"Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!"

Fine sand seeped through the cracks in the ceiling and onto the sweaty heads of the chanting crowd. Pirates big and small moved aside to let Alex pass. Sure, not all were cheering, but still enough for her to question their sanity. Was this an elaborate joke she was too dumb to understand?

Her stomach turned as she stepped onto the platform. The sickeningly sweet odour that oozed from the lifeless body of Boyar Kalin didn't help either. 

"Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!"

Smiling coldly, Neja crooked her index finger and beckoned Alex to stand close to her deceased husband. Just her luck. Had she eaten anything recently, she would have hurled.

"Why in the Gods' names would I allow your candidacy?" Neja hissed. "What makes you think you could be a Boyar?"

"I don't think I could," she said. When boos erupted from the crowd, she added, "But I guess I would make a fine Boyarina."

"Silly Greenie," Neja chuckled. "Only the wife of a Boyar can be a Boyarina. Man or woman bearing the title, they'd still be the Boyar."

"Oh," was all Alex could muster.

Neja moved closer. "I repeat my question—why you?"

Alex gestured at the frantic crowd. "They think it's a good idea."

"Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!"

Neja didn't wait for the cheering to die. "But what do you have to offer?"

King Thomas, was her first thought. She bit her lip and held her breath to not have to smell death's pungent stench. She couldn't think—the old Boyar with sunken cheeks, blood-red eyes staring into nowhere and strange red spots near the mouth called for her.

At first, she wanted to look away, not acknowledge that she was feet away from a rotting corpse. Then she narrowed her eyes. In this temperature, worms and maggots would be feasting on his skin, but there wasn't even a fly circling around him. What had Neja said? Blurred visions in the days before he died, lack of appetite, and his heart stopping for moments at a time. 

All the signs of foxglove poisoning.

"You loved Boyar Kalin, didn't you?" Alex asked Neja.

"I did." The Boyarina stared longingly at the decaying body. "I still do. But that's not relevant for your candidacy."

"If someone had wanted to harm him, what would you have done?"

Neja's nostrils flared. "What are you implying? What did that Goddess of Lust and her Kraken hellspawn do?"

"Nothing. Captain Ilona and Pan were hundreds of miles away on the Kraken's Kiss," Alex said. Or that she assumed anyway. "Did anyone approach Boyar Kalin before he got ill?"

Neja pursed her lips, then finally said, "Nobody but a close friend."

Alex was about to ask who, when the Boyarina glanced at Selachii. The man was fidgeting with the shark tooth around his neck, his gaze set to the back of the cave, as though he didn't want to meet anyone's eyes.

"Do you trust this friend?"

"Yes, he..." Neja didn't finish the sentence. "Why should I believe you, Kraken Greenie?"

"Dead bodies are a feast for insects. But don't see any swarming around Kalin."

"He's a Boyar—the Gods protect his body."

"Fine, but I recognise foxglove poisoning when I see it," Alex persisted.

"Boyar Kalin was murdered!" yelled Kaisa from the left side of the cave. "Murdered. That's why he smells so sweetly—poison."

"Monkey talk!" shouted a beanpole of a man. "He was old. Old people die."

"Or you're saying that because you killed him." The woman standing next to him gritted her teeth.

"Or the girl did." He threw her a punch. "Foxglove doesn't grow on the Islands."

She dug his fingers into the single belt around his chest and struck him. There were shouts and screams. The cave rumbled under the weight of the accusations flying from one side to the other. Knives were drawn. Eyes were smashed. People fell with a crash, and only a few got up again. Sand, blood, and water formed a pool of deadly mud.

Neja moved closer to Alex, tense as she threw glances as Selachii, who remained stoically calm.

"Who are you?" she asked Alex, softer than a whisper.

"I'm Alex—a lowborn Greenie who left her home looking for a more exciting life."

"But really?"

She swallowed. "Someone who has seen the evil that men in power do to gain more power. Your husband had to die because someone wished to take his place."

"And you—is it power that you seek?"

Alex moved her head from side to side.

"Good, a Boyar's life would be a disappointment if that is what you crave."

"Then what is all of this?"

"Organised madness to please a bunch of pathetic monkeys," Neja said. Then she grabbed Alex by the arm and raised it into the air. Her voice overpowered the crowd. "Young, spirited, and devoted. A vote for Alex is a vote for justice and revenge. I approve."

Neja's approval helped her regain the attention of the crowd. She rallied the Captains to reason with their crews so they could continue. Eventually, three more candidates were picked. Rado, A two-belted gunner from the Silvertooth Raiders, a four-belted Jade Wolf whose name was too long to remember, and Miro, the Captain of the Morian Phantoms.

The Morian Phantoms, the pirates who had repeatedly attacked the Port of Diligence. The short man with long curly hair and a crooked smile that hid behind his curlier beard was the whole reason Alex had left Sunstone Castle. But the Morian Captain was of little importance any more; her mission had taken a turn neither General George nor King Thomas could have foreseen.

"Now that we have all candidates," Neja said, "the voting begins. The rules are simple—one vote only, you can't vote for your own crew, and every hundredth vote, the pirate with the least shells will be forced to leave. And do not dawdle—we're all thirsty."

