Sophie leans over the crystal ball, candlelight trembling over black silk sheets, while the Star Streak’s deep hum rolls through the cabin like distant surf. Her fingers circle the glass, and the orb clouds with silver mist.
Sophie
Miles is in the lower passage.
The image sharpens. In the corridor below, Miles moves with a bucket tucked tight against her side, glancing toward the stairwell as if waiting for a command.
Sophie turns the orb a fraction, and the view slides across the ship to Anna in the hold, one hand braced on the hull, listening to the new cannons settle into the frame.
Sophie
The ship remembers them.
Another shift of her wrist reveals Maisie below deck, bent over a chart, her braids loose over one shoulder as she marks the route by lampglow.
Sophie’s mouth stills. The crystal ball lingers on Kael Umal in a dim passage, black armor catching starlike pinpricks where the candlelight reaches it, his hand resting near the sword as if the ship itself has spoken to him.
A soft pulse passes through the orb, then a faint knock sounds at Sophie’s chamber door, light and uncertain, as if someone stands there and waits.
Learn who is at Sophie’s door