by Anna Burke
“Then next time, Captain, keep your eyes on the pot and off the honey.”
Were they betting on me and Miranda? I bolted back to the helm, fuming and confused. Kraken appeared a few minutes later.
“Hungry?” he asked mildly. I looked up at him, searching his face for remnants of the conversation I’d overheard. I found none. If he truly thought I was dangerous, his face didn’t show it, and I wasn’t about to ask him where the other bets had lain.
“Always,” I said, standing. “I was just finishing up.”
We walked to the common area in silence. Finn and Jeanine were still playing cards, and Finn dealt Miranda in as we entered.
“Loser cleans up,” Finn said.
“I thought you didn’t gamble,” I said, taking a seat far away from Miranda.
“Of course we gamble. Why do you think there is a rule about it?” Finn said. “Just don’t tell the captain.” He winked at Miranda.
“Shut up and deal,” Miranda said. “You want in, Rose?”
“I don’t know how to play,” I admitted.
“You don’t play poker on the Archipelago?” Finn looked scandalized. “What the hell do you do, then?”
I thought about the officer’s lounge, and the card tables and games that went on behind closed doors.
“Well,” I said, recalling late nights in the commons with Harper, “there’s always dice, darts, and drinking on a fleet ship.” I smiled at his shocked expression. “I was never good at cards, and I don’t like losing.” I could feel Miranda’s eyes on me and looked studiously away.
“Deal her in,” said Jeanine. “Maybe you’ll stand a better chance of winning with some new blood, Finn.”
“It’s not my fault you cheat,” Finn said, slapping the cards down on the table. “Here, I’ll show you the rules.”
Finn patted the bench next to him and I scooted over, across the table now from Miranda.
“I hope you like scrubbing pots,” Jeanine said. “Finn can’t play to save his life.”
“The trick,” Finn explained, ignoring Jeanine, “is your poker face. You’ve got to keep these jackasses from reading your mind. Think you can do that?”
I looked up at Miranda and blushed.
“Sure,” I said.
Miranda smirked.
“Maybe you better stick to dice,” said Jeanine.
We played through dinner. I wolfed down my food quickly, glancing surreptitiously at the pot to see if there was anything left.
“I hope you hide your hand better than you hide your appetite,” Miranda said.
I glared at her and placed a card face up on the table. Her eyes narrowed and she consulted her own hand.
“And I hope you can keep up,” I said.
Kraken coughed on a burst of laughter as he settled down to join us.
“That’s never been a problem before.” Jeanine’s voice was laden with double meaning. “You want in, Kraken?”
“No. But I’ve got a pair of dice that have been gathering dust.”
“You all need to be flogged,” Miranda said, laying down her cards. I smiled smugly at my higher hand.
“She always enforces the rules when she’s losing,” Kraken said. “It’s a serious character flaw.”
Jeanine’s hand trumped mine and Miranda’s. Finn sighed and played his, shaking his head as Jeanine collected the chips.
“On second thought,” he said, “dice seems like a better idea.”
“What’s the game?” Jeanine asked, looking from me to Kraken.
“Crown and anchor.” Kraken cast the dice on the table, the crude symbols spinning in the dim light.
“Now that,” Miranda said, crossing her arms, “is definitely against the Code.”
“My apologies, Captain. I’ll return them to the bilge swill who gave them to me.”
“Bilge swill?” Miranda repeated.
“That’s the nicest name I could think of off the top of my head.”
The top of his head, which loomed far above the rest of ours, gleamed.
“She must have a rough reputation, this bilge swill of yours,” Miranda said.
“Too rough,” Kraken agreed. “It got her into trouble.”
“Cut the crap,” Jeanine said. “Rose, Miranda gave Kraken those dice years ago. She’s the worst gambler on her goddamn boat, which is why she won’t let the rest of us play.”
Miranda gave Jeanine a tolerant grin.
I thought about the conversation I’d overheard, and wondered who Miranda had put her money on.
