“We’re all likely to be bad enough, by the end,” Toinette warned him and Erik both. “Water’s for drinking, not bathing, unless you fancy a dip in the ocean, and quarters are close.”
Erik shrugged. “I’ve been on battlefields. It can’t be worse.” He remembered the stench of blood and offal at midday and grimaced. “We’ll have the sea around us. That can only help, aye?”
“That’s the spirit,” Gervase chimed in. “And men, unlike beasts, clean up after themselves.”
“They do on theHawk. That reminds me: if Marcus hasn’t yet given the new hands the word about drunkenness, see that he does. And—” Toinette turned back to Erik as Gervase bowed and ran off. “How’s your stomach for the ocean?”
“Decent, or I’d not be doing this.” That wasn’t entirely true. Loyalty and the force of Artair’s command could probably have gotten Erik onto a ship even if he knew he’d keep nothing down for a month. As fortune had it, he was a fair sailor, but Artair hadn’t bothered asking.
Toinette’s thin lips quirked up at the right corner. A suspicious man might have thought she knew damned well what Erik wasn’t saying. “Good. Buy ginger, in case. The sea’s rougher where we’ll be going. And I’ll tell you the same as Marcus will tell the men: if you disgrace yourself, whether from motion or drink, you’ll be cleaning it up. I don’t have the hands to spare.”
“Quite a tone to take with a customer,” he said.
“You hired a ship, my lord, and sailors.” The title wasn’tquitesarcastic. “If you want a nursemaid, you’ll have to find one separate.”
Erik made a slight bow. “In truth, Captain, I can’t imagine you nursing anyone.”
“Nor can I. Oh, and if you fight with the men or otherwise get in the way of our tasks, I’ll have you in chains until the journey’s end.”
“And what…” Erik took a step toward her, so that Toinette had to tilt her head back a little to meet his eyes. Although it hadn’t been his intent, the gesture made him notice the slender length of her neck and the shadowed hollows behind her ears. He smiled. “What would you do with me then?”
“You couldn’t break free of irons in human form.” Mindful of the crowd, Toinette spoke softly. The words hit Erik’s ears in small puffs of air. “And even a dragon couldn’t fly all the way to your destination. I’d assume you’d be reasonable.”
“I could beveryreasonable,” he said, his voice low and his body tightening both at her presence and at the images in his mind. “I’d hate to disappoint you, Captain.”
She flashed him another grin, even as she stepped back. “Then I trust you’ll behave. I’ve a ship to run, after all, and a duty to my men.”
Four
They cast off on a clear dawn, with the sun rising gold in the east and the sea stretching out clear and shining before theHawk’s prow. As many times as Toinette had made the slow journey out of Bordeaux harbor, as many more times as she’d left other ports, she never ceased to feel a thrill in those first moments. She could pretend to forget the danger and boredom that were both nearly certain to lie ahead. For a little while, the world was new and she could go anywhere.
“A fair wind,” she said to Marcus, watching the sail snap briskly above them, “and a good tide.”
“Yes, for so long as it lasts.”
“Your constant cheer is one of the things I cherish most about you.”
“I’m surprised. You have such a wide assortment to choose from.”
“I try to vary my preferences from time to time. Keeps things fresh.” She leaned on the railing and sighed with contentment. “How are the new hands?”
“Shaping up. The rest of the men have a wager on about what Emrich’s fleeing. I only pray he settles once we get further from land,” Marcus said, shaking his head with the air of an exasperated tutor.
“What are the current favorites?”
“Theft’s well ahead, though none’s so sure as to specify what. Next is that he’s a serf who’s run from his lord. Murder’s half and half. Longest odds against an angry father or a jealous husband, given his looks.”
Toinette laughed, finding double pleasure from the way the open air caught the sound and sent it back to her ears. “Oh, have they not heard? You never can tell with women. And he might’ve been quite comely back when he ate more.”
“How generous of you,” said Marcus. “How fares our passenger?”
“Asleep, or so he declared his intentions when he came aboard. As I’ve not seen a hair of him since we cast off, I can only guess he slumbers like a babe.” She shook her head.
“The privilege of rank, or at least of wealth.”
“Aye,” said Toinette, leaning against the rail. The deck rose and fell steadily beneath her feet, a gentle rocking motion that could easily have eased her into sleep herself, no matter how hard the berth. “He’s welcome to such luxuries.”
“For now,” Marcus said, giving her a knowing look.
