Perhaps he was smuggling weapons or poisons or explosives—things that might be passed through Melaena’s hands to Garyth and his shadowy allies. He might not want a rebellion of poorly armed Pravaran farmers, but a war? An assassination? He could also be making foreign allies with his shipping business.
But the ship was late.
Ruru and I sat on the sea wall—the quarter’s last defense against a heavy tide—while Aiden and Maz paced the docks. Other ships had docked and unloaded their cargo, and their bone-rattlers were already crowding the many taverns.
Another hour tolled by before a large ship sailed into harbor. Its white sails plumed like clouds against the purple twilight.
“About bloody time,” Maz grumbled, tossing another rock into the only empty berth.
Aiden didn’t cease pacing until the ship—Mynastra’s Wings—threw down the anchor. A gangplank slid down to the dock. Aiden all but ran up it and disappeared.
“Tell me, where didMynastra’s Wingsfly from this time?” I asked Ruru, passing him a bag of roasted nuts we’d bought from the market earlier with some of our wages.
Ruru tossed a nut in the air and caught it in his mouth. “Eloren, I believe. Skelly frequents several ports through the isles. Anywhere he doesn’t have hefty gambling debts.”
I frowned, watching as Aiden reappeared carrying a crate. Several barefoot sailors with their chattering ropes of bones passed down more crates and barrels while Aiden and Maz loaded them into two wagons pulled by two pairs of large horses. Floren had rented them to Aiden for tonight.
“Doesn’t that concern Aiden that his captain has money problems? Could his loyalty not be easily bought and sold?” I asked.
“Not ole Skelly’s. Aiden takes care of his sick wife, you see. And his daughter. Skelly wouldn’t turn against Aiden for all the money in Lancora.”
He had found Skelly’s weakness, as Renwell would say. Yet, instead of using his debts against him, Aiden cared for his family.
There it was again. That little flicker of warmth for Aiden. I’d felt it several times.
When he’d protected me. When he’d healed me. When he had spoken of my mother with kindness and sorrow.
Sometimes it was difficult to think of him as my enemy. As someone who might have gruesome plans for my kingdom. I’d seen him kill two Shadow-Wolves, but from what I’d seen and heard, those men had probably committed much worse crimes.
Even Aiden’s threats were born of a desire to shield others from harm.
I needed the truth, once and for all. To quiet the storm in my mind. To put the shadows back where they belonged.
A red-faced dock official hurried up to Aiden, who handed him a piece of paper. The man barely glanced at it before scribbling on it and scurrying off again.
I frowned. “Why didn’t the official check the cargo?”
Ruru shrugged. “We have a deal with him. We get our cargo off his docks immediately, and he doesn’t look too closely at it. For a few extra coins, of course.”
Of course.
“All right, catch this, and I’ll give you a copper,” Ruru said with a grin.
Without warning, he lobbed a nut into the air, and I flung myself backward to catch it. I lost my seating and barely caught myself from falling to the ground. My boots stuck up in the air with my ass sliding down the other side of the wall.
Ruru roared with laughter, spilling our nuts every which way.
“Be quiet,” I grunted. “Pull me up, you little monkey.”
He clasped my hand and helped drag me back up the wall. Cheeks flaming, I noticed Maz laughing at us, along with the sailors. Aiden’s face was shadowed by his hood, but it was turned in our direction.
Perfect.
“Give me those.” I snatched the paper bag from Ruru’s hands.
“Fine.” He smirked. “But I’m keeping my copper.”
“Stake it for another round of Death and Four,” I challenged.
