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Orion let his head fall back, suppressing a groan. “I know they’ll remember me. Perhaps that’ll give them an incentive to offer what we need, though.”
“So, you want to go on the offense from the very beginning?”
“Do you have any better ideas, Devon? I’m all ears.”
“Any suggestion is better than that. Nava just got hurt. I’m slowly dying, and you look like shit. No offense.”
“Go on.”
“What if we let her deal with them?”
Orion stiffened and frowned at his brother. “You want Nava to speak to the pirates? She’s powerful, but I want her as far away from them as humanly possible.”
“I know it sounds ridiculous, but hear me out. She has that newness about her that would allow her to get close enough to ask the questions we need to answer.” Devon took a sip of his tea, placed the cup on the side table, and leaned against his chair. “We can count on them underestimating her. We’ve all made that mistake.”
“So, your idea is, we go to the ports, track a ship, and send her in there to ask questions?”
No one parted with a god’s artifact without bloodshed, and Orion sincerely doubted the bag of gold he carried inside his pocket would be enough to buy them one.
“We go to the bar they frequent at night. Nava heads in, disguised as a deserter, and lets it slip that she has something to trade for a ride out of this place.”
“That sounds vaguely familiar…” They had done that same stint several times in the Iron Kingdom.
“And it always works. A pirate overhears that she has money, and it gets her a one-to-one meeting with the captain—or second-in-command.”
“Fuck, I don’t know if I can stand back and watch her go in there on her own.”
“She won’t be by herself. We’ll be in the tavern, also in disguise. There will be blood eventually, and I doubt they’ll even have what we’re looking for, but that’s our best option.”
Orion hated to agree, but the odds of them getting closer were better if the pirates didn’t see either of them. “Does Leela have anything stronger than tea in this place?”
“She offered me some sort of fae honey wine. I passed, of course. I wouldn’t have benefited from being completely out of it for a day.” He tapped his bottom lip with a long finger. “I always wondered, does the wine affect you like a human, or are you immune because you’re also a fae?”
“You’ve asked me this at least a dozen times.”
“I keep forgetting. So, what happens if you drink it, would you get all… loose and relaxed?”
He narrowed his eyes at Devon and stood, moving to the kitchen to search for that wine. “We will head to the port tomorrow and see if there are any merchants around.”
“Merchants? What a boring way to describe them.”
True. But Orion didn’t want Leela to overhear any more than she probably already had. There was some movement downstairs, faint noises traveling to his ears. He opened a cupboard and discovered a large bottle full of amber liquid. Honey wine. If Nava knew what he was about to drink, it would horrify her. He poured himself a glass and downed half in one gulp before walking to the living area.
Leela greeted him with a nervous wave, peering at the glass in his hand. “I see you’ve found something with a bit more punch to it. It’s the best in the kingdom.”
“It’s the best I’ve had,” he agreed and returned her tentative smile.
“So, what’s the answer to my previous question, brother? Is it just liquor, or are you drinking it to get heated with your soulmate?”
“Mr. Black!” Leela exclaimed.
Orion maintained his flat expression and raised his glass in Devon’s general direction. “Be ready first thing in the morning or we will leave without you.” And he made for the stairs, plucking a pair of pants from the pile on his way.
24
NAVA
Pirates, fae, and sorcery—those three words would never have crossed Nava’s mind a year ago. Alas, this was what her life had become. She pulled the metal stamp from the black wax, revealing an uneven seal stuck to the parchment.
