Ex-priest, my inner vixen reminded me, though he still took his vows very seriously. I blinked my filthy thoughts away, concentrating on the journey ahead.
Pict was a large island, and from all the stories, we’d need to fight the currents the entire way there. It was due east of the northeastern tip of Starlak and should have only taken a week to reach at best. But against the sea, tacking the whole way in such a small boat…
I stopped slicing the cheese. We might need to conserve our food and water if it took longer than three weeks, and I didn’t mind eating fish every day. My vegetarian valet would need the cheese. I eyed the barrels of freshwater in the center of the boat, tied down to sturdy metal hooks.
Our bed, such as it was, consisted of a flat mattress under a tarp that also tied down, our saddlebags serving as pillows. A second tarp was used to catch rainwater, if it rained, and we had hooks, a small can stove for cooking that we hoped not to need, and even a long pole the fisherman had thrown in with the deal. He’d been happy to have the goldani Alexios had left with him, and his sweet young wife had been delighted to provide us with extra bread and supplies for our journey, in exchange for some herbs that would help ease her morning sickness.
“Mind if I fish?” I asked, knowing he wouldn’t. Alexios might not eat meat, but he seemed almost obsessed with feeding me and had no issue serving it to me, though I never asked him to cook it.
Stomach growling, I put away the remaining cheese and bread, then picked up the pole. I checked the weights on the line and placed a small bit of moldy cheese rind on it. The line sailed out away from the boat, and I sat back to wait. There were some gulls and terns flying a few hundred feet away on that side, so there might be fish close by.
“I know it’ll be a sardine or herring, but wouldn’t it be amazing if I caught a mackerel? Or better even, a tuna. By Her hangnails, I love fresh tuna. It doesn’t even need cooking.”
“A tuna? It might capsize this boat.”
I shrugged. “Maybe not a huge one, then. A small tuna, the length of my arm. That’s all I’d need for me, and I’d have scrap for more bait—oh, I’ve got something!” My line had gone taut as I chattered, and the pole almost slipped out of my hands. I shouted with excitement as the thing struggled on the line, then shouted again ten minutes later, when the fish gave up fighting me, and I’d pulled it over to the side. I laid it at my feet, grinning so wide, my cheeks hurt. “Isn’t it perfect?”
“Yes,” Alexios murmured, looking out at the sea for some reason. “A tuna exactly the size of your arm.” I ignored him and pulled out my dagger, dispatching the fish quickly, then carving into the side of it, marveling at the red meat. It practically melted in my mouth, and the salt from the seawater was all the seasoning it needed.
“I would’ve done a lot of things for a meal this good back in Rimholt. You don’t know what you’re missing,” I teased. He didn’t answer, and I wondered if I’d offended him. “Lex?”
He was still staring out at the water. After a moment, he shook his head. “I thought I saw something.”
“The ice dragon?” I asked, pulling my dagger out again. The sea was still calm, but I trusted his intuition.
“No. Something else.”
An hour later, when nothing had happened, both of us relaxed a bit, though I kept my blade handy. It was my turn to steer, and Alexios went under the tarp to rest. The sun was warm on my shoulders, so I took off my cloak, feeling lazier by the minute. Alexios mumbled something about me needing water.
“Not yet. Should’ve picked up some wine from the village, though. That would make this trip perfect.”
Alexios chuckled drowsily, then went silent. I steered us east, humming a sea shanty I couldn’t remember learning, until I saw something bobbing in the waves. I thought it might be driftwood until it floated right next to the boat. I set the rudder, then leaned over the side, my pendant dipping into a wave and soaking my front as I grabbed what turned out to be a bottle, stoppered with cork and wax, with a net of thin, braided ropes wrapped around it.
My top had gotten drenched, and my trousers were halfway there, so I stripped and laid my clothes over a water barrel to dry, then examined the bottle. Grabbing my dagger, I pried off the wax seal, pulled the cork free, and sniffed. I’d grown to like wine over the years, though I was more partial to potato whiskey, or sharp apple cider. But I’d had some of the best wines in the world at the tables of my friends and family. I knew what I was smelling, and when I let a drop hit my tongue, I also knew something wasn’t right.
There was nothing else out on the sea. No selkie heads bobbing, no weird ice dragons. Nothing suspicious at all, except the excellent wine that had come to the boat as if I’d ordered it from an invisible servant.
The wind was cool on my skin, but the bumps that rose there weren’t from the cold. “Lex,” I called out. “I think we’re being watched.”
He was by my side in an instant, his eyes going wide at my naked state before he blinked. He noted the bottle I’d pulled aboard, then glared at the sea. “Where?”
“I didn’t see anything, or anyone,” I said slowly. “But… this is weird, right? I said I’d like wine, and then this shows up? Could it be from Kellin?” Maybe he’d followed me. I half-stood, searching for him in the water. “Hope it’s not from Lachlan.” I was almost certain it wasn’t. I could feel him, like a splinter under the surface of my mind, and he felt far away.
“Throw it overboard,” he suggested.
“Taste it,” I threw back. “I’ve stolen diamonds worth less than the wine in this.”
He didn’t drink, of course. He stood to get a better view of the waves, and I realized he’d taken his shirt as well as his robes off and had put them all away somewhere before sleeping. His smooth, hairless chest, the tight, perfect muscles flexing as he held onto the single mast and examined the water, made my head spin faster than the wine would have.
“I really do need a drink,” I muttered and lifted the bottle to my mouth.
“Accepting gifts from strangers?” Alexios grumbled, looking up for some reason, his scowl deepening.
“From strange oceans, sure,” I shot back. “I suppose it could be from a merman or something.” I cupped a hand to my mouth and called out, “You have fabulous taste in wine, fish boy!”
No one answered, and I took another drink. It really was the best wine I’d ever had.
“Are you planning to sail naked today, Mina… ah, mistress?” Alexios asked, an odd tone in his voice.
