A Game Of Changing Tides

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Not yet," Nikolai replied. "Is there somewhere you would like us to let you off at? I can't promise to bring you home, wherever that might be, but I can at least try for the right Kingdom."

Adelyn heard the soft laugh that Ri gave, confused when it abruptly stopped. She'd thought Ri to be sitting at the Captain's desk, though she was proved wrong when the door was suddenly pulled open, and Adelyn nearly tumbled onto the ground inside Nik's chambers. Ri's head cocked to the side, and she smiled, as though having caught a child with a hand in a cookie jar. "Adelyn. I hear eavesdropping is rude."

Adelyn shrugged, doing her best to hide the embarrassment that tinted her cheeks. Avoiding Nik's eyes, she clicked her tongue, "I hear so is stealing, but what can I say? I'm good at it."

With a humorless chuckle, Ri stepped to the side, holding the door wide open, "Come in. I was just going to ask the good Captain something, and you might be interested in it as well."

With an eyebrow raised, Adelyn shuffled inside. She finally met Nikolai's eyes, and he smiled. Wetting his lips, he slid into his chair on the other side of his desk, "Two women in my chambers in one night. What will the crew say about me? You ladies are going to cause a scandal."

Ignoring him, Ri pointed to his figure. "Put that key around your neck to good use why don't you, and let's have a peak at that pendant."

Adelyn gaped, her head twisting to look at Ri in shock. She hadn't known for sure that no one else had known about Nikolai's hiding place, but she had thought so. By the look on Nik's face, he had thought the same. The smile he'd been sporting only a second before had quickly faded into a scowl, "How do you know about that?"

"I know lots of things." Ri said, nodding her head, as though impatient. After a moment of pause, Nik swallowed, pulling the rope from his collar and reaching beneath his desk. The familiar sound of gears turning filled the room.

Nik's hand emerged with the pendant in his grasp, and he set the piece lightly atop the loose papers on his desk. Leaning back into his chair, his gaze met Adelyn's for only a brief second, and she felt her body stiffen. Neither of them had any idea of what to expect, and Adelyn didn't like the idea of being caught off guard.

"Do you?" Nik asked, biting his lip. He was suspicious, just as Adelyn was. It was evident in every slow movement he made.

Ri grinned, "Would you like to see a magic trick?"

Adelyn wanted Nik to say no, but she knew him well enough to know he wouldn't. There was too much unknown here, too much that he wanted to know, and Ri was baiting him like a cat with fish. "Is it any good?"

"I think you'll be most impressed," Ri shot back, reaching her hand out and grabbing the pendant from the desk. Adelyn watched every movement, as though she was wielding a weapon and not just her bare hands. Then again, Adelyn thought, maybe those were a weapon/

"Did you know the pendant is meant to lead you to answers?" Ri asked, her voice light, much like air. The jewel she spoke of dangled in her fingers, swinging side to side. "Over the years many of the legends have changed it, but that is it's true purpose. That was why it was created."

"Fantastic. So I can finally figure out what four times four is?" Nik joked, leaning back in his chair. Adelyn could sense the anticipation behind his humor.

Ri cracked a smile of her own, "If that's what you like, however is there not something more you would like to know, pirate?"

"What do know, witch?"

"More than you'd think." Ri shrugged. "I know you want to know what became of Greywell's daughter, it's a thought that haunts you more than you'd like."