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“The answer is no.”
“No? That simple?” Her lips parted in shock. “You won’t help me even if I pay you?”
He grimaced. “You have freaky eyes.”
Nava fought the sudden urge to turn away and hide her face behind her hair, like she always did when people made negative remarks about her different-colored eyes.
“You’re one to talk,” she said heatedly and pointedly looked at his missing eye. She usually wasn’t the petty kind, but she also wouldn’t let this man walk all over her and insult her to her face. She had no time to waste. “I can’t see what my eyes have to do with what I need.”
The pirate grinned, revealing sharp, yellowing teeth. A shifter? What was he? “Neil! A pint of ale.” He slammed his tattooed hand on the counter. There was a snake—or a dragon?—inked on his tan skin. It appeared to slither with the movement of his muscles. An optical illusion, perhaps?
The server, who’d been avoiding the area where Nava sat ever since Morgan had left, was with them in the blink of an eye. Up close, he was a mousy thing, shaking under his thin clothes. He picked up a clay mug and filled it with bubbling beer. “Here, Draken.”
“Put it on the mouse’s tab.” He pointed at Nava but didn’t turn to look at her.
“Excuse me?” Nava’s lips parted in a silent gasp as she stood from her stool. “You don’t get to decide whether I buy you a drink or not. Especially after you just denied me what I need.”
“Sit. I’m not done with you,” Draken ordered. “To answer your question, your eyes could easily be bad luck. In a world of magic, I’m not one to take risks.” He took a long swig of his drink.
And what did that mean? Perhaps he’d had a premonition that warned him of someone with different-colored eyes?
Nava didn’t sit. Instead, she gripped the pommel of her dagger, narrowing her eyes at him. “I’m not paying for your drink, but I have gold to pay for passage.”
“No gold can get me to take you on my ship. It’s not worth the risk. But I can give you information about who might—for a price.”
All of these bastards were leeches. “If you can’t take me, then I’m interested in a trade.” She lowered her voice so the bartender and the surrounding patrons wouldn’t hear her. “The Crows are trailing me and my family, and I need a weapon that will help me fight them.”
“A weapon to defeat the Crows?” He laughed from his belly up, a genuine sound that even reached his shimmering eye. Perhaps he was curious about her. Or he wasn’t used to anyone answering him so directly.
He was a scary-looking shifter, but Nava possessed more power than he gave her credit for, and she wasn’t a damsel in distress. Besides, Arkimedes was somewhere in the room.
“How much gold are you talking about? It seems you already have a fine dagger strapped to your body.”
He’d noticed. Had he watched her threaten the other man? He was so large, Nava couldn’t imagine him blending too well into the shadows of the dining area. “I have enough to buy a god’s artifact…with no one being the wiser.”
Of course, that was a bald-faced lie. She had maybe ten coins left. He would never sell her an artifact for that little.
“A god’s arti—” Drake sobered and looked around them, as if he expected someone to jump him from the shadows. Not that he was that far off with his fear. “I’m thinking you’re a Crow. Hiding behind this act of a powerless mouse.” His growl began in the very center of his chest, and his eyes sizzled orange and yellow, like the embers of fire. A dragon shifter. “Speak the truth or face the consequence of wasting my time.”
Grit stuck in her throat, and she felt Arkimedes move toward her. His shadows floated around the tavern like cool mist that raised the hair on the back of her neck.
There were a few gasps in the distance, but Nava focused on Draken, unblinking.
She craved more of the bitter amber whiskey. They didn’t need to add another foe to their growing list. Ari always spoke the truth, and it was what she longed for as well. She was tired of lies.
“I’m not a Crow, but I’m not a deserter either.” She hesitated but didn’t release the handle of her weapon. Her bees began to circle her body. Drake swatted at a few of them that flew too close to his hook nose. “I would like to purchase the item if you have one.”
Dragon shifters were dangerous, according to legend, and Nava wanted nothing to do with them. The tavern darkened further. Undoubtedly, nobody was paying attention to her and the pirate because they were gawking at her soulmate.
The dragon eased onto his stool and regained the edge of curiosity he’d almost lost. “I commend you for being brave enough to tell me the truth, after all your lies. But even if I owned such an artifact, what makes you dream I would ever part with it? I kill for my treasure.”
“We both know they possess great power—but also that they curse those who wield them.” Nava pressed her lips together. That was an important detail they had avoided discussing while devising this plan.
Who was going to wield the weapon?
“I also know the emissaries of the gods have been tracking these artifacts across the world. So if you do have one, it’s only a matter of time before you find yourself pitched against an immortal.”
The dragon shifted his gaze toward the crowd in the back. The silence had finally caught his attention. He instantly paled. “A Dark One,” he exclaimed and rose, his body growing hotter and the tattoo on his arm moving with light.
