Ship to Nowhere (The Clockwork FaerieTale Novellas) A Sindbad and the Seven Seas Retelling by Jes Drew ➱ Pre Order Tour with Giveaway

 

Ship to Nowhere

A Sinbad and the Seven Seas Retelling

The Clockwork FaerieTale Novellas Book 4

by Jes Drew

Genre: Steampunk Romantic Fairytale Retelling 

The inauguration year of Queen Victoria sees a world where the seven seas are yet un-mapped and filled with mystery . . .

Sindbad had room in his heart for one love: the sea. Unlike women, the sea would never betray him, and it was never hard to determine the ocean's mood. The sea kept things simple; just him and his men traveling the globe and discovering new territory for Her Majesty the Queen. But his newest cabin boy is hiding a secret that could derail Sindbad's carefully charted course . . .

Dunyazad is running out of time to rescue her sister from the murderous tyrant she has fallen into the clutches of. With the well of stories keeping Scheherazade alive going dry, Dunyazad decides to have an adventure of her own to be spun into a tale long enough to last until she find a powerful ally that will rescue her sister once and for all. But her tenuous plan depends on her keeping her true identity— and gender— a secret from the misogynistic captain or else risk being stranded on a deserted island. If only the man weren't so infuriating, or handsome . . .

Falling in love may be the most dangerous adventure of all to be found on the Seven Seas.

The Clockwork Faerie Tale Novella series can be read as standalones or together, for whenever you want your steampunk happily ever after.

**Only .99 cents!!**

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Something seems to have uncorked in Sindbad, because he straightens up and then steps toward her with so much menace, that Dahra stumbles backward to get away.

Sindbad’s arms shoot out to grab her. Steady her. Keep her from escaping.

“Since you think you know me so well,” Sindbad adds hotly, “let me tell you a few things about you.”

Dahra glances down at his hands on her elbows and then back up at him. “I don’t understand why you’re upset.”

“I’m upset because you are so naïve of the ways of this world, yet think you have some knowledge on me, a seasoned sailor. Don’t think it isn’t obvious to me that this expedition is your first time outside your family home.”

“Well, y-yes.” Dahra glances at Luna for support, but she’s busy turning off the water. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have eyes to see or ears to hear. Or a heart that can barely understand all you’ve done for me, a stranger, already. But it does know it wants to return that help in some small way.”

“By almost getting us all killed by your bad behavior toward Queen Nefriti? So that I had to kiss her to secure us safe passage?”

Dahra stares at him, wordless. 

Suddenly, Sindbad releases her, and she almost falls backward. Then one of Sindbad’s arms shoots out to snake around her waist and steady her in a way that brings her closer to him.

His other hand takes hold of her chin and raises it to meet his. “I need you to understand this and understand it well. I’m only helping you because you’re on my ship and I take care of my own. You don’t own me, and I don’t owe you anything.”

“I never said you did!”

Sindbad’s eyes flash, and Dahra wonders if he even heard her. “I don’t trust you. I don’t love you. I don’t anything, understand?”

To Dahra’s great disgust, she feels tears pricking her eyes as she mumbles something she hopes Sindbad finds affirmative. Her Abba was only ever this upset once, and that was when Scheherazade said she was going to marry the cruel raja. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Luna step forward nervously, looking like she wants to help but isn’t sure how to.

Just like Dahra did when Shahra gave that announcement. Only, it was her Abba that she sided with then.

“I don’t care,” Sindbad is repeating like a mantra. “I will never care. Caring is how people get hurt. And I’ve already been hurt so deep, my wounds will only bleed all over you.”

“I’m not afraid of blood,” Dahra whispers.

Sindbad’s eyes narrow into slits, and Dahra once again wonders if she’s said the wrong thing.

Then all thought leaves her mind when Sindbad bends down and presses his rough lips onto hers.

Her eyes widen with the sheer shock of it. But then the roughness dissolves in a tender movement from her mouth, and she feels her eyes drift shut. 

Sindbad’s arms tighten around her, making her feel safe and steady. Even as his mouth makes her feel dangerous and dizzy. And even dressed like a boy, she feels like a woman.

Wait, she’s dressed like a boy.

Dahra pushes away from Sindbad, who immediately releases her. Which is unfortunate, because she keeps falling backward, until she hits the bed with her tailbone.

Clutching the mattress, she turns to Sindbad, who is rubbing his face earnestly, as though a terrible rash just broke out across it.

And behind him is Luna, her mouth partially open. 

Of the three of them, Luna composes herself first. “Is that why you do not find me desirable, captain?”

Sindbad rubs his face a moment more before realizing what she said. Then he whirls toward her like she might have the healing aloe for his invisible rash. “What? No! That’s just . . . the culture of my people. We stop sassy mouths with a kiss. It’s more humane than slapping them.”

