All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth, #1)

by Adalyn Grace

Amabons, ginnada, and dresses from the finest fabrics, all to woo the impressionable princess they believe I am. Boys in the kingdom think they can buy my love and title, and I let them believe it. Nothing can compare to the lavish trinkets of hungry suitors, and I’m not keen on ending their generosity.

He’ll have to treat me with the respect the future queen deserves. I may be one of the few possible heirs left, but I am not the fragile, breakable thing he believes me to be.

Wine-coated laughter bubbles in the air and layers itself on top of the music.

“Code of conduct, Princess—if you don’t want stowaways, be sure to draw up the ladder once you’re done climbing it.”

I am the right choice. The only choice. And I will protect my kingdom.

“Have you anything for me to wear to bed?” I ask Bastian, who frowns from his position in the doorway. “I’m not accustomed to bringing princesses aboard Keel Haul.” He’s hardly apologetic. “Can’t you wear what you have on?” I lift a brow. “This is a ceremonial outfit I just killed a man in. So no, I won’t be wearing this to sleep, thank you. And all I have beneath this dress is skin I’d prefer to keep covered, considering I’m on a pirate’s ship.” While Ferrick’s pale skin darkens to crimson, Bastian’s expression contorts into feigned horror. “Keel Haul may be ferocious, but she is still a lady. I would never dare plague her sensitivity by having you parade around naked.”

“Every town has an underbelly. You just need to know where to look.

remember that if you try anything, I’ll stab you without a second thought.” “Are you flirting with me? It’s a bit hard to tell, considering how terrifying you are.”

“The world doesn’t work with only your eyes, Princess. There’s truth in more than what you can see.”

Ferrick looks as ill as he did back on Keel Haul. It’s clear he’s mentally processing the news as his forehead scrunches. “I’ve never met a Zudian before.” “And I’ve never met someone who could regrow a severed limb,” Bastian muses. “Alas, we both exist.”

“We’re useless without these girls. Vataea’s magic saved us. You don’t get to call her defective after she’s been made a prisoner for gods knows how long. Apologize.”

“I’ve a collection of men who I intend to repay for how generous they were to me.” Vataea’s smile gleams wicked. “Dismemberment for anyone who ever tried to touch me. The tongue flayed from those with wicked mouths. And the hearts eaten from any man who’s ever told me to smile.”

This creature is extraordinary; something of legends. If I want to beat it, then I’m going to need to be extraordinary, too.

There’s something richly satisfying in giving all of yourself up to an act of creation. It’s like magic. It demands your focus and requires a small piece of your soul to complete.

He smells of sea and sunlight. Of adventure. It clings to his shirt and makes its home in his hair.

His words taste like challenge. I take the bait.

“I’m a pirate,” he says quietly, as though the words are a dangerous curse. “All my life I’ve had to play that role just to survive, and the more I played, the more the lines got blurred of who I really was. I’ve never had someone else in my life that I’ve cared for the way I care about you, and I guess … I’m still getting used to that. If I told you the truth, I thought you might hate me.

But even our idols—even those we want to love and trust more than anything—can let us down. It’s time we accept it and face the reality they left us with.

We’re more than our blood, both of us. Doing what we can now is all that matters.”

There’s a cold judgment in his words that snags my skin and caves my insides.

Bastian once asked me why I didn’t just find a crew and save myself. But what he didn’t realize was that I’d already found them—this is my crew, and I hold them tight. “We’ll do this together. All of us.”

I feel the very moment breath leaves his body and his soul disappears to the gods.

All I see is red. Red. Red. Red. Red as the blood Father bathes in. Red as the blood Bastian falls to the floor and chokes on. Red as the blood that will forever stain my soul. Red like the coat of blood I will weave over Kaven’s corpse.