“If by worst you mean best, then yes. But crown and anchor is definitely out. I should remind you it was a gamble that won me Man o’ War in the first place.”
“Craps, then,” Kraken said, pulling out another set of dice from his pocket.
I stared at him.
“How many dice do you carry with you?” I asked.
“This set is lucky,” he said, collecting the crown and anchor die from the table.
“You mean rigged.” Finn shuffled the cards and put the deck back in a little drawer beneath the table.
“All right, Rose, let’s see what you’ve got,” Miranda said.
“Yes, Rose, we’re all anxious to see what you’ve got.” Jeanine rolled her eyes and ignored the warning look Finn sent her. “Especially the captain.”
Miranda’s knife landed between Jeanine’s fingers, quivering in the table. Jeanine froze, her mouth hanging slightly open.
“Oops. Must have slipped out of my hand.” Miranda smiled and casually plucked the knife out of the wood, running a finger down the blade.
Jeanine swallowed and flexed her fingers. My mouth went dry.
It was a good thing dice required very little skill.
• • •
The next morning didn’t so much dawn as glower. The clouds from the night before had multiplied, and the water above the trawler frothed and foamed, lashed by wind and rain. Even at our cruising depth the waves rocked the boat. I rolled out of my bunk feeling queasy and wishing I had held off on the rum. The rest of the crew slept fitfully, their inner clocks promising a few more minutes of sleep while mine lurched ahead of schedule.
Miranda stirred in her bunk. I froze, my heart beating much faster than it had any right to this early in the morning. Her breathing evened out again, and I leaned against the bunk, resting my head against the wall to listen. Despite Miranda’s dismissive comment last night, a smile launched a successful coup against my doubts, and I grinned like an idiot in the predawn light. Miranda wanted me.
We were leaving the debris zone today, and I couldn’t wait to get out of it. There was a cloying feel to the water here, a reminder of failure and death that clung to everything. On the other hand, there was also comfort in the knowledge that debris did not fight back.
Today we were hunting pirates.
I splashed water on my face in the tiny head, grimacing at my reflection in the mirror. I needed a haircut. My hair grew quickly, and already it was creeping past my ears in a dark profusion of tangled curls. I finger combed my forelock into submission as best I could, frowning.
“I like it messy.”
I jumped, nearly hitting my head on the low ceiling. Miranda leaned against the doorway with her arms folded across her chest. She hadn’t gotten fully dressed yet, and the thin tank top and baggy sleep shorts left little to the imagination.
“Um,” I said, ever articulate.
“Try this.” She stepped behind me, running her fingers through my hair. I watched our reflections. Miranda was only an inch or so taller than me, and she had to lean around my head to see what she was doing. Her own hair hung loose about her shoulders. She’d taken it out of its braid, and it gave her face a softer look. The effect was unsettling in more ways than one as it brushed against me.
She combed my hair forward, reaching past me to wet her fingers in the faucet. I shivered at the contact.
“Salt is the best hair product around,” she said, arranging my curls in a
decidedly edgy sprawl. “It has real staying power.”
“There is only so much styling can fix. I need a haircut.”
“Kraken will fix you up.” She stepped back to admire her handiwork.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“I’d like to keep some of it,” I said, thinking about Kraken’s bald pate.
“Tell him to take off the sides and leave the top.”
“Captain,” I said, holding her eyes in the mirror. “Was that an order?”
“Of course not. You can wear your hair however you want.” She trailed a finger down my neck. “It is just a preference.”
I turned around to face her in the tiny space, completely awake. The knowing smile was back on her lips, and I had the sense that she was fully conscious of what she was doing to my pulse. I reached out, hating the way my hand shook, and touched the thick fall of unbound hair. She closed her hand gently around my wrist.
I tightened my grip on her hair before she could pull my hand away. Miranda might be in control of this ship, and she certainly had a few strings on me, but I hadn’t forgotten the look in her eyes as she said my name the evening before.
