Valther wanted to toss him overboard. But I was impressed with his boldness, so I gave him a chance. He proved himself worthy and I paid him in full for the voyage. Now, Edrik has a spot on my crew as long as he wants it.
“Isen,” I shout after the boys are finished eating.
His wrinkly head pops over the crow’s nest. I think he’s been up there since before I was born. After I purchased the ship from a Nesalisse merchant, I had sailed halfway to Crepotoase when he popped his weathered head out and introduced himself, scaring me halfway to Ulissa. He never asked to stay or offered to leave, so I just kind of figured he came with the ship.
“Set sail for the North East.”
“Aye, Captain.”
His tiny head disappears.
“Stormfur Kingdom?” Valther asks, wiping his greasy mouth with the back of his hand. “You looking for a wolf boyfriend?”
“Like any of dem could handle our Captain,” Petr says with a laugh. “I reckon she’d bite they head off and shove it up they ass if they’s tried to mark her neck.”
“We’re gonna catch us some bouldercrabs,” I tell them. “A whole lot of bouldercrabs.”
Edrik whistles low. “You’re going to be richer than the king after this haul.”
Valther wraps his hand around the back of Edrik’s skinny neck. “We’reallgoing to be richer than the king.”
“Stormfur Kingdom?” Drakor says with a gulp. “Isn’t that where the Sea Wraiths live?”
“Theylivein the shadow realm,” Briallen says.
“But they’sloveto vacation where we’s going,” Petr says in that creepy voice, scaring poor Drakor to death. “And feast on fat little boys’ juicy hearts.”
“Petr,” I say, shaking my head. “Leave the kid alone.”
I know he’s been missing home desperately. We don’t need to make it any worse.
With a groan, Drakor turns green and runs to the edge of the ship, heaving up the lunch he just ate.
“Fucking inlanders,” Petr says, shaking his head. “What a useless bunch of twats.”
It gets dark fast around here. We’re barely finished dinner—silverback steaks and boiled moonbarley—when the stars come out.
It’s a beautiful night. Rain clouds hover over the land, drenching the wolves in their kingdom, but out here on the ocean, it’s perfect.
I take a deep breath as I lean on the rail, looking up at the stars and thinking of my father. He’s on the ocean somewhere and I imagine his face looking up at the same stars too, thinking of me.
I grew up on ships, plastered to his side, learning everything I know from him. He’s my favorite person in the whole world.
I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees my haul. Four deepjaws. Even my father never found four deepjawsin one trip. He’s going to hug me so hard and spin me around, saying “Calista, you got the sea in your veins, girl!” I love it when he does that.
The night is quiet and chilly. I wrap my arms around myself, shivering as my mind wanders to other things.
Lately, I’ve been having a nagging thought in my head that won’t seem to go away no matter how hard I try to banish it.
Persistent thoughts of babies and toddlers keep entering my mind out of nowhere. As soon as I had my twenty-fifth birthday, the thoughts came rushing forward like an unstoppable tsunami and they refuse to go away and leave me alone.
You’ll need a man first, that annoying voice in my head says, like I don’t know that already.
Despite my life being surrounded by men, I haven’t been with anybody. Not even a kiss. Not even a romantic word.
I’m not attracted to crude salty men, and the sophisticated men in town aren’t attracted to a woman who can out-arm wrestle and out-curse them at the same time. Sometimes I think I’m living life on an island all by myself. In my lower moments, I think it might always be like this.
A chill ripples up my skin and I hold myself a little tighter, although it does nothing to stop the cold. How nice would it be to have a man to wrap his warm arms around me, to smile down at me, to whisper sweet things into my ear? I think I would like that very much.
