There was nothing here but an echo of some part of Isolde that I hadn’t known and never would. I stared into the black water, feeling so alone that it seemed as if that darkness might pull me into it. As if maybe my mother was waiting there for me.
THIRTY-ONE
I stood in front of the window in West’s cabin, every eye on me. The water dripped from my hair in step with my heartbeat, and I watched it pool at my feet.
West had called the crew into his quarters, but Koy had the good sense to stay belowdecks.
“So that’s it?” Willa said lowly. “This was all for nothing.” She and Paj had the same quiet resentment painted on their faces.
I watched my reflection ripple in the puddle on the floor. She was right. I’d made a deal with Holland and I hadn’t come through. And Saint wasn’t the only one who stood to lose. We still had to get the deed to the Marigold back.
The only card we had left to play was to trust Henrik.
“We still have the Roths,” I said.
“If that’s all you’ve got, then you’ve got nothing,” Paj said flatly.
Auster didn’t argue with him.
“When we get to Sagsay Holm, I’ll talk to Holland. I’ll work something out with her.”
West finally spoke. “What does that mean?”
I didn’t answer. The truth was, I’d do pretty much anything to get the deed back and Holland probably knew it. I didn’t have midnight to barter with, giving her all the power.
“What are you going to do, Fable?” Auster asked softly.
“Whatever she wants.” It was as simple as that.
Willa muttered under her breath. “Selfish.”
“You’re angry with me, Willa. Not her,” West snapped.
“Is there a difference?”
“Willa.” Auster reached for her, but she shoved him off.
“No! This wasn’t what we agreed. We said we would find Fable and go back to Ceros to finish what we started.”
“I’m sorry,” West said. It was followed by a solemn silence, and every crew member looked at him. “It was wrong for me to order the ship to Yuri’s Constellation without a vote.”
“You can say that again,” Paj huffed.
“It won’t happen again,” West said. “You have my word.”
Willa looked at her brother, swallowing hard before she spoke. “I won’t be around to find out if you keep it.”
“What?” he said, tired.
“When we get back to Ceros, I’m gone.”
West went rigid, his eyes boring into her. He was speechless.
“I’m done, West,” she said more softly. “I’m done following you from port to port. Letting you take care of me.” The emotion in her voice deepened the words. “I want off the Marigold.”
West looked as if she’d slapped him.
The rest of the crew appeared to be as shocked as West was. They looked between both of them, no one sure what to say.
It was Hamish who finally stepped forward, clearing his throat. “We have enough coin to replace the anchor and get back to the Narrows. We’ll have to stop off at the coral islands to top off our ledgers.”
“Fine,” West answered. He turned toward the window, making it clear they were dismissed.
They filed out one after the other, feet shuffling into the breezeway. Willa looked back over her shoulder before she followed them.
“West.” I waited for him to look at me. When he didn’t, I leaned into him, setting my head on his shoulder. He pressed his lips to the top of my head and pulled in a deep breath.
We stood there like that for another moment before I left him alone. I took the steps belowdecks at the end of the passageway; the lantern in the crew’s cabin was lit, filling the crack in the door with light. I followed it, peering through the opening.
Willa was standing in front of her trunk with her dagger in her hands. She turned it slowly so that the gems caught the light.
I pushed the door open and sat in my hammock, letting my feet swing over the floor.
“I know,” she said unevenly. “I shouldn’t have done it like that.”
“You were angry.”
“It was still wrong.”
She set her tool belt inside the trunk and closed it before she sat on the lid, facing me. “I know this is awful, but I think part of me was glad when all this happened.” She closed her eyes. “Like I finally had a good reason.”
I understood what she meant. She’d been dreading telling West that she was leaving and when he went against the crew, she felt justified.
“I’m the one who’s selfish,” she whispered.
I kicked her gently in the knee with my foot. “You’re not selfish. You want to make your own life. West will understand that.”
“Maybe.” Willa was afraid. Of losing him. The same way he was afraid of losing her.
“What will you do?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I’ll probably get a job working for a shipwright or a smith. Maybe an apprenticeship.”
“Maybe you’ll build us a ship one day.” I grinned.
That made her smile.
We fell silent, listening to the hum of the sea around the hull. “It will be hard on him,” I said. “To be without you.”
Willa bit down onto her bottom lip, staring into the dark. “I know.”
I scooted to one side of the hammock, holding it open for her. She hesitated before she stood and climbed in beside me.
“You think he’ll forgive me?” she whispered.
I looked at her. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
After the Lark, Willa told me that this wasn’t the life she’d chosen. West had brought her onto a crew to keep her safe. But she wasn’t the little girl she’d been back then, when they were Waterside strays. It was time for her to make her own way.
THIRTY-TWO
I could feel West’s gaze on me as I stood at the bow, watching Sagsay Holm come into view.
The little village was aglow in the sunset, the redbrick buildings stacked like stones ready to topple. But my eyes were fixed on only one ship in the harbor. Dark stained wood and a bow carved into sea demons. Stretched across the jib was a square of wide white canvas bearing Holland’s crest.