Miranda shook her head at me, a silent warning not to take things further. I wrapped her hair around my fingers and pulled.
It was like a switch. Miranda’s eyes closed, and when they opened again, the look that had nearly undone me on the deck hit me again.
“You’re a real problem,” she said, pressing me up against the sink.
I chose to respond by pulling her lips to mine. Miranda let out a low groan and reached out to yank the door shut, locking us in the tiny space. I wrapped my other hand in her hair, soaking up the way it felt as she lifted me up onto the sink with a practiced ease I decided not to dwell on. My legs tightened around her involuntarily and Miranda proceeded to return disorder to my appearance with a determination that wiped all thoughts of pirates from my mind.
“Seriously, hurry the fuck up in there.”
Jeanine’s voice, paired with a barrage of knocking, broke us apart.
Miranda opened the door with a curse and glared at Jeanine, who held her ground.
“Go piss in the ocean,” Miranda said, shoving past her.
That left me face to face with Jeanine. I ran my hands through my disheveled hair.
Jeanine had a curious expression on her face. She tilted her head, showing off the shark tattoo on the shaved side of her skull.
“You’re in deep, aren’t you?” she said.
I shrugged and made to step past her. She flung out an arm and stopped me, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
“For what it’s worth, I had a full ration on Orca, but I’m not a sore loser. Be careful with the captain. You hurt her, we’ll kill you.”
She dropped her arm and stepped into the head, slamming the door in the face of my questions.
I didn’t have much time for contemplation, either of Jeanine’s motives or Miranda’s. Finn cornered me over breakfast with the latest findings on the sonar. There were several large ships in the area, and it was my job to chart a course that would take us close enough to identify them without attracting their attention. Our last encounter with piratical forces had been unpleasant enough to satisfy my curiosity for a lifetime.
The storm gathered and grew into midday, threatening to split the seas asunder with its force. Navigating beneath the waves at our depth didn’t pose a problem, but it did interfere with my line of sight. Murky water greeted me every time I raised my eyes, and scattered swarms of jellyfish shot past the helm. I trusted that Finn was interpreting the sonar and did my best to keep our course as unobtrusive as possible, just a little drifter ship making its way toward the mines in hopes of trade.
Miranda paced the hallway between the helm and Finn’s lair, her braid twitching like a cat’s tail. Now and then she cursed the sonar, keeping an eye on Man o’ War. We’d had a confusing ping from them shortly after breakfast, urging us to stay away a little while longer.
I was soaked in nervous sweat by the time dinner rolled around.
“You look like you need a drink,” Finn said, tossing me his flask as I slumped onto the bench next to him. I drank deeply. Harper would be proud of my new vice.
“Captain said something about a haircut,” Kraken said, setting a platter of food on the table.
I rolled my eyes at Finn and took another swig of rum.
“Seas save us, will you please let him do something interesting? You look like a mop. It honestly hurts me to look at you sometimes.” Jeanine emphasized her point by averting her eyes in disgust.
“Go easy on her. She can’t help the fact that she’s been surrounded by a bunch of people with eels up their asses for her entire life. Have you seen those fleet uniforms?” Kraken shook his head disparagingly. “And they call us criminals.”
“I was thinking just a trim,” I said, inching away from Finn’s enthusiasm.
“Miranda, knock some sense into the poor thing,” Finn said.
“She looks just fine.” Miranda silenced their protests with a look. “If she wants her mop, let her keep her mop.” Her eyes challenged mine. “On the other hand, you are free from fleet constraints. It might not be a bad idea to blend in with my crew.”
“Define ‘blend in,’” I said, with a feeling I was about to regret my decision.
• • •
The face staring out of the mirror was mine, but the hair was not. Kraken had taken the sides down to stubble, leaving the curls on top to fend for themselves. They fell almost into my eyes, a tousled look that would have given Comita a serious case of indigestion.
“Holy shit,” I said, looking back at Kraken.
