“I have nothing to give you in return,” she said, her heart pattering and the tip of her tail vibrating. The air between them hummed, the shadows cast by the candle making Bonnie’s blue eyes flare dark.
“You don’t need to give me?—”
Cali forgot caution and reason. She ignored the fact that she was about to leave the ship and the captain. She didn’t care that they were traveling different paths that might never cross again. She didn’t even care when she cut off Bonnie’s protest by grabbing the front of her blouse and yanking the woman’s mouth to hers.
The captain’s lips were warm and tasted faintly of apple brandy, and even though she stiffened in surprise, she didn’t pull away. After a few moments, she sank into the kiss and sighed into Cali’s mouth, her hands reaching up to tangle in the pantheri’s hair.
Then Cali remembered where she was, what she was doing, and all the reasons she shouldn’t. She snatched her lips away and turned quickly, with the drawing clutched to her chest. She didn’t look back as she staggered from the room and pulled the door shut behind her. Then she stood in the dim corridor with blood rushing in her ears and the sketch pressed against her chest.
The ship bobbed from side to side, the creaks like rapid claps.
“Not a word, Tris,” she whispered.
From somewhere deep in the hull, came the faintest crackle of amusement.
Thirty-Nine
The caw of gulls,the rumble of wagon wheels, and the chatter of morning merchants woke her before the first wisps of sunlight snuck through the porthole. She sat up in the swaying hammock, peeking over the side to see Thrain sleeping with Bramble nestled in the thatch of his beard. For a moment, she marveled that the dwarf wasn’t snoring. Then she saw that Bramble’s tail was holding his chin up and his mouth shut.
“Clever fella,” the pantheri whispered, as she swung her legs over the side and leapt down in a single motion, landing in a silent crouch.
Bramble opened one eye but then closed it again and burrowed deeper into Thrain’s beard.
Cali peered out the porthole and saw that the ship was already tied to Eldu’s wooden dock, flaxen rope draping from The Cruel Mistress like tethers. She pulled on her jacket, hooked the quiver of arrows over one shoulder, slung her satchel over the other, and grabbed her bow.
She left Thrain and Bramble to get a bit more sleep while she said her farewells, although she wasn’t sure if there was anything left to say to Bonnie. Her face warmed as she remembered kissing the woman the night before. Had she overstepped? Had she misread the signals?
The pirate captain had said nothing after the kiss, and she hadn’t tried to stop Cali from leaving. But what was there to say? Cali was going back home, and Bonnie was staying on her ship with her crew.
She hoped that the sparks she felt when she was with Bonnie weren’t hers alone. There’d been moments she’d been sure of it. But now that her mind wasn’t softened by candlelight or brandy, she wasn’t so sure. After all, one kiss wasn’t enough to change anyone’s life.
She padded down the corridor and took the colorful steps two at a time, emerging on the deck in time to see Pinkie sliding down the mast. The gnome ran a hand through her lavender hair and winked at Cali. “I’m gonna miss seeing you up there.”
Cali smiled and put a hand to her heart as she dipped her head in a bow. “It’s been an honor to share the watch with you.”
Pinkie snorted a laugh and patted Cali’s leg as she walked past. “Don’t be a stranger, pantheri. There’s always a place for you here.”
The lump in Cali’s throat surprised her, and she turned to squint into the rising sun as she swallowed hard. Warm light unwound from the watery edge of the horizon to gild the ship’s bow and bathe the mermaid in gold. The multicolored sails brightened as sunlight washed over them, and Tris hummed contentedly as she bobbed beside the dock.
“Brought you a scone for breakfast,” Marvella said as she appeared at Cali’s side.
Cali took the triangular wedge from the red-headed dwarf. “Thanks.” She took a bite and savored the taste of sea lime. “And thanks for giving Thrain that potion for seasickness. I don’t think he would have survived without it.”
Marvella chuckled. “My pleasure. It was actually a potion to quiet his snoring, and I did it so the rest of us would survive the journey.”
Cali choked back a laugh and nearly spit out a mouthful of crumbs. “It wasn’t for seasickness? Then how?—?”
Marvella tapped her temple. “He was convinced it cured seasickness, so it did.” She winked at me and sauntered back toward the door leading belowdeck.
Cali polished off the rest of the scone and wiped her fingers on her pants, feeling better already although not better about leaving the ship.
“We got you back in one piece.”
Cali spun at the soft voice that ended in a hiss, her pulse quickening at the sight of Seraphina. The sunlight illuminated the faint scaled pattern of the nagine’s skin, the gold exposing hues of blue and green within the black. The master-at-arms’s eyes were unblinking, but her thin lips curled in a hint of a smile.
“You did.” Cali exhaled, reminding herself that Seraphina had done a good job of banishing her previous opinions of nagines.
“Perhaps pirates aren’t so scary after all,” the master-at-arms said with a slow wink before she glided back to the ship’s rail.
