I nodded but bit down harder on the leather.
Smoke leaned in now, and my jaw clenched as the ring slid into the fresh wound. A sharp bloom of pain burst through my ear, white and clean, anchoring me before my thoughts could scatter. He ran his fingers along its circlet and muttered a spell ofbinding to close it, then leaned back, grunting with satisfaction.
“Dangles like all the rest,” said Smoke.
“Welcome to the crew,” said Echo as he tugged the leather strap from my mouth.
A cheer went up from all hands, along with a clap or two on the back.
I still felt like a crab, but one cracking out of its shell, all soft-bellied and bare. Forge, I hoped I could grow a new home before something bigger made a meal of me.
“Another tot?” I asked meekly.
“Before you turn in,” he said. “Because it’ll hurt more later.”
“Like hooks,” muttered Buck.
The doc stood, shuffling back on his boots. “So, Ensign, you can report to my pit at first bell.”
“Ahoy, you gangly, gob-smacked picaroon,” said Smoke, also rising to his feet. “She’s done a turn at navigation. That means she’s mine.”
Echo flicked his ears. “When did she take a turn at navigation?”
“When she was chasing chimeric on the open sea.” Smoke glared up at the surgeon, eyes narrowed under his expressive brows.
“Well, that’s a stretch.” Echo glared back with a different kind of heat, one promising retribution when they were alone.
I leaned back, happy to let them squabble over me. It helped drown out the dull throb in my ear. Besides, I liked being fought over. Especially when it made Smoke’s scowl deepen another notch.
“Isn’t your mother a greenmage healer?” Echo turned to ask me.
I glanced at Smoke, the rum finally warming my chest, and shrugged.
“I’m not hiring her mother,” he said. “Unless she’s pretty and cheap and at a port nearby.”
“I have no apprentice,” said the faun. “You have Neale.”
Sitting on a far bunk, Neale raised his cup.
“While Neale is nearby, he is neither pretty nor cheap.”
That drew a roar from the crew.
“We’ll take it up with the captain in the morning, then,” said Echo. “Able Whacks at Dog Eight?”
“We could wager an apprentice,” Smoke offered, and the whole galley groaned as one.
Echo blinked smugly. “I always win, so that means pit at Morning Six.”
“Hey now—” Smoke began, but Echo had already won. The doctor turned his attention on me.
“Besides, your runescars have spread, Ensign. I’d like to look at them again, if you don’t mind.”
I could feel the eyes of the crew shift to me, turning the rum sour in my belly. I didn’t blame them. I was now Navyandprivateer. A liability walking their storied decks. An unpredictable one, too, if the scars kept travelling.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Echo said quickly, and he glanced around at the huddled swabs. “She most likely won’t set fire to us all.”
“She’ll blow us up first,” Smoke muttered. “Up like a cannon. Ka-boom.”
