Page 133 of Adversary to the Villain

“Why are you up so early?” Trystan asked, searching the boat for Alexander.

“I need to speak with Tatianna’s father.” Clare said the words quickly, breaking Trystan’s focus.

“About anything in particular?” Sage asked with a small grin.

“Nope.” Clare was lying, but Trystan was uncertain why Sage found this so enjoyable. She was grinning like a cat that had just swallowed the family goldfish.

“You’re sure?” Sage batted her eyelashes. But before Clare could object, Alexander leaped atop her shoulder, holding up a sign.

Propose

Evie screamed, holding Clare’s hands and jumping up and down. “I knew it!”

“Shut up!” Clare placed both hands over Evie’s mouth. “I’m merely speaking to him about the possibility. I’m waiting for the right time.”

“And that’s at Father’s burial?” Trystan was genuinely asking, so he wasn’t certain why Sage whacked him on the back of the arm.

“What’s at your father’s burial?” Tatianna appeared, talking through a yawn, though she paused when she saw them all staring. “What is it?” Her dress, too, was vibrant, splashed with every shade of pink, the sleeves resembling the wings of an angel.

“We were discussing how we are to get to the buried window before Benedict and the Valiant Guard do.” Clare stared pointedly at him. “Right, Trystan?”

“Yes,” he confirmed dryly. “It’s all we can talk about.”

“What if you two go now?” Tatianna suggested. “Take one of the light boats before the rest of them get up, head to shore. We’ll say you’re sleeping in if they suspect anything. Or that you’re ‘lovemaking.’” Tatianna snorted.

Clare recoiled. “Ew.”

Trystan ran the scenario through. The “leaving right then” scenario. Not the “lovemaking.” He wasn’t trying to embarrass himself in front of his sister and sister adjacent.

And Sage.

“They’d notice if one of the lifeboats was missing. There are only two of them,” Trystan pointed out.

“There’s another solution,” Sage said, pushing down her pants, revealing frilly shorts acting as undergarments.

“What are you doing!”

He glanced around the boat furiously, but the deck was empty save for one of Benedict’s men keeping watch in the crow’s nest, though the snoring coming from it didn’t indicate much watching.

And then she untied her sash and pulled off her loose shirt, leaving her in a sleeveless white undershirt and bare, smooth legs.

But Trystan had no time to enjoy it.

Because Sage winked at him, climbed over the side of the ship, and jumped.

Chapter 68

Evie

The water was freezing, and the tide was strong. But she’d already committed to this ridiculous plan. Now was not the time for regret. Now was the time toswim.

A splash came from behind her, and she paused, treading water. “Have you lost your senses?” Trystan growled, struggling through another stroke until he was treading water beside her. “You couldn’t have at least waited for a Cloak Float?”

She snorted at the thought of the garment often used when children learned to swim to keep them above water, resembling a cloak but made for the floating. She hadn’t seen one in years.

“I haven’t used a Cloak Float since I was a little girl.” She rolled her eyes, beginning to swim again. It didn’t bode well that her arms were already burning, the strength of the current not at all what she’d expected. “The boat must go all the way around to dock, whereas we will wash up”—she lost her breath momentarily when a wave came and pulled her under, but she bobbed up quickly—“on the beach.”

His hand closed around her waist, pulling her above water. “Hopefully not as a corpse,” he grumbled like a curmudgeonly old man, tugging her along through the current.