“Never thank a mercenary,” he replies. He glances at Magiano, who is busy squeezing water out of his braids. “I was paid.”

“You didn’t really think I stopped by the Night King’s court to only steal a single diamond pin, did you? I picked up some bags of gold on my way out.”

The mercenary crosses his arms, then introduces himself. “Sergio.”

“Adelina,” I say.

Violetta smiles when he looks at her. “Violetta,” she says. “The sister.”

She manages to coax a smile, even a laugh, from him. “No need for humility,” he replies. “Magiano mentioned your power.” At that, Violetta blushes pink.

Magiano nods at him. “You must be one of the Night King’s former men. Yes?”

Now I notice the many knives strapped to Sergio’s belt, the dagger tucked into his boot. Battle scars on his arms. “Yes,” Sergio says. “I was one of his mercenaries. You’ve heard the stories, I presume. Ten thousand of us, so they say, although we really number closer to five hundred.” He smiles again. “We just manage to give an impression of many men.”

“Why are you helping us?” I ask.

“No point in serving a dead man, is there? I’m sure several of his men are fighting over his vacancy right now, although I’ve no interest in ruling an island.” He tilts his head in Magiano’s direction. “He tells us you are the White Wolf, and you’re looking for allies. Is it true that you ran the Night King through with his own sword?”

And you loved it so, the whispers in my head say without warning, their little voices full of glee. I swallow hard, forcing them down. Even though my powers are still weak, I answer by conjuring an illusion of a shadow before us, transforming it into a faint semblance of Sergio. I note the look of awe on his face before I pull the illusion away. “Yes,” I reply.

Sergio regards me with renewed interest. “I’m not the only mercenary on board,” he says. “A dozen others among the crew are as well. Some of them even think you are ruling Merroutas right now.” He pauses and I notice a slight shift. “The Night King kept us in decent coin, though. What can you pay?”

Magiano looks on with a small smirk. “Ten times what he gave you,” I reply, making myself as tall as I can. “You’ve seen what I can do. I think you can guess at how powerful I can make my followers, how much I will reward them for their loyalty.”

Sergio lets out a low, mock whistle, then glances sidelong at Magiano. “You never told me she was rich.”

“I forgot.” Magiano shrugs.

“And you think her words carry weight?”

“I’m following her, aren’t I?”

The corner of Sergio’s mouth tilts up. “So you are.”

Beside me, Violetta is concentrating on Sergio in a way that can only mean she’s studying his energy. “You’re an Elite, too, aren’t you?” I ask.

He nods once, casually. “Perhaps.”

“You create storms.”

He stands a bit straighter. “I do.” He pauses to glance outside the tiny porthole, where the rain is still coming down. “It’s proven useful enough to the Night King, stealing from stray vessels and in turn destroying pirates that try to take from him. Still, storms require time to begin and end. We’ll have rough seas tonight.”

The boy who could control the rain. It must be him. Raffaele had never explicitly told me what happened to him, only that the Daggers refused to keep him. I thought they killed him—but here he is, alive.

“I’ve heard of you,” I say.

He snorts once. “I doubt that.”

“I used to work for the Daggers too.”

He stiffens immediately at the mention of the Daggers. My heart leaps a little. I was right. “You’re the boy who could not control the rain,” I press on.

Sergio takes a step back and regards me with a suspicious look. “Raffaele talked about me?”

“Yes, once.”

“Why?” Sergio’s entire demeanor has changed—all traces of amusement have disappeared from his face, replaced with something cold and hostile.

“He mentioned you as a warning for me to master my power,” I reply. “I thought they killed you.”

Sergio’s jaw tenses as he turns to watch the storm. He doesn’t answer me. A long moment of silence passes before he looks back to me again with a shrug. “Well, I’m here,” he says stiffly. “So you thought wrong.”

A sharp pain pricks my heart. Raffaele might have told Enzo to do the same thing to me. How can someone so gentle be so cold? Perhaps Raffaele was right on my count, at least—Enzo had refused to hurt me, and his decision destroyed him.

“Raffaele wanted me dead, you know,” I say after a while. “In the beginning. He cast me out after … Enzo’s death. I came here to Merroutas in search of other Elites, to put together a team of my own. I want to strike back at the Inquisition for all that they’ve put us through. We could be a team that far outpaces the Daggers. And together we can succeed.”

“Are you saying you want to seize the throne?” Sergio asks.

I weave a brief illusion around me, trying to emphasize my height and stature, making myself as regal as I can. If I’m going to recruit more Elites, I’m going to need to start looking like a leader. “I told you that I could pay ten times what the Night King paid you. Well, this is my proposal. The Kenettran crown’s treasuries would make the Night King’s pale in comparison.”