“TheTouchstone’s been good to me. Gav’s been good to me.” He smiled wistfully now. “And Smoke and Echo, Buck and Kit and Ben and Nan. I’ve got maybe six months left on theTouchstone’s decks before the Marque expires and I’m forced to go back. The moment I leave her decks, the king will send every ship to sink her, so I have six months to conjure a way to keep them all safe.”
Suns. I couldn’t imagine theTouchstonesinking. I couldn’t bear the thought of her gone.
“That’s a heavy kedge,” I said. “I’d rather be on my own than under that weight.”
“This life has made me strong,” he said. “And I’ve learned more about our helm than I would in a High Temple palace. That’s got to count for something if I ever become king.”
True, that.
“Six months left?” I repeated.
“Six months,” he said. “Until then, I’m going to sail and chance and sing sad shanties with the lads in the hold.”
“You’ll be a good king,” I said softly.
“One day,” he said. “One day, maybe I will. And I’ll have Gav tothank for it.”
He tried to smile, and it almost made me cry.
We stood for a long while, side by side on the rail, watching theCarmen Lumieredissipate into the fury of the Sheets, and I studied him, this child of a king, this protégé of an enemy captain. The dark hair shifting in the breeze. The days-old stubble of a struggling beard. A little scar under his jaw, another on his brow. His hands clasped together, fingers rough and strong and skilled in all manner of magik.
He noticed me looking.
“What?”
“She’s gonna be one hels of a lucky noblewoman, so make sure you fog her good.”
He grinned. “I will, Blue. Just for you.”
I heard the cry of the winter hawk, and I leaned on the rail, watching as the flash of white returned from the horizon. He circled the hull, dipping a wing at us as he swept round the stern. I knew that Worley had opened one of the transom’s windows for his return. The blanket, the chest, the books, and the wine. The man was loved by a living ship, had befriended a good man and shaped a future king, and made my very skin burn in his presence.
It was a very strange place to find myself.
“Don’t you dare, Blue,” said Fahr, his gaze narrowing on mine. “Don’t even think about it.”
“What?” I plucked a feather from my tunic and watched it float away on the wind.
“What I know you’re thinking.”
“I’m not,” I insisted. “But maybe I just don’t want to kill him now.”
“Lying like the best of us, I see.”
“That’s how we serve the Ship of Spells.”
“Fog you.” He laughed.
“Not today,” I answered, but suns, how I wished my bodydidcall to this man’s instead of someone far more dangerous. Dev would be easy to fog. At least the ship wouldn’t try to kill me if I did.
I patted the rail. I would leave her captain be. In answer, the canvas rumbled above my head.
Fahr shook his head, but he grinned, and I did, too. This was nice, this banter and this talk. It felt good.Ifelt good. Even sailing through a gap on the deck of a living ship, I finally felt like I might have just found my place.
Don’t let your guard down, Smoke had said,and don’t be fooled by the camaraderie aboard.
Well, fog Smoke, too.
“Mr. Fahr, sir,” came a voice from the main. “Oh, forgive me, sir…”