As if chased by the Gods of Sin, the pirates swarmed to one end of the platform where blood continued flowing as men and women alike continued their feuds and discussions about the death of Boyar Kalin. The more civilised pirates placed bets to switch positions, but when a young boy squeezed his way to the front, a slim but tall woman pushed him back where he had come from. A one-belted lad hit his head against the rocks where he laid motionlessly.

One by one, the pirates approached the candidates. First, they bowed for their fallen Boyar, then proceeded to the dropping of the shell. Some with quick to stride towards their favourite candidate, while others paced back and forth. Shouts were never far away.

Captain Miro was the first to receive a snap from Neja's fingers. His shells, only a handful, were cast aside. He left the platform, seething in anger and muttering that the ceremony was a farce.

While Alex agreed, she couldn't ignore the colourful collection of shells covering her shoes. She counted ten or eleven pink maidens from the Jade Daughters, seven brown grinning Driftwood Dog hounds and a yellow flower.

"For Kalin," said a three-belted Damned Serpent gave her snake to Alex, after which the two- and one-belted crew members followed her lead.

"Foxglove thrives in Silvermark," said a four-belted Morian Phantom after which he dropped his blue ghost to the pile. "Challenge Selachii. The Gods will be on your side."

Alex's confidence grew, but so was Selachii's pile. Most older men gave their shell to the Silvermarker. And he wasn't her only serious contender. The majority of the older women favoured Learta, the handsome helmsman of The Bloody Eels.

Voting wasn't a personal choice. The Silent Sharks voted randomly for unpopular candidates, a strategy that The Kraken's Kiss copied. The Bloody Eels were more divided, with half of them going for either her or Selachii—much to the dismay of Learta who muttered that his crew were a bunch of witless jellyfish.

In the end, Alex, Learta, and Selachii were the last remaining candidates on the platform. The piles in front of them were so large, it was impossible to assign a winner, so Neja proceeded by counting the shells. A nerve-wracking exercise which led to another breath-stealing result: One hundred and fifty-six shells for Learta, one hundred and fifty-eight for Selachii, and one hundred and fifty-eight for Alex too.

An eerie silence filled the cave. A tie.

"Not so popular, are you now?" grinned Selachii.

Alex shrugged. "Just as much as you, murderer."

"Magicians and Greenlanders I killed, aye. But not Kalin."

"The Gods know if that's a lie."

Selachii averted his gaze. "They do indeed."

A great tumult arose anew in the cave.

"Silence!" Neja shouted. "The voting isn't over yet." She calmed down. "Not everybody has cast their vote yet."

"Us." Selachii flipped his own shell. "I give it to Learta."

"So do I," Alex said. This way all three of them had the same number of shells. It was up to Learta to declare a winner.

The helmsman scratched the tuft of hair that grew below the scar on his chest. His gaze alternated between her and Selachii. "It should have been me," he said. "Now I have to decide between a rogue Silvermarker and a Greenie. It goes against everything I stand for. The Boyar should be an Islander."

"You can't vote for yourself," Neja reminded him.

"A shame."

"You could vote for half an Islander," Alex suggested. "My father was from Hamra. I grew up listening to his stories. Since I was little, I've always wanted to come here. He was a pirate too."

Learta cocked his head. "What was his name?"

"Vanya. Son of Penko."

"Vanya from Hamra." Wrinkles formed around Learta's eyes as he absently played with his shell. "The one who went to The Greenlands? I remember him—he was a Ghost."

"A Sailing Ghost, yes."

"Do you want to follow in his footsteps?"

Alex hesitated—did Learta also know about Father's friendship with Lord Brandon? "If you mean going to The Greenlands, then no." She grinned. "Except to steal their riches and teach them who the real rulers of the Jade Sea are."

"I don't trust you, Alex, daughter of Vanya of Hamra, but you're lucky I trust the last man to see Boyar Kalin far less." Learta threw his shell at her. "Meet me aboard the Bloody Eel tonight, My Boyar. You and I have a lot of catching up to do."

As the crowd chanted her name, a rush of euphoria washed over her. She was the new Boyar. The muttonheads had chosen her. It felt so good it was almost too good to be true.

"Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!"

Neja joined her by her side. "I approved your candidacy. Tell the crowd you wish to challenge Selachii."

"Can't I arrest him?" She waved at the pirates to keep them cheering for her.

"You ain't no proper Boyar or Queen. Accuse him and let the Gods decide his fate.

"How would that work?"

"You challenge him for a trial by combat. If you win, he's innocent."

Her ribs still ached. The prospect of a fight didn't appeal to her. "And what if I don't?"

"Then you're a fraud who shouldn't be our Boyar."

With one eye raised, Alex turned to Selachii. The man had retreated to the back of the platform. He was guilty, and he knew it. But the crowd was frantic; They would do the dirty work for her.

She shrugged. "I won't risk it—It's not my fight."

"Curse you, you Greenlander Kraken."

Alex smiled. Oh, how, the Pirates would come to curse her. The reign of the last Pirate Boyar had begun.  By the time the pirates would realise she had perfectly infiltrated the source of all raids, it would already be too late. The Greenlander army would know which attack to expect where, perhaps even when. Her mission would be a success.

If only Nick and Seb could see her now.