“What’s wrong?”Dinesh asked me.
I held my hand up to bid him be quiet.Then I stood from the bench and walked toward the figure.Pearl scrambled up and followed me, then galloped past me to launch herself into the arms of the white-haired stranger as if they knew each other.
As I got closer I observed the swell of a moderate bosom beneath the woman’s cloak.
“Hello, there.My, my, what a beauty you are,” the woman said to Pearl, who wriggled and wagged her tail, as if greeting a long-lost friend.
I had never seen her approach anyone this enthusiastically upon a first meeting.
The woman put Pearl down and smiled as she extended her hand the way a man would in greeting.Indeed, she wore trousers and boots beneath her cloak.
“Hello, Simon Bartholomew White,” she said, as a wallop of energy slapped me in the chest, then burst around me like butterflies being set free.
My eyes widened and my hand went to my chest.“Did you do that?”
“Of course.I’m excited to finally meet you face to face.”
But the captain wasn’t impressed.He was at my side in a moment, extending an arm in front of me and eying the stranger as if he wanted to run her through.
“How do you know my name?”I asked, puzzled and intrigued.I didn’t feel threatened by her, only curious.
“You told me.”
“I didn’t.”
She gazed between me and Captain Martin, who still looked wary.
“Shall I tell you mine?”
I felt calm as I stared at her, then glanced at her friend, who now leaned down to accept Pearl’s enthusiastic greeting.
The captain tensed.
In my mind’s eye, a grey haze rose and swirled as if the smoke were alive.
“Smoke?”
“Yes.And she—” Smoke gestured to her friend, who pulled back the hood of her cloak to reveal a woman with dark skin and tightly curled hair.She was stunning, as beautiful as Smoke, if not more so, and more obviously female.“—is Fleur, my life, my love, my heart.”
A strange declaration to make to someone you’d never spoken to before, and in a room full of strangers who might hear and disapprove.
I glanced at the crowd of men at their tables, and a chill ran through me.
“Dinesh, do you see?”
The captain looked at the crowd, then swung his head back, gazing at Fleur and Smoke with suspicion.
“Stasis,” Fleur said.“They can’t hear us.”
She stepped down from her stool and joined Smoke, taking her arm and stroking the bicep.
“Or see us,” she continued.
“That’s a clever trick,” Dinesh commented.I could tell he was worried that these women would turn out to be untrustworthy, whereas I had the singular faith that they were on our side —and not only because they were two of the same sex who seemed closer than mere friends, although that did help.
“I have more,” Smoke said with a charming smile.“I hear you have some of your own, young witch,” she said.
“Fuck,” I said, startled by the address.
