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The cold hit me the moment I stepped onto the deck.

My breath misted in front of my face, disappearing into the thick fog that had swallowed the sea and turned the world beyond the railings into nothing but shifting grey.

I followed Helion into it, pulling my arms tighter around myself as the ship groaned beneath our feet.

“Are we nearing Stonebriar?” I asked, rubbing my hands along my arms to try and stop the chill seeping to my core.

“No, we’re nowhere near the Mortal Kingdom,” Helion said, his gaze drifting over the fog-shrouded water. “It shouldn’t be this cold out here. The rot must be spreading faster than we realised.”

Aldric stood at the helm, both hands wrapped around the spokes as the ship cut through the dark water.

He wore his winter coat, though the fabric no longer looked as immaculate as it once had. There was a rough patch at his chest where he had torn our family sigil from the fabric, leaving behind frayed threads and a pale ghost of what had been there.

His overgrown golden strands hung across his forehead and into his weary eyes, making him look less like the polished prince he had always tried to be and more like someone who had finally run out of reasons to pretend.

And strangely, I felt proud of him for not shoving himself into the constraints of perfectionism.

The Hell’s vessel drifted several lengths off our side, cutting silently through the heavy fog like a corpse being carried downstream. Its white sails emerged and disappeared between pale tendrils of mist while waves crashed against the hull as if it were desperate to drag it to the depths.

“Aldric,” Helion called. “Bring us alongside her.”

“I’m not sure I can,” Aldric admitted plainly, tightening his hands around the wheel.

I knew what that honesty cost him.

Admitting he didn’t know something had never come easily to Aldric. In the world we came from, incompetence was met with punishment.

“Starboard two points,” Helion ordered, ignoring him. “Ease the helm once her bow lines with ours. Then hold her parallel. Do not let our stern swing out.”

Aldric stared at him, eyes narrowing to a glare.

“Turn the fucking wheel to the right,” Helion sighed. “Just get us close enough that we don’t have to swim, Mortal boy.”

Aldric gritted his teeth and threw his weight against the wheel.

The deck shifted beneath my bare feet, making me stumble into Helion as our bow slowly angled towards the other vessel.

“Easy,” Helion yelled, steadying me. “You’re oversteering her. Bring her up another point.”

The gap between the ships narrowed as I gripped the railing, watching the swell rise and fall against the ship.

Ten feet.

Eight.

Five.

For one terrible moment I thought the hulls were going to slam together and I braced myself, knuckles gripping the railing until they turned white.

“Hold her there,” Helion yelled sharply as the gap closed, the ship swaying viciously.

Helion looped his arm around my waist, pulling tightly against his body as he reached up and grabbed a rope. “Hold on, Sunshine.”

“What are you⁠—”

He jumped.

The air left my lungs in a whoosh, frigid air tearing against my face.