“What happened to you?” Vidar asked.
“Plenty up until now. This seems to be one of the last safe ports in these parts and this place is a shithole. We came from Dornwich before here and I can tell you that no place is safe anymore.”
“What happened in Dornwich?”
“They’re getting a bit too friendly with the more exotic ladies, if ye know what I mean,” the broad-shouldered man said, his eyes flitting toward me. “I’m Cathal, by the way. Cathal Murphy,” he said with a flirtatious smirk that told me this wasn’t his first round of ale.
I slowly turned to look at Vidar. We locked eyes briefly and though he hid it well, he was alarmed by the mention of Dornwich.
“Does Dornwich deal in sirens by chance?” I asked softly.
Vidar gave me a subtle nod.
“James’s sister lives in Dornwich,” Gus brought up.
“I know,” Vidar said, his words heavy. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I need another drink.”
He stood with his mug and headed to the bar with Cathal close behind him while Gus engaged in a bit of conversation with Nazario. I set my gaze at Aeris, who was staring at Vidar as he walked away. Then I watched her attention crawl to a bread knife sitting in the middle of the table next to a half-eaten, stale loaf of rye.
I knew the look of a woman who’d been touched too many times by men. She was a little thing. She’d likely not seen manyreal fights by the looks of her. But she was a survivor, nonetheless. She was also foolish to even think of hurting Vidar, if that was, in fact, what she was contemplating.
She slowly reached out for the bread knife. She could have been after a simple slice of the bread, but I was too suspicious to gamble with the idea. I quickly snatched the knife off the table and started cutting into the loaf. I separated a small piece and handed it to her before placing the blade directly in front of me. Aeris took the bread and glared at me as if the food had somehow been tainted by my touch.
“Touch him or anyone here and I’ll gut you so fast your precious pirate won’t even hear you scream in time,” I said softly.
I knew she could hear me, but my voice would not carry to the men on the other side of the table. My words were for her alone.
She tossed the bread down in front of her and wiped her hands on her cloak.
“I wouldn’t dare,” she said. “Crossing a Kroan is the last thing I want, seeing as the only time my people did, yours wiped us out.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping it would relieve the tension building in my shoulders.
“I wasn’t there. Neither were you.”
“No, but the act remains. You’re zealots claiming the atrocities you commit are the will of some god. And I know from much experience how dark that path can get.”
“A god whose sons are wreaking havoc on the same waters we both live in. Do you think I’d be with these men if I was loyal to my former clan at all?” I ran a finger across my throat, indicating the scar on my neck. “One of my blood sisters did this. They tried to destroy me. Then they banished me.”
“That does not make you good.”
“I never said I was good.”
We stared at each other for a few breaths before she blinked and lowered her eyes.
“You’re with that hunter, then,” she said.
“And you’re with a pirate. If that’s the only thing we ever have in common, so be it.”
Once more, she met my gaze. Some of the anxiety had left her eyes, but not all of it. I imagined she was incapable of relaxing, just like I was most of the time. Especially around so many men with bronze blades and a willingness to do anything for a few coins.
“So, why were you banished?”
“I betrayed my people. How are you alive?”
“Many survived and remained scarce. My grandmother escaped with my mother in her belly and my mother survived with me in hers.”
“And how did you come by a pirate?”