The knot in my stomach had only tightened in the hours since we’d left Fable’s Skerry. I’d stood across the desk from my grandmother and told her I could find the midnight. I’d struck the deal on the toss of dice, and I’d lost.
If Clove reached Saint in time for him to get a merchant’s ring to barter, and the Roths actually made good on their promise, we could have a shot at sinking Holland. But that wouldn’t keep Saint from finding a rope around his neck. If there was anything my father was bad at, it was playing by other people’s rules. He was as much a wild card as Henrik was.
I took up the heaving lines and threw them out as we neared the dock. The loop caught the farthest post as the harbor master came down the wood plank walkway, his attention on the parchments in his hands. He scribbled the quill from left to right, not bothering to glance up until West was coming down the ladder.
He looked up from beneath the rim of his hat when West’s boots hit the dock. “Marigold?”
West’s gaze instantly turned suspicious. “Yeah.”
“Holland’s waiting for you on the Seadragon.” He glanced to our crest and made a mark on the parchment. His eyes raked over West top to bottom, but he didn’t say whatever it was he was thinking. “Wouldn’t keep her waiting if I were you.”
West looked up to me, and I let out a long breath before I climbed over the rail and took the ladder down.
“I’ll get the deed back, West.”
He looked worried. Afraid, even. “It’s just a ship, Fable.”
I smiled sadly, my head tipping to one side. “I thought we weren’t lying to each other.”
The corner of his mouth twitched.
“I still have cards to play. I still have my share of the Lark’s haul and—”
“We still have cards to play,” he corrected. “And so does Saint.”
I nodded, dropping my eyes to the ground. Not for the first time, West had been lured into the utter chaos that was Saint and me, and I didn’t like it. It only reminded me that I’d abandoned the rules I’d lived by before I’d met him. The rules we both agreed to leave behind. But now I wondered if we were fooling ourselves into thinking we could do things differently, like we said.
Four guards stood at the mouth of Holland’s dock beneath an archway bearing her crest. Every port in the Unnamed Sea probably had one just like it. At the end of the slip, a wooden staircase rose two turns to the port side of the Seadragon.
“We’re here to see Holland,” I said, eyeing the short sword at the guard’s hip.
He looked me up and down before he turned on his heel, and West and I followed. We walked up the dock as the sun disappeared and, one by one, the lanterns above the Sea- dragon flickered to life.
I took the steps up from the dock, my hand dragging on the slick railing. The smell of roasting meat drifted off the ship, and when I made it to the deck, I looked back to the Marigold. She sat in the shadow of another vessel, her sails drawn up.
Holland’s man was already waiting for us. He stretched a hand toward the passageway, gesturing to an open door, where I could see the corner of a crimson rug on the wood slats. I steadied myself with a deep breath before I walked toward it.
Inside, Holland sat before a small, gold-painted table with three different log books open, one on top of another, in her lap. She was wrapped in a scarlet shawl, her silver hair intricately braided on top of her head. Sparkling rubies the size of copper coins hung from each ear.
She looked up at me through her thick lashes. “I was wondering if you were going to show.”
“We said sundown,” I reminded her.
She closed the logs and set them onto the table. “Please, sit.”
I took the seat opposite of her, but West still stood, crossing his arms over his chest.
One dubious eyebrow arched up over the other as she surveyed him. “So? Where is it?”
“I don’t have it,” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could.
The tiniest trace of some emotion made the set of her mouth falter. “What do you mean, you don’t have it?”
“We covered every reef in that system. It’s not there,” I lied. But I was still convinced the midnight wasn’t in those waters.
“I seem to remember you saying that you could find it. You insisted, really.” Her voice went flat and when her eyes drifted to West again, I swallowed hard, remembering Zola’s boots in the darkened doorway. The way they twitched. “We had a deal, Fable.” The threat was there in the deep tone that lifted beneath the words. “But I know how you can make it up to me.”
West stiffened beside me.
She opened one of the logs and slipped a folded parchment from inside. Gooseflesh rose on my arms as she opened it and slid it across the low table toward me. “The Trade Council meeting is in two days. You’ll be there. As my representative.”
I gaped at her. “Representing what?”
“My new trade route in the Narrows.”
I slid the parchment back to her without opening it. “I told you I wasn’t interested.”
“That was before I held the deed to the Marigold,” she said, sweetly.
She picked up the document and handed it to me. My hand trembled as I opened it and read the words.
“You’ll get it back when I have your signature on a two-year contract to head my new fleet.”
My lips parted, the sick feeling returning to my gut. “What?” But I already knew. She’d sent me on a fool’s errand with the midnight while she stacked the deck. She’d never counted on me finding it.
From the corner of my eye, I could see West taking a step toward me. Before I’d even finished reading, he snatched the contract from my fingers. I watched as his frantic gaze ran over the scripted writing. “She’s not signing anything,” West said, crumpling the parchment in his fist.
