Page 6 of Drift: Willa & Koy

“Believe me, it’s the last thing I should have to do,” Koy shot back.

“No one asked you to. I don’t need you watching out for me. I can take care of myself.”

“Really?” He took a step closer, voice lowering. “Then what’s this?”

Before I realized what he was going to do, his hand touched my face, rough fingers grazing over the scar that marked my cheek.

I recoiled, putting several feet between us. My hand instinctively went to the scar, the words striking deep. It felt as if the air had been sucked from my lungs, the shame of it burning beneath my skin.

I could feel the sting of traitorous tears in my eyes as I stared at Koy, but I breathed through it, refusing to be the first to look away. The regret was already there in his expression, some form of an apology folded in the way he was staring back at me.

“Uh, Willa?” Speck’s voice was no more than an echo at the back of my mind.

I’d caught Koy staring at the scar more than once, but he’d never said anything about it. In fact, he was the only person who hadn’t. And now he wanted to dangle it between us like a counterweight to an argument?

“Willa,” Speck said again, the nervous sound of the words finally pulling my gaze from Koy.

Behind the counter, Speck’s eyes were wide. He was staring out past the barrier islands.

I moved past Koy to the edge of the dock, squinting at the shape of a ship drifting into the harbor. It was a brig, but even larger than the one already docked, and it had three towering masts with a carved bow in the shape of a draped, floral garland.

“Is that…?” Raef’s words sputtered out as the ship turned just enough for us to see the gloss of the wood. The crisp white sails. Even the bowsprit was tipped in bronze.

This wasn’t a Narrows-born trader or a Narrows-built ship. This vessel hailed from the Unnamed Sea.

THREE

I didn’t sleep.

By the time the sun was rising and the seabirds were calling out over the water, I was up, pacing the floor of my post in an anxious pattern that had Ailee staring at me. She was sitting in her hammock, toes brushing the wood planks as she gently swung.

“Should we… go out there?” she asked, eyes moving again to the door.

I bit down on my thumbnail, watching through the window. The brig from the Unnamed Sea had dropped anchor after dark and the only sign of the crew was the coin master who’d come down to pay three nights’ docking fee. Koy had done well and played it cool, marking down the ship as if it were any other. But when he met my eyes over the woman’s head, they held everything I was thinking. Thatthiswas our chance.

“We wait.” I said.

“And what exactly are we waiting for?” Ailee tried again.

“If they’re staying three nights, they most likely need some kind of repairs, but waiting on the dock like a beggar isn’t the right move. Letting the helmsman know how desperate we are for business will only invite them to take advantage of us. Remember that.”

Ailee nodded, her expression seriouse.

“You can’t trust these Satlblood bastards.”

“So, we want them here. We just don’t want them toknowwe want them here,” she said.

“Exactly.”

She still looked confused, but she didn’t press it. She swung in the hammock, fingers tapping her knees until we finally heard footsteps on the dock outside.

I stopped pacing, meeting her eyes as she sat up. We were silent for several seconds before a knock sounded on the door.

I crossed the small room as Ailee unhooked one side of her hammock and let it fall to the floor. Then she lowered the counter latched to the wall beneath the window, and in an instant, the little room was transformed from a hovel to a post.

Koy stood on the other side of the door when I opened it, his ship roster propped on one arm. “Ship in bay twelve is asking for the bosun.”

I let out a tight breath, giving him a nod.

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