Bear smiles and scratches the back of his shaggy brown hair. “Ha, well, anyway, I was just coming to see if you wanted some breakfast? Everyone else already ate. Maiden Stone had fifteen different spices to choose from but”—he drops his eyes to the deck and waves vaguely in Rune’s direction—“Captain says I can only pick two each time we stop or they’ll weigh down the ship and we won't be able to catch pirates”—his eyes snap back up to mine—“Oh, sorry. I mean, not that you aren’t a pirate but like, that we captured you. Anyway, this morning they had fresh cut octendrils in the market so I got some but we will have to salt and dry’embecause we need to save some for the trip. It’s really lean but rich in protein and as long as you use salt from the east current instead of the west current, you can’t even taste the octoxin. Do you like—”
Rune sighs like an exhausted father. “Otto.”
Otto goes quiet, and the rest of the ship has too. A broad man with a long scar down his arm grins at our group. A woman with pale skin and razor sharp nails coils ropes, her eyes trained our way. Two men on the starboard side cast glances back at me, their faces twisted in disgust.
A slow feeling, like poison, crawls from the tips of my tingling fingers and up my arms, and with it comes a longing for my hood. Before, I could stay obscured even around others, safe in knowing that when they saw the cowl, they saw death, but never the woman beneath. Here, there’s nowhere to hide. I could take any of Rune’s crew one-on-one. But if enough stood against me at once, I’m not foolish enough to think I’d live through it. Maybe I should have tried harder to getaway last night.
The silence stretches until Rune steps closer and sweeps his eyes over the onlookers. “Everyone back to work!”
Otto, of course, nods in a way that rocks the whole top of his body. “Right. Sorry Captain. Anyways.” He turns his baby-blue eyes back to me. “Wanna see the quail?”
“I—”
Rune steps between us to catch his eye again, pressing two fingers into the younger man’s chest. “Don’t let your guard down.”
Then he’s gone, offering me his back like a dare.
The ship is gorgeous. If I hadn’t seen the royal sigils in Rune’s office I’d have suspected his sponsors by the elegant nature of the woodwork alone. The figurehead is a water elemental without a trace of wear or barnacles. There are no bad patches, no missing or forlorn rail posts, no cracked deck boards that leak into the lower levels. There are four rowboats in neat condition and a handful of mounted crossbows to pair with the cannons I saw below. This ship is as well equipped as theSea Bane. Luckily, most of the crew carries a blade of some kind. It shouldn’t be hard to steal one.
Bear leads me down a cramped flight of stairs. There’s only a few bodies down here, most consumed in their own tasks, but two men and a woman hover to one side, doingnothing to hide their suspicion. My hands itch for a blade. I wait for them to follow, maybe corner us, but they don’t move. Then, we’re past the crew’s hammocks, and all the way to the opposite side of the ship where a thin door separates an isolated set of stairs that lead back up—beneath the raised captain’s quarters I assume—and to a small, tidy galley. I glance behind us before the door closes, but Bear rushes to the cast iron skillet on the counter and slaps something down into oil that sounds like it’s already hot. There’s a single table bolted to the floor, a wall of locked cabinets behind him, and a vent directly overhead that seems to suck the smoke up and out through some trick of the wind.
His head disappears behind the end of the counter, and when he pops back up he’s holding a long, short crate that cheeps softly as he places it down. “See?” He grins, his skeleton hand earring waving back and forth as he urges me to look inside.
And I do.
WHYDO YOU CARE
8
ODELIA
An hour later, I return to the deck, my stomach warm and overfull of leafy greens Otto picked up while they were docked. He’d invited me to hang around, but sheltering in the galley doesn’t tempt me. There’s only one exit, and it requires moving through the entire sleeping quarters, where anyone might decide I don’t belong.
The deck reflects light from the clear sky above and I squint until the bodies by the railing take distinguishable shape. It takes one long look from the crew to realise I’m not sure where I intend to go. Tavi’s voice rings from the perch midway up the foremast, directing bodies below. Rune walks up the port side, with a man I recognize from this morning—broad, tattoo-free arms, brown hair, fair, red-tinted skin. Pretty sure he’s one that wasn’t happy with Rune’s decision to follow the map.
I fall in step behind them, instinctively ensuring the sound of my steps is masked by theirs. I want to take another look at the map, decide how many we’ll take on the island, which requires, unfortunately, talking to Rune.
“Would the king support your change in focus?” The other man’s voice lifts in challenge.
Rune is cordial, but tense. He keeps his head forwards, his thumbs tucked in the pockets of his trousers. “I have reason to believe the king would be as interested in the map as I am.”
The man scoffs. “And he’d trust her?”
I hop forwards an extra step and put myself directly between them. “I suppose he wouldn't have a choice, would he, Rune?”
The man spins, his brow furrowing so hard it’s a wonder he doesn’t pull a muscle. “That’s ‘Captain,’ to you, pond scum.”
Angry heat blooms up my neck but Rune loops his thumb and middle finger around my wrist, tugging just enough to remind me to stay my hand. The touch is there and then gone, and when he speaks, it's as if he’s discussing the latest wind change.
“Reid, this is Odelia. She’s new, she’s feisty, I expect the two of you will get along swimmingly. Odelia, this is Reid. He thinks I should toss you overboard while I’ve still got breath in my lungs. Now that we all know the correct way to address each other, might we please move on?”
Unamused, Reid spits into the ocean across the railing. “Nah.” He scrunches his shoulders and shakes his head. “Talk later, Captain.”
We both watch him walk away, and when Rune finally looks at me I swear there’s amusement in his eyes. “Any complaints you’d like to bring forwards, Odelia?”
Other than the dirty looks I can’t say I don’t deserve? “The captain snores. Loud.” Rune snorts but looks away, likehe’s trying to hide it. I can’t help the way my lips twitch. “And apparently he thinks I’m out to murder the cook.”
He sobers—but only slightly—and begins to walk again. The ocean is calm, blue stretching out as far as the eye can see, smudged by shadows on the horizon. “The cook’s heart is too big. He gives too freely.”
