Page 30 of Pearls of Salt and Sacrifice

“No,” he said without turning away from the vista. “I don’t duel with prisoners. I toss them overboard.”

Isla barked a laugh. “Where’s the fun in that, eh? What’s the matter? You afraid of me?”

Rency only snorted.

“If that were true, you wouldn’t have dove in after me last night,” Reva countered.

At this, Rency finally spun to face her. Whatever hints of true emotion Reva thought she’d glimpsed moments before had vanished. A careless smile tore across his face. “What makes you think I jumped in after you?”

She pursed her lips briefly before matching his smile. “You were soaking wet, love,” she said, letting the false endearment drip with sarcasm. “If you didn’t jump in, then someone must have tossed you overboard. Or you fell. How embarrassing.”

The crew guffawed loudly at this, but a growl from their captain sent them scuttling to their duties. They mopped and polished and checked the ropes without seeming to accomplish much.

Rency’s cheek twitched. Then, abruptly, he bent at the waist and howled with laughter. The crew cast one another uncertain looks, but Rency waved a hand like a conductor leading a symphony. On cue, the sailors erupted into hoots and bellows, stomping their feet and pounding fists against railings. When Rency straightened and sliced a hand, they silenced abruptly.

Except for the unfortunate chap up in the crow’s nest who clearly hadn’t seen the signal. The sailor broke off after an awkward peal of lonely laughter.

Reva wondered if they had to practice this unusual arrangement. Rency seemed like the sort of captain who would rehearse the ridiculous.

Rency shot the crow’s nest a foul look before stretching languidly and rubbing his stomach. “What time is it? I’m ready for breakfast. Anyone else hungry?” His hand reached into his trouser pocket.

“I’m hungry for blood,” Isla said darkly.

Rency froze, but he wasn’t looking at Isla and her pilfered cutlass. Instead he patted the front of his half-laced tunic and dug his fingers into the various pockets on his long coat. “Hey!” he said. “Where’s my watch? Who took my watch?”

No one spoke.

Rency glared about the deck, narrowing his gaze on Isla in particular. “Don’t look at me,” she said, stabbing the point of the cutlass into the deck and leaning against the handle. “I only steal weapons. And kisses.”

She shot a look over her shoulder and winked toward Reva, who laughed despite herself.

“Stop stabbing my ship.” Rency launched forward and jostled Isla to the side so that he could snatch the cutlass away while she was distracted. “And if I find out who took my pocket watch, I’ll have them drawn and quartered.”

He tossed the cutlass toward one of the sailors. The fellow tried to catch it out of the air but missed and sent it clattering across the deck. With a sheepish glance over his shoulder, the pirate chased after the weapon and returned it to his belt. Is that who Ilsa had pilfered it from to begin with?

Several of the crew shouted promises to find the missing watch and dispersed in a thunder of boots against wood. While Rency was distracted, Reva glanced across the deck at Jareth to see how he was reacting. He nibbled on his lower lip, staring up at the crow’s nest while rocking back and forth on the heels of his bare feet.

Something wiggled in one of the sea elf’s coat pockets. A bright pink tentacle shot out briefly before disappearing from view. Calix? Or the other one?

She pursed her lips to hide a smile, somehow not surprised that Rency’s crew had not only managed to kidnap an additional royal but also a nursery of baby krakens. How many did Jareth have stashed in those pockets of his?

The crew tore about the deck looking in the most ridiculous places for the missing watch. One chubby fellow with an eye patch even searched his own filthy pockets, piling various odds and ends on the barrel beside him. Rency stomped about, poking into things, muttering curses, and shooting Reva foul looks as if she were to blame, and Reva braced herself for more arguing, more shouting, and possibly more threats of dueling. But no one else noticed anything amiss with Jareth.

“Oy, Captain!” a sailor shouted from the crow’s nest. “Shadow in the water!”

Rency, who’d begun to help the sailor with the eye patch empty his pockets, snapped his head around.

“What sort of shadow?” he shouted back. “How big?”

“I dunno!” said the crewman. “It’s unnatural, Cap’n! It’s an omen! We’re doomed!”

“Oh, shut up!” Rency strode to the railing and looked in the direction the superstitious pirate was pointing. “Someone get me a spyglass!”

Reva started to follow but felt a hand snatch her arm. She paused as Jareth peered down at her, his expression dark.

“Wait. It could be dangerous.”

Isla moved to join them, but she was watching Rency.

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