“It suits you, wolf pup,” he said, roughing up his handiwork in a gesture that felt suspiciously like affection.
“Let us see,” Jeanine said, leaning into the head.
I stepped out and faced the rest of the assembled crew.
“Hot damn.” Finn nodded in approval. “Now you look like a proper Merc. We just need to get you a few tattoos, and—”
“One step at a time there, Finn; you don’t want to scare the girl,” Jeanine said, looking me up and down. “Definite improvement. Unless you want a tattoo?”
“I think I’ll pass on that for now, thanks,” I said, thinking about dirty needles.
“What about an earring? I have a spare hoop somewhere.” Finn fingered his earlobe suggestively.
“Thanks, but I like my ears the way they are. In one piece.” I turned at last to Miranda, who was watching me intently. “Well, Captain? Do I blend in with your crew now?”
“You are my crew,” she said. Her eyes locked onto mine. “You look good, Rose.”
“A toast!” Finn declared, sparing me from responding to Miranda. She still held my eyes, her look full of promises I hoped to Neptune she planned to keep.
“A toast to what?” I asked, not breaking eye contact with my captain.
“To the liberation of your scalp.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Miranda said.
My free will drained out of me and I had the presence of mind to be grateful that Miranda had not, in fact, suggested I get a tattoo, because I would have broken my principles faster than I could say “Davy Jones.” Miranda Stillwater, I reminded myself. Queen of renegades, the captain that turned the waters around Gemini station into bloodstained foam— hardly a person to trust with my life, let alone my heart.
Jeanine was right. I was in deep.
“How about we toast to our first visit to the fabled Archipelago mines?” Jeanine offered.
Finn raised his flask. “Sounds good to me. Now why aren’t we all drinking?”
“Some of us have to stay sober,” Miranda said. “We’re deep in Ching’s territory.”
“I don’t see you volunteering to take that hit,” Finn said.
“Actually, it’s my watch, which you should know, Finnegan. Drink up for me.” She saluted us as she walked out of the room, leaving me st
ruggling with the urge to trail after her.
Jeanine took pity on me.
“You gonna let her take that watch alone, navigator? Here. Take this.” She tossed me a full flask and waved me out of the common area. “We can’t talk about you behind your back if you’re sitting right in front of us.”
I shut the door. The sound of their laughter faded, leaving me to absorb the silence of the corridor.
Did I really want to be alone with Miranda? Stupid question. Of course I did. The real issue was should I be alone with Miranda, knowing what would probably happen. We’d registered three pirate ships in the distance today, which was three too many, in my opinion. It would take more data to get a clear picture of the pattern, but the size of the ships told me all I needed to know about what the Archipelago was up against. I couldn’t afford to let Miranda distract me any more than she already had.
My feet ignored my brain and set off down the hallway, taking a pull of liquid courage for good measure.
“Hey there, navigator,” Miranda said. I set the flask down on the empty chair and stood before her, words failing me. She reached out her hand. I took it, letting her pull me onto her lap and praying that our ship passed unnoticed over the deeps, because I sure as hell was not paying attention.
Chapter Thirteen
“Rose.”
I woke up to Jeanine shaking my shoulder.
“Your watch.”
“Ugh,” I said, pushing back the blanket and squinting up into Jeanine’s yawning face. She pushed a mug of hot tea into my fumbling fingers and crawled into her own bunk, leaving the trawler in my hands for the last hours until dawn.
The helm was quiet, with only the faint sounds of the ocean popping and whirring around me. I chugged down some of the scalding tea to wake myself up, then checked our position. We were deep beneath the waves, but even down here I could feel the hurricane exploding into the Gulf with a vengeance.
Stifling a yawn of my own, I scanned the sonar. If Man o’ War kept up on her current trajectory, she should be due north of us, just outside of our sonar’s range. I paused. There was a large swarm of jellyfish moving in that direction. If I was careful, I might be able to hide in the swarm long enough to get the main ship into range without revealing our coordinates to anyone else.