Namesake (Fable, #2)

by Adrienne Young

I wasn’t just some Jevali dredger or a pawn in Zola’s feud with West. I was Saint’s daughter. And before I left the Luna, every bastard on this crew was going to know it.

“Some trader in the Narrows is going port to port, setting fire to ships. Looking for a vessel called the Luna.” I froze, my heart jumping up into my throat. Saint. Or West. It had to be.

“Isolde is the reason Holland has had a bounty on my head all these years. She’s the reason I lost any chance I had at trading in the Unnamed Sea and the reason I haven’t been back since.” “What are you saying?” “I’m saying that when I helped Holland’s daughter escape Bastian, I fell out of her good graces.”

But a scent I knew poured into my lungs as I inhaled and looked up into green eyes, the glass shaking furiously in my hand. West.

“You can’t be serious,” Paj rasped. “Is there a bastard from here to the Narrows you’re not related to?”

“I’m serious, Koy. Why?” He shrugged. “You’re Jevali.” “No, I’m not.” His gaze was pinned to the sky. “I figure if you’ve ever fallen asleep on that island not sure if you’ll wake up again, that makes you a Jevali.” I smiled in the dark. For the first time, my memory of those years didn’t make my heart ache. He was right. We’d survived together. And that was a bond not easily broken.

them slowly becoming friends is everything I didn't know I needed

“Not yet,” Saint interrupted, still standing in the center of the platform. “I still have new business.” The man gaped at him. “New business? Now?” “That’s right.” He pulled another parchment from his jacket. “I’d like to submit a request for a license to trade at the port of Bastian.” His voice echoed. “On behalf of my daughter and her ship, the Marigold.” I stopped breathing, every drop of blood stilling in my veins. My daughter.

“I didn’t leave you on Jeval because I don’t love you.” “Saint.” I tried to stop him. But he ignored me. “I left you there because—” “It doesn’t matter.” “It does.” He looked up then, the blue in his eyes rimmed in red. “I left you there because I have never loved anything in my life like I love you. Not Isolde. Not the trade. Nothing.”