“Oh.” Luna blinks.

And Dahra wonders if this is the tradition of the Englishman he was raised to be or of the Arabian blood flowing through in him. She’s never seen either culture do such a thing.

Sindbad rubs his face again, this time glancing over his fingers, his gaze catching on hers.

And she sees in that moment that what he just said to Luna is a lie. There are smoldering flames of attraction in his eyes.

Dahra gulps. Does he . . . know? “You said you’ve kissed two women in your life . . .”

She waits without breathing to see how he will take his sentence.

Sindbad shrugs one shoulder. “And apparently a boy who needed his sassing mouth stopped. Let that be a lesson to you.”

Dropping his hands to his sides in an awkwardly stiff manner, he nods to the room in general. “I’ll see you both shortly.”

With that, he turns and strides out of the room with exactly two steps.

Excerpt 2 

“I can’t believe we’re actually possibly the first people to walk on this land,” the cabin boy is saying. “Well, the first men, actually. Obviously the first woman to step here is still to come.”

“Hey,” Sindbad snaps. “Keep it down over there.”

The cabin boy turns to face Sindbad while he keeps moving forward with the cartographer. “Must you hate everything you do?”

“Well, that sneer on your face is pretty hateful—”

Suddenly, a prayer Sindbad didn’t even realize he prayed is answered, and the cabin boy takes a step that swallows him up, completely out of view.

The boy’s answering high-pitched scream reminds Sindbad that that is not very normal behavior at all.

He rushes forward and stops where the earth seems to open into a massive hole about the size of their two dingeys put together. The chasm seems to lead only to darkness, and rotten fish-smelling darkness at that.

A terrible vision of having to tell some heartbroken widow that her eldest son perished at sea and left her alone to provide for his five younger siblings alone flashes through his mind’s eye. Until he sees a glimmer of hope. 

Just a few feet below, the cabin boy is somehow clutching the wall and hanging on as tight as he possibly can.

“Red!” Sindbad yells, and his first mate drops his backpacks instantly before running over.

“Hold onto my ankles,” Sindbad orders before looking down at the boy. “I’m coming to get you.”

The boy whimpers in reply, and it’s probably a good thing the other men are standing back far enough not to hear how feminine he sounds.

“I have you,” the Red Djinn says cautiously.

The cartographer drops his scrolls and rushes over to hold onto the Red Djinn’s waist. “And I got you.”

He probably just reduced strength from this endeavor, but Sindbad doesn’t have time to worry about that. Instead, he launches himself downward. 

Going head-first down a pit with only a genie and a boy for support is never fun. But even less fun is the way the momentum sends Sindbad face-first into the wall, which turns out to be wet, sticky, strangely soft, and definitely the source of the stench.

Gagging, he pushes away enough to see the boy just below him, looking up with wide eyes from where his hands are squeezing together a flap of the wall to hold onto.

Sindbad wipes the wetness from the wall off on his pants and then grasps the boy’s wrists. “I’ve got you.”

“You’re not going to drop me?” he whispers.

“What? Of course not. You’re one of my men.” Even if he is Sindbad’s least favorite.

“I have him!” Sindbad yells. “Pull us up!”

The other men must have joined the huddle, because Sindbad is tugged up a lot more quickly than he expected.

He hits the ground on his side and rolls over in time for the boy to land on his stomach.

Sindbad gasps at the uncomfortable position. Thankfully, the boy isn’t as scrawny as he looks, and some baby fat softens the blow.

The boy pushes himself up enough to stare down at Sindbad, his eyes wide and slime dripping from him to Sindbad. Not that Sindbad needed anymore slime.

“Thank you,” the boy gasps.

“That’s why you listen to orders,” Sindbad answers.

Before he can continue berating the kid, though, the earth shakes.

The cabin boy grasps Sindbad’s neck for security, almost strangling him, as he tries to sit up.

“What’s happening?” the cartographer cries out.

Even as the ground continues to shake, Sindbad hears a loud rushing sound.

Turning cautiously, Sindbad peers over the pit.

And sees a great deal of water flooding the pit, rapidly rising. 

The island was flooding?

He turns to face the beach and sees that the sand has receded, and the dingeys are halfway floating.

“To the boats!” Sindbad yells, jumping up cabin boy and all, and leading the way. 

Excerpt 3

Clearing his throat, Sindbad straightens and clears his throat. So, this is to be the woman he must face the rest of his life with. And he doesn’t even get to see her face before exchanging vows.

The entourage reaches him, and all the maids disperse to the right or the left, save the woman in white. She comes to stand before him.

“Stretch out your right hands,” the priest demands.

After trying to catch some view of her through the veil, Sindbad gives up and holds out his hand just as she stretches out her much daintier, gloved appendage.