“She will,” Holland said, not a hint of question in her voice. “Sign the contract and you’ll get everything you want. The deed to the Marigold and an operation in the Narrows. The Marigold can even work for me, if you’d like.” She picked up the teacup, holding it before her. “If I pitch a Narrows-born trader as the head of my new route to Ceros, the Trade Council will concede.”
I tried to slow my breaths, holding onto the arm of the chair. “And Saint?”
“Saint is a problem that neither of us want to have. Trust me.” She took a sip of tea from the gold rim. “He’ll be taken care of by the time we’ve set up post in Ceros. Without him and Zola to contend with, I’ll be handing you the control of the gem trade in those waters.”
I looked to West, but he was staring at Holland, his murderous gaze like fire.
“Meet me at Wolfe & Engel tomorrow night with the contract.” Her eyes fell to my shaking hands and I curled them into fists, setting them in my lap. She leaned in, the cold gentleness returning to her face. “I don’t know what filthy hull of a ship you were born on, Fable. I don’t care. But when you sail back to the Narrows, it’s going to be under my crest.”
THIRTY-THREE
The crew stared at me across the cabin, silent. Even Koy looked speechless.
“You’re not signing it,” Paj snapped. “We’ve been bleeding coin since we left Dern so that we could bring you back to the Narrows and do what we said we were going to do.”
“You can do it without me. This doesn’t change that,” I said.
“It changes everything,” Willa muttered. Behind the others, she was turned toward the lantern, watching its flame behind the glass. This had a different implication for her. If I wasn’t on the Marigold, it wasn’t likely that she’d leave the crew.
“If I sign the contract, we get the deed to the Marigold back. If Saint and the Roths come through, it won’t even matter. It’ll be void.”
“And if they don’t come through?” Willa asked.
“Then you sail one crew member light for the next two years. It’s not that long.” I tried to sound as if I believed it. Two years away from the Marigold, away from West, sounded like an eternity. But it was a price I’d pay if it meant having a place to come home to after my contract was up.
“Contract or not, we need to decide what our next move is. There’s still more than enough coin to get a trade route up and running out of Ceros.” Hamish set the open book down on the desk between us. Since we’d left Fable’s Skerry, he’d been running the numbers. “We don’t need a post, not right away.”
Everyone looked to West, but he was silent beside me.
Paj sighed, stepping forward to look at the ledgers. “There’s no point in getting a license from the Gem Guild if Holland is moving into the Narrows, so I say we stick with rye for the most part.”
“Always sells,” Auster agreed. “Mullein, too.”
It made sense. There wasn’t a port in the Narrows that wouldn’t take shipments of both.
“That’s what I was thinking.” Hamish nodded. “Still puts us at odds with Saint, but that’s nothing new. Three ports to start—Sowan, Ceros and Dern, in that order.”
“I don’t know if we’re welcome in Sowan anymore. Not for a while, at least,” Auster said.
Hamish glanced at West, but he said nothing. Word had probably travelled all over the Narrows by now about what West had done to the merchant in Sowan. That was a reputation that would take time to live down. But there was one place in the Narrows where reputations didn’t matter.
“What about Jeval?” I said.
In the corner of the cabin, Koy straightened, his eyes finding me.
“Jeval?” Paj was skeptical. “It’s a supply stop, not a port.”
“If trade is going to open up between the Unnamed Sea and the Narrows, then it’s only a matter of time before Jeval becomes a real port. It’s the only berth between Sagsay Holm and De
rn.” I repeated the words Koy had spoken to me only the day before.
Hamish’s mouth turned down at the corners as he considered it. “There aren’t even any merchants on Jeval.”
“Not yet.” I glanced at Koy. “But if we’re trading rye and mullein, there will always be coin on Jeval for that.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Auster said, shrugging. “West?”
He thought about it, scratching the scruff at his jaw. “I agree.”
“We’d have to find someone trustworthy to set up trade with,” Hamish murmured.
“I think I know someone.” I grinned, tipping my chin up toward Koy.
They all looked at him.
“That true?” Hamish asked.
Koy stood up off the wall, standing taller. “I think we could work something out.” He was playing it down, but I could see the glow of excitement around him.
Hamish closed the book, sitting on the corner of the desk. “So, all that’s left is to vote.” His eyes moved over each of our faces. “Fable, your vote still counts if your share is going in.”
“It is,” I said without hesitation.
“All right.” Hamish clapped his hands together in front of him. “All for using a third of the coin from the Lark’s haul to fill the hull with rye and mullein?” He looked to Willa first.
She opened her mouth to speak, but West cut her off. “She’s not voting.”
Hamish’s mouth snapped shut as he looked between them.
“The only ones voting are those putting in their share of the Lark.”
“What are you talking about?” Willa finally turned away from the lamp. Its light illuminated only half of her face.
“Willa’s share is no longer part of our ledgers,” West said, still not talking directly to her.
Willa glanced in my direction, as if waiting for me to object. “West…”
“I want you to take it,” he said. “Do whatever you want with it. Start your own operation. Buy into an apprenticeship. Whatever you want.” It looked as if it pained him to say it.
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