“TheMarelethanand her companions cannot be far.”
I glared darkly at him, raised a challenging brow. “Are you asking me to stay?”
“TheTouchstoneis not a schooling vessel,” he said. “And we have no place for an unskilled, wylde Blue. Still, you may have some small part to play in this great game,ifyou have the bones to play it.”
Unskilled. Wylde.
“And if I refuse?”
“You will be put overboard in our quartermaster’s favorite dory.”
“The one with the holes,” said Smoke. “Haven’t gotten around to tarring ’em yet.”
And he tipped his glass in my direction.
“You ran from the Navy,” I grumbled.
“We did not run from the Navy,” said Thanavar, pushing his thick, black hair off his forehead. “We ran from theTemplemore.”
“HMRSTemplemore,”I said.
“HMRSTemplemorewould see us at the bottom of the ocean, in flagrant violation of the King’s Marque.”
He had a point.
“I won’t breach naval law. I’m still on a Navy ship’s roll,” I said.
“A ship that is also at the bottom of the ocean.”
Forge, I hated this man.
“This is a bad idea,” said Fahr. “If she wishes to be returned to an Emperial port, we’re obliged to take her. TheTouchstonedoesn’t take hostages.”
“Anymore,” said Smoke.
Thanavar growled, and it was the most terrifying thing I’d ever heard.
But I didn’t look away. Nor would I speak first.
“Very well,” he said. “Ensign, if you do this one thing, we will take you to the Emperial port of your choosing.”
See what it means to serve the Ship of Spells, he had said. Forge, a part of me wanted that very much.
“Your skills as a mage are lacking,” he went on. “But that speaks more to the state of the Oversea Navy than you specifically. If I decide to let you stay, Mr. Fahr will be tasked with any training in magiks, if and when I see fit.”
Fahr’s brows shot up. “I didn’t agree to that,” he barked.
“I did not ask,” said the captain, and he turned to face me. “Well?”
I swallowed, tried to slow the racing of my thoughts. Every nerve in my body was on high alert just being in the same cabin as this dangerous man. He was a blade of oiled steel in a captain’s coat, mysterious and lethal. I knew at some point, he’d draw blood.
Still, this was the Ship of Spells, filled to the masts with magik and skill I could learn. I’d never get this chance again.
Finally, I nodded, not entirely sure what I was agreeing to.
“Mr. Oakum,” said the captain. “Have Mr. Worley send a swift to High Temple and notify the king of the attack on Hodgetown. Tell him that we would have been able to put out the blaze entirely had not his dog Bracebridge interfered yet again.”
Thanavar downed the last of his wine.
