Page 67 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

His accent had always been thick. “Someone has to keep you all in line,” I joked.

He laughed and served some potatoes, mixed vegetables, and a piece of roasted pork.

“Thanks,” I said to him as I took my plate. “Has Sage been down yet?”

It wasn’t any of my business to ask really. I’d upset her earlier, and I may have been a bit harsher than I meant, but she just pushed and pushed. Those shows were traps to get crew to spend all their money and usually get so hammered they didn’t remember whether or not the show was any good. Sometimes there was a real spectacle but usually it was just a scam, and I couldn’t babysit her for something like that.

“Haven’t seen ‘er,” he said.

I grumbled to myself. She could be as mad as she wanted, but at least she needed to eat.

Make me up another plate, please,” I said to Alek.

“I’m gonna run this to her,” I told Bramwell. “I’ll be right back.”

He nodded. “How… kind of you.”

“Shut it,” I shot back, understanding his insinuation.

I was just caring for… an important guest. We couldn’t return a princess in worse shape than we got her in. That wouldn’t work. There was nothing else to it.

Even the lie sounded daft in my own head. But it didn’t matter, I was already most of the way to her room by the time my mental gymnastics session was over.

I knocked, three hard raps, but she didn’t answer.

So I tried again. “Sage, open up.”

Nothing but the sound of the Violet Ghost shifting.

Once more I knocked, to no response.

She must be asleep. We were out all day. Or she was just ignoring me. But that wasn’t really in her nature. Lashing out was more like her.

So I slowly, quietly, pushed the door open with the tip of my tail. I’d leave the plate on the desk for her to have whenever she wanted it. She had to eat eventually.

Though the lamp was off, the bit of light that showed through the cracked door told me one thing.

She wasn’t there.

I flung the door open and looked around, as if she could have been hiding away in a drawer, but she was nowhere to be found.

Leaving the plate, I rushed up to the main deck, where everyone who was left was stationed.

I ran into Links first, who was leaning against one of the ballasts, waiting for the next time he needed to do rounds. He had a knife in one hand, and was carving away at a piece of wood in his hands to keep busy.

“Links,” I said.

When he heard me, he stood straighter, pocketing his knife.

“Captain,” he said, nodding.

“Have you seen Sage?”

He thought for a moment. “Yeah, she and Anne left a little while ago.”

“Anne?” I questioned. “Isn’t she meant to be on rotation right now?”

Links nodded. “Yeah, left Bee stationed, they’re pissed.”