Page 60 of A Curse of Salt

‘Good morning.’

I blinked. I hadn’t noticed Sebastien approaching until he was beside me, staring down at the rites unfolding below.

I glanced sideways at him. Colour warmed his cheeks, his jaw shadowed by a layer of fine, dark growth. He wore a clean grey shirt beneath a heavy coat, thick and leathery like his old cloak, only there was no hood. Something in him must have burned with it, the something that told him to hide.

‘You look . . . better,’ I deadpanned.

His gaze slid over me, eyeing my clothes: the soiled hems of my olive-green skirts, the tattered brocade jacket I’d taken to wearing with the sleeves rolled up. I didn’t care that it was too big for me, it was comfortable and warm, and the pockets ran deep enough to carry books.

Sebastien’s gaze landed on mine. ‘So do you.’

I touched a hand to the tangle of my hair, frizzy from the rain, feeling my cheeks warm. My eyes darted back to the deck below, fingers tracing the grain of the wooden banister.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘You know, for your losses.’

I wondered how it would’ve felt to see so many of his crew die. Wondering whether loss meant anything, without a heart to feel love.

Sebastien grunted in reply. He moved closer, leaning down to brace his forearms on the railing, his shoulder brushing mine. We stood side by side, watching the cerements plunge overboard, both outsiders to the crew’s grief.

‘I saw you, you know,’ he said after a while. ‘During the attack. You were about to leave with him – with Bane.’

‘I was about to escape certain death,’ I amended. Only I’d frozen. I’d been so afraid of the anger in a man’s eyes I’d stood fixed on a burning ship, ready to go down with it.

Sebastien’s black eyes met mine, curious. ‘So if he came back tomorrow, would you go?’

Of course not. I turned to face him properly. ‘Why is it you get to ask pointless hypothetical questions while I hardly ever get a straight answer from you?’

‘Fair point,’ he conceded.

The light rain let up and the crew carted out barrels of rum, the sombre air lifting with their spirits. It was time to honour the dead the way only pirates knew how.

I took a deep breath. ‘I know where Bane will be,’ I said, knowing I couldn’t avoid telling him forever. Knowing I might be damning us all as I did. ‘He told me. He wants you to meet him – I’m guessing he’ll have an army lying in wait. Didn’t seem like he planned to give up on me any time soon.’

Sebastien nodded slowly. ‘I see.’

‘Whale Rock,’ I told him. ‘He said he’d be waiting on the winter solstice. That you should hand me over or he’ll kill you.’

‘I see,’ he said again, sounding amused.

‘Whale Rock – where is that?’ I asked, watching him mull over the new information. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’

‘An island, just off the coast,’ Sebastien explained. ‘Few days south of Bray. No one’s lived there in years, but we’ve got . . . history with that place. Let’s just say they were never much fond of pirates.’

His tone was short, making me think there was more to it, but I had bigger things to worry about.

‘You aren’t planning to go, are you?’ I prodded.

‘Of course we’re going.’

I gaped at him. ‘Even if he has you outnumbered, ten to one?’

‘You’ve seen me take on ten men,’ Sebastien said wryly. ‘You think I’m scared?’

I rolled my eyes. ‘You might not be, but how do you expect your crew to survive?’

He shrugged. ‘It’ll be their choice. Though I already know what every person on this ship will decide.’

I scowled. Pirates. They’d choose vengeance over anything, even their lives. ‘But you have a fleet. You could bring Mersey’s crew, at least.’

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