to make sure you were all right.” She leaned in close to him and whispered. “What’s the palace guard doing here?”

Dean’s throat locked up. He had no words for her. Waverly was the first person he wanted to talk to that morning, but the last person he wanted to see at the moment.

“We’re looking for my son,” Arjent Ralian said, answering for Dean. “Jarret has gone missing. We have reason to believe your prince knows something about it.”

Dean found his voice. “I don’t know anything about—”

“Here!” Junter called out from Rook’s room. “I found him!” Every head in the room turned toward the sound of Junter’s voice. They rushed to Rook’s room, where Jarret was getting free of his bonds.

“My son!” Arjent Ralian exclaimed, sprinting to his side.

“What is this?” Waverly asked, horrified.

Dean took her by the arm. “I know what this looks like, but you have to believe me. I had nothing to do with this.”

“Liar!” Jarret shouted, once his brothers had removed his gag. “Don’t listen to him, any of you. They’re pirates!”

Waverly looked at Dean. “What?”

“Sound the alarm, quickly!” Jarret continued. “I caught his mate Rook snooping around the orchard last night after the banquet. I tried to stop him, but he overpowered me and I woke up a captive here. I heard them talking. They mean to signal their fellow buccaneers. We have to ready our defenses before it’s too late.”

“There’s a ship on the horizon!” Jin called out from the window.

“What?” Dean said.

Everyone ran to the windows, Dean and Ronan included. Ronan snatched Jin’s spyglass out of his hands and looked through it. After a few moments, he handed it over to Dean with a frown. “It’s the
Maelstrom.
One-Eyed Jack himself.”

“It can’t be,” Dean said, looking through the spyglass to see for himself. “How’d he get here so fast?”

Waverly gasped, and Dean realized what he had just said. He lowered the spyglass. She had tears welling up in her eyes.

“It’s true?”

Dean was at a loss. He couldn’t believe everything had fallen apart so fast. “I was going to tell you. I was. Please, you have to believe me.”

Waverly put her hand to her chest and turned away. She looked like she might fall over. “I did believe you. I trusted you
with everything. How could you do this?”

“I didn’t do this, I—” The anguish in Waverly’s eyes was unbearable for Dean. She could have run him through with a cutlass and it would have hurt less, but he deserved that. She didn’t deserve the pain he’d caused her. “I was going to tell you.”

“When?”

“Last night! Waverly, I swear it. This wasn’t the plan. I wanted you to come with me when I left.”

Waverly flinched. “You thought I’d come with you?”

“Yes! You said yourself you thought about running away. I thought this could be your chance. Our chance! To be free.”

In a flash, Waverly’s grief turned to fire. She slapped Dean hard across the face. “Yes, I thought about running away. My honor kept me here. Honor and duty! I stay true to the people I love. You’re a pirate. You know nothing of honor.”

“No! I’m not that kind of pirate.”

“There’s only one kind of pirate,” Jarret Ralian cut in. He put a sympathetic hand on Waverly’s shoulder. “Don’t waste your tears on him, my lady. He’s not worth it. He came here to steal our gold. Everything about this ‘prince’ has been a lie.”

Dean’s face fell. As much as he would have liked to, he could not argue with anything Jarret had said. All he could do was tell her he was sorry, but what was that worth? Apologies were just words. He hung his head in shame.

“Look at me,” Waverly said. Dean raised his head as she wiped
away her tears. “This will be the last time our eyes ever meet. I never want to see you again.”

CHAPTER
30

I
ron manacles locked into place around Dean’s wrists.

He hardly noticed.

He was thrown into a cell in the Tower of Justice. He didn’t care. Dean went along without a hint of protest as the guards chained him and Ronan to opposite walls. By then, all the fight had gone out of him. He had been lost in a trance the whole shame-filled walk from the royal apartments to the top of the prison tower. Dean wasn’t thinking about himself or what might happen next. That no longer mattered. All he could think of was Waverly and the unmistakable disgust in her eyes when she found out what he was.

Arjent Ralian had led Waverly away to inform her father of
his treachery and marshal the island’s troops. She had left Dean a shell of himself as she walked out the door. He couldn’t even muster the courage to call after her. Waverly had buried him with her words, just as he had buried her people with his actions. An invasion was coming. One he could have prevented if he’d been strong enough to tell the truth. That was the hardest part about all of this. It was his fault. There was no way around it. Waverly was right to turn her back on him, and he deserved to meet the end he had coming as a spy.