Page 59 of Ruthless Scoundrel
I scowl. “How else am I supposed to carry her? Over my shoulder like a sack of grain? Drag her through the streets by her hair?”
“Just saying what I see.” She shrugs, then returns to her meal.
I wait for her to say anything else, but she doesn’t. The quiet between us feels uncomfortable. I’ve never been good at talking to Men, but I have to keep trying, for Reina.
“Can we barter passage with you?”
She snorts. “We.”
“I’m not leaving her behind. She’s my payday.”
The captain puts her spoon aside and turns to me. “Lies can throw me off course, compromise my crew, my cargo, or get me killed. So, I ask again; who is she?”
Well, fuck.
There’s no other way off this island but on one of those ships.
“Don’t eventhinkabout stowing away. We keep very scrupulous track of our cargo and our holds.”
Is she reading my mind? I’d heard rumors of rare magus abilities like that, but never once met someone who could do it or who’d met someone who could.
“There’re few options for you here, yes? You can try to barter passage on the other ship headed for Wolfsheim, but Captain Yoseph is much like me in regard to knowing exactly what we’ve taken onboard. So”—she leans in closer—“how about the truth?”
“Absolutely not,” I say. “But you can have three more gold.”
She scoffs. “You think four gold will cover the cost of my shipment if something goes wrong? Cover the cost of my ship if we sink like the Maximus Helion just did in the Silver Passage—some of the calmest waters in the five seas?”
Fuck.
She’s onto us.
She smiles with victory and pushes back her chair. “Why don’t you come to my room and explain things?”
Reina is still bleeding, but if I can’t get us on a boat tomorrow, we’ll have to wait for another ship. That could be days, or even weeks. Our limited funds would surely run out. I can’t see either of us stowing away successfully, and carrying Reina in my octopus form isn’t an option I’d like to entertain. It’s too far to the next island, and the warmer waters are teeming with potential threats.
I stand and push the chair in with my foot. “Lead the way, Captain.”
We take the stairs up to the last door on the second floor and she turns the key in the lock. Runes light up around the frame and I work to keep my face expressionless. Of course a captain is going to have some magus ability strong enough to infuse into rune-writing.
She offers for me to go first. “Set her on the bed.”
I step inside, noticing that the Captain’s room not only has a larger bed, but a fireplace and a bathtub as well.
I place Reina down gently on the large, comfortable bed and inspect her closer. The cut on her cheek has stopped bleeding, but her feet are lacerated deeply. I’m not sure how she kept running. Desperation…
“She’s precious to you, this I can see, so why don’t you tell me what this is all about,” Alejandra says as she leans against the wall beside the bed.
“She isn’t. She’s payment and that’s all,” I say, the words feeling bitter in my mouth.
“Then why fuss over her wounds? Why give her your pistol to defend herself?” She squats down beside the bed and looks up at me. “Why would you ‘chase Nol’Ther across the sky to reclaim her’?”
I snatch the pistol off Reina’s chest. “What is this?”
She taps a finger against her ear. “I have exceptionally good hearing thanks to my high-blood status. The doors aren’t very thick here, in any case.”
She heardeverythingwe said.
“I’m more than willing to take you to Illya for just the one gold you’ve already given me, but only if I know what that means for me and my crew.” Alejandra stands up and shrugs. “Or you can try your luck somewhere else.”
