Tears begin to trickle down her face, but her expression remains impassive. ‘You are good people.’
It shatters me to see her gratitude for an act that should be an instinct. I wipe her tears and adjust the blankets. ‘We’re all just doing our best. Now you get some rest, and I’ll bring some tea and stew, all right?’
She lies down, almost childlike in her vulnerability. I tuck the blankets around her and stroke her hair. She nestles into it and breathes like it’s the first time she has been able to unspool. I bend down and kiss her forehead. Her face is already warmer against my lips.
chapter fifty-one
finlyr
‘Who are they?’ Isaganiasks through a mouthful of hard biscuit. They lean against the wall, hair pulled back into a slick bun. ‘We don’t know yet,’ I say. ‘Ris has taken charge.’
‘Well?’ I ask.
‘She’ll be all right, I think. The baby needs food, but she’s too weak right now. Fetch the sampinit berry tea.’
I elbow Isagani, who rolls their eyes and hurries to the galley.
‘Any water in the lungs?’ I ask.
Ris shakes her head and then leans against me, stretching her neck with a crack. After a moment, I have to ask.
‘What’s the deal with us?’
‘Deal?’ She echoes, pulling away so she can look at me. ‘Aren’t you having fun?’
‘Fun,’ I echo, nodding. ‘Is that what this is? Sneaking around and having a secret.’
She stares at me. ‘You’re angry with me, aren’t you?’
I say nothing, letting her sit with my body language, my expression.
‘I’m sorry about the silphium. I should have asked you.’
‘Do you trust me?’
‘Of course I do. It’s not about that, and I know we’re being careful. Everything’s just so—’ She cuts herself off, bringing her hands up and letting them drop.
‘Complicated?’ I offer.
‘Delicate,’ she says, holding my gaze. ‘We’re already holding so much. I just wanted something for us without the burden of consequences.’
I try to let her words wash over me. I am used to being inconsequential. I accepted I could never bet on tomorrow a long time ago. I don’t know what I’d hoped for with Ris. Maybe that we could buy ourselves a bit more time before we got here. The unspoken ‘if we live, what happens next?’ hangs over us, but this dalliance, whatever it is, feels like the most trivial and also the most important thing in this whole voyage right now.
I clear my throat and stand straighter. ‘You know a Lassairian remedy for resurrecting a drowning person is to blow smoke up their arse.’
She laughs low, the vibrations running through our bodies as they touch. ‘Was that the carpenter’s opening flirtation before they charged you a fortune for those taffrails?’
I tilt her face up to mine and steal a kiss. She sighs and melts against me again. We jump apart when we hear Isagani’s footsteps round the corner. They’re carefully carrying the tea kettle wrapped in a cloth, and Ris knocks on the door before pushing it open.
The woman is bundled in blankets and sheets, a length of seaweed tangled in her hair. The woman stirs, snuffling against the cushions. It’s only then I spot the child in a drawer, wriggling its arms. Ris has dumped out half the contents onto the floor and is using my clothes as a nest for a baby.
Ris’s voice is as gentle as a Summer Isle breeze. ‘You’ll have to sit up, my dear. Can you do that?’
The stranger opens her eyes with a pop and stares at us, her body going stiff and her hands bracing.
‘Stand down,’ Ris commands, holding the woman’s hands. ‘There’s no need for that.’
The woman sits up, and Isagani slowly sets out the tea things, barely taking their eyes off her.