The priest ties a red sash around Sindbad’s wrist, twists it around his hand, and then twists it around the maid’s gloved hand before securing it on her wrist.

“Speak the first vow,” the priest orders.

Sindbad startles. Does the priest just assume he knows their wedding vows?

“The first of seven,” he adds.

This startles Sindbad still more. Would these Seven Vows be the same vows germane of the wedding ceremonies of India? Are these people the descendants of Indians, come here long ago and still clinging to their most sacred of traditions, passed down from a previous age?

“I will offer you food and be helpful in every way,” breathes the woman in white in a soft voice.

That part sounds familiar. Racking his mind, Sindbad remembers the counter vow. “I will cherish you and provide welfare and happiness to you and our children.”

This appears to be acceptable to the priest. “Second vow.”

Sindbad clears his throat, which has gone strangely tight. “Together we will protect our house and children.”

A voice far sweeter and more reverent than his responds. “I will be by your side as your courage and strength. I will rejoice in your happiness. In return, you will love me solely.”

Sindbad’s knees start to buckle. This is becoming far too real. He was anticipating a pagan ceremony that held no meaning to him. Not vows that, though pagan in origin, were sanctioned by the Queen of England herself as legally binding to all who swore by them.

“Third vow.”

Clutching the red tie in his hands, Sindbad continues. “May we grow wealthy and prosperous and strive for the future of our children.”

“I will love you solely for the rest of my life, as you are my husband. Every other man in my life will be secondary. I vow to remain chaste.”

“Fourth vow.”

Sindbad closes his eyes to hide from the panic and try to stop himself from imagining that it is Dahro he is speaking to. “May we be blessed with noble and obedient children.”

The sweet, innocent voice finds him even in the darkness. “I will shower you with joy, from head to toe. I will strive to please you in every way I can.”

“Fifth vow.”

His very tongue is heavy now, but he knows what is required of him. “You are my best friend, and my staunchest well-wisher. You have come into my life, enriching it. God bless you.”

Her voice is faltering as well, Sindbad notices. “I promise to love you and cherish you for as long as I live. Your happiness is my happiness, and your sorrow is my sorrow. I will trust and honor you and will strive to fulfill all your wishes.”

“Sixth vow.” The priest’s voice is like a battering ram on Sindbad’s aching head. Is this what Rani felt when he wed her to Aladdin? This great fear and dread and commitment beyond what she could have ever anticipated?

Sindbad licks his dry lips. “Now that you have taken six steps with me, you have filled my heart with immense happiness. Will you do the kindness of filling my heart with happiness like this for all times?”

This time, the bride’s words come out clear and strong, steady and sure. “I will always be by your side.”

“Seventh vow.”

Sindbad forces his eyes open to be a man and face his fate, this woman and white, while he seals their future. “We are now husband and wife and are one. You are mine and I am yours for eternity.”

“As God is witness, I am now your wife. We will love, honor, and cherish each other forever.”

“You are now bound.

My Clockwork Faerie Tale Novellas series is a going to be a twelve book series of fairy-tale retellings that take place in a steampunk world where magic and science mingle under the rule of the British empire across the world. Each book is a different retelling (or in at least one case, two!) with its own happy ending that doesn’t depend on the other books. But, the books do have characters that interconnect with each other. The first book, Red as Blood is a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves/Snow White and Rose Red retelling set in the wild west. Both sisters get their men in that book, but the huntsman’s story is told in Sleep Like Poison, the Sleeping Beauty retelling set in the Caribbean Islands. Aurora’s brother Aladdin then gets his romantic adventure in Wisps at Night, an Aladdin and the Magic Lamp retelling set in India. Finally, we come to his best friend Sindbad’s tale in Ship to Nowhere. But while he gets his HEA, there are still several characters who are waiting for their own fairy-tale ending: Shahrazad, the Red Djinn, and of course, Percheval and Luna. Next, though, is going to be my Beauty and the Beast retelling following Dahra’s French ally as he deals with a dreadful curse of lycanthropy, werewolf hunters, and a wicked alchemist in the upcoming Rose with Thorns.

Jes Drew is the author of the Ninja and Hunter trilogy, the Howling Twenty trilogy, the Kristian Clark saga, the Castaways trilogy, The Dystopian Takeover trilogy, The Clockwork Faerie Tale Novellas, The Summers of Yesteryear series, Legends of the Master Spy, The New ESE Files, Tales from Parallel Worlds, Genie and Serena, PIs, Accidentally on the Run, and This Side of Heaven. Her true love is Captain Steve Rogers, and there is a possibility that she may or may not be a superhuman, but she hasn't discovered her powers. Yet. Also, she might be a spy, but that's classified.

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