Before the man can pull himself completely upright, Felix drives his sword into his chest. The man chokes and sputters as Felix withdraws it, tossing him to the ground like garbage.
A woman rushes over to see to the dying man. “How could you?” she cries at Felix.
“Hey, he challenged me.” He tosses her a bag of coins and wipes the blood from his sword with his handkerchief before he comes to greet us.
“Now Larus, how can you talk to me about business without introducing me to this simply stunning young woman?”
It takes me a moment to realize he means me.
Sure, I’ve been looking for trouble, but even I’m not that insane. “I’m Sylvie of House Verran, and you can fuck right off if you think I’m getting involved with the source of whateverthatmess was.”
Larus and Felix eye each other, and then they both laugh. “Larus, I like this one.”
“I didn’t train a fool,” says Larus with pride.
“Forgive my impudence, madam,” says Felix, taking my hand and kissing it. I snatch it back. “And allow me to introduce myself. I’m Felix March of the Enez Islands, Admiral of the Third Navy and sword for hire.”
“The pleasure is all yours.”
“It usually is,” he replies. “Now, let’s talk business. You wanted grain, and darling, I brought the bread. Only there’s a small issue with some of the rye.”
This conversation is coded to conceal the true purpose of securing ships, but there’s also some truth to it. We’ve been importing some goods from the Enez Islands as a cover for our renewed interest in dealing with them. The loss of our harbor made imports prohibitively expensive for us to manage, limiting us to what was made available in our markets by traveling merchants. But it’s well known that Felix is willing to deal with anyone who can pay, no matter the inconvenience. If Ronan or Cyrus asks where the money is coming from to pay him, we’ll say we sold some of our hunting rights in exchange. And this, too, is partially true.
But the entire truth is that we’ve promised Felix and the Third Navy—which, despite its name, isn’t truly a military force sanctioned by the Enez Islands government but rather a mercenary company that controls much of their defense—a portion of the Selaran gold production once we take control.
“Don’t tell me,” says Larus, understanding something from the coded exchange that I don’t.
“It won’t be long. A month, maybe. She just wants to see you.”
“Larus?” Adria asks.
“I have to return home,” says Larus, and my heart sinks. He’s my only real ally in the city. My closest friend. I don’t know if I can do this without him. “My mother wants to see me, and we need her…rye.”Ships.
“Your mother is alive?” I ask, and Felix laughs. I’ve never heard him mention her. Which is odd, now that I think about it.
“We didn’t part on good terms, let’s just say that,” says Larus, ignoring my accidental insult regarding his age.
“We don’t have to leave right away,” says Felix. “The winds are good at this time of year. Better when I’m on deck.” He does the same blowing-a-kiss gesture to me that he did to the man, but it simply lifts my dark hair from my shoulders rather than knocking me over. “Exquisite,” he says. “A true beauty.”
“Fuck you,” I say.
“Are you offering?”
“I’d rather just get this over with,” interjects Larus. “When can we sail?” He looks from me to Felix with apprehension. I think he’s trying to protect me from disaster.
He doesn’t need to worry. Even I can see that particular disaster coming.
“Come now, Larus,” says Felix. “My crew needs a few days on shore at least.”
“It looks like you managed to do enough damage with just a few hours,” says Larus, gesturing back to the corpse.
“It only takes a few minutes, my good man.”
Gross. I’m actually relieved that he’s gross. It makes it easier to avoid his charms.
“The weekend, and no later,” says Larus.
“Deal,” says Felix, and they shake on it.
