Rolling his eyes, he pulled his already wrapped hand back and folded both arms over his chest as he sank further into his chair. “Doesn’t it seem somewhat redundant to sit and inform you of her history if you’ve already done your research,Kao?”
I fucking hate it when he uses my last name.
“Syoran,”I corrected, my brows narrowing.
The hint of a smirk twisted at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, my apologies, I thought this conversation was fixated on formalities only.”
Clenching my jaw until it popped, I tore the knife free. With a simple toss, I adjusted my grip before my throw sent it into the plush, red-cushioned backing of Caspian’s chair. Its steel length impaled the fabric with ease, nicking the right side of his cheek. His lineage bloomed from the small laceration, and my expression shifted to mirror his.
“That’s warning number two, Cas, and you’re well-acquainted with what happens when you hit three.”
Without moving an inch, he reached up, tearing the blade free. Flipping it from hilt to tip, he extended the handle to me with a simple lift of a brow. “Rohen Levitte is Malrik Ravelle’s most esteemed assassin and his favorite play toy. He was present in the brothel, and undoubtedly watched me outbid that fucking prick without so much as lifting a finger. Does that mean he won’t trail us to get her back? Absolutely not. But back to your question, yes.” He leaned back once more after handing me my knife, swiping his thumb across his cheek to collect his blood. “Part of the reason I purchased her for twenty-fivethousand coinisfor the crew’s enjoyment, but the other part is the advantage she gives us by merely existing.”
“Which is what exactly?”
He held up a finger. “Her aptitude for being an efficient executioner.” Adding another, he continued, “And her connection to the crown. With her in our hands and Ravelle’s unrequited willingness to bow before the king, she becomes the perfect pawn for negotiation. Seems the king sent his best after his own.”
“And how does Saph feel about this?”
He rubbed his eyes with his palms before scratching his stubbled jawline with his wrapped hand—the hand Rohen had apparently bitten. “Saph doesn’t know.”
“What don’t I know?” The sharp feminine hum came from the doorway; her ability to slip into spaces without anyone knowing was still something I wasn’t used to, even after sailing with her over the past four years.
Sapphira had stumbled onto our ship when we ported in Velispar, her clothes shredded to nearly nothing. Her body had been battered and bruised, blooms of green and purple coating her tattooed skin to the point that her natural complexion became questionable. Her disheveled state didn’t mesh with the artistry of the inland town renowned for glass trinkets and smoke-wreathed festivals, but her story wasn’t unheard of.
She and her partner had crossed into Velispar without proper papers. When the royal guard responsible for importing goods from the mystical town into Serevalen found out, they’d punished them in an area they held no jurisdiction in without direct orders from the king.
Saph, the fiery spirit she was, had fought back, and the soldiers responded in kind, beating her until she was near death. Her counterpart, Lorelie, offered herself to save the woman she loved. The men happily accepted, slapping her in cuffs as Saph struggled to push herself up. Screaming for them to take her instead, they didn’t listen, and that was the last time she’d seen Lorelie.
It was a sacrifice that had become far too common in our world, people tossing themselves into the hands of brutality to ensure thosethey wished to keep safe remained that way. The ruthlessness of inland life had only worsened in the four years that followed, and our desire to stay at sea grew as the overseers who once swore to protect us dismantled humanity limb by limb.
Every town reeked of corruption, and while we were tainted in our own right, there was something far more potent, far more insidious that seeded itself in the heart of Serevalen and rippled outward until the rest of the continent was polluted with the same putridity.
“Why do you do that?” I questioned, turning to glance over my shoulder at her.
She stepped further into Caspian’s cabin, her hips swaying with the familiarity of her stride. The sword sheathed against her thigh bounced. Its intricate golden hilt, something she’d crafted herself, extended from the belt she cinched around her waist. Dangling from her mouth was a joint, wrapped with a perfect hand.
Sapphira was the only woman on our deck for a reason: she could stand her ground. As a weaponsmith and our crew’s preferred roller, she was well-respected. Well, that, and the fact that Caspian and I demanded nothing less. Women were off limits unless purchased from a brothel, and Philly, one of our riggers, had learned the hard way when he tried to get handsy with Saph—not only had she nearly busted his balls, but Caspian had taken his time cutting off each of his fingers on the hand he’d elected to brush across Saph’s ass.
Our captain seemed to have a thing for robbing people of their ability to wield a blade, but Philly had stuck around and taught himself how to fasten the sails one-handed.
“Do what?” she hummed, taking a lengthened drag before pulling it from her lips to offer it to us. “Boys?”
Caspian put a hand up to decline, his vice existing with the bottle between us, containing the rich, brown liquid. While he wasn’t opposed to smoking, he preferred alcohol to cleanse his soul, and if he elected to do the former, it’d always been tobacco, never herb.
NeverDream Root.
Snatching it from her fingers before she could pull back, I brought itto my mouth and devoured a mounting lungful of its bitter-sweet burn. The tendrils of its effects slithered through my system, rushing to my head with an intensity that sent the room spinning.
Once satisfied, I pulled it free, offering it back to her as I expelled a wall of smoke. Coughing between each word, I tucked my face in the crook of my arm as my eyes immediately started to water. “W-What… thefuck…is in that?”
“Nothingspecial;it’s just from the stash we looted from Veilmar.”
“That’s meant forspecialoccasions, Saph,” Caspian practically growled, his glower settling on our esteemed navigator and quartermaster—Saph was truly a jack of all trades and just as equally a master of them. “Why are you indulging in things you know you shouldnotbe touching?”
“It’s one joint, Caspian, not the end of the world.” She took another drag and shook her head, her gold hoop earrings swaying alongside her brown hair, which rested just below her chin. While holding the smoke in her lungs, she continued, “You are also aware I’m very efficient in the amount I use and that I ensure nothing goes to waste. Besides, if we are talking about dipping fingers where they don’t belong, shouldn’t we be addressing you?”
Caspian’s brows furrowed. “What the fuck are you on about?—?”
