The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee

Author:Mackenzi Lee [Lee, Mackenzi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2021-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

The Azores

17

We approach the island of São Miguel in the middling hours that seem neither night nor morning, the sky bright navy but absent of stars. Even in the darkness, the knuckled edges of the island’s silhouette flush green on the horizon, the foliage drunk on the heavy rain of late spring. The peaks are splattered with moonlight, though it’s only as our ship comes into port that I realize what I thought was light is actually flowers in full bloom, silver gray and spangled across the cliffs like they’ve been tossed along the aisle at a wedding.

In spite of the hour, the port of Ponta Delgada is still frantic with activity. Ships of every size are congregated in the harbor. Fishing sloops bob in between huge Spanish warships, all unmanned, their crews having spilled into the whorehouses and bars and casinos like a bottle of cheap wine poured over the city as they wait for their next departure. As we row from the ship, I can hear several alehouse bands blaring in what seems to be a competition of who can play the loudest and most out of tune. Smudges of smoky torchlight stud the balconies of brothels. Three women sitting on the rail catcall and throw bottles at us as our longboat approaches the dock, all of which fall short and splash into the water beside us, where they float like the dark round backs of octopuses. One of the women nearly pitches herself off the balcony with the enthusiasm of her throw, then overcorrects and falls backward in a mess of petticoats.

Saad, George, Sim, and I, along with two of Saad’s guards, go to shore, while the rest of the crew stays on the Dey. Behind it, the Eleftheria sits precariously low in the water, testing the tow ropes connecting the two ships. As soon as our longboat is tied off, Saad takes George to the dockmaster’s station to pay the port taxes. He calls Sim to follow him, and she glances quickly from his retreating back to me.

Please don’t leave me here, I think. Please don’t make me find my sister by myself.

“I don’t know where she is, or what name she’s going by, but she’s here,” Sim tells me quietly. “Ask around. Good luck.”

Good luck? All I get is a good luck? No help or directions or advice on how to navigate this town where I have to make way for a drunk man leading a cow in a lady’s floral bonnet, talking to her like they’re on a romantic outing, before I’ve even reached the main road? I stand, frozen on the end of the dock, staring after the Crown and Cleaver men and wishing I could follow them. A pack of women with their faces painted sprints past me toward the water, pulling their dresses off as they go. I get a brief glimpse of large, white breasts before one of them kisses me on the cheek as she passes, shrieking with laughter. My skin crawls, the collar of my shirt cinching around my neck like a garrote.

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