Neither have I. I meet her gaze with a smile cold enough to freeze the sea. “It seems so,” I say coolly, brushing past her like she’s nothing more than smoke from a rotten pipe. The drink is calling, and I need it like air.
Neressa trails behind me, her boots clicking with purpose. “So,” she purrs, voice laced with amusement, “I see you and the Pirate Lord docked at the same time… and walked in together? Interesting.” She slides onto the barstool beside me like she owns the place, well, because she does.
The bartender doesn’t need a word. Two glasses of rum hit the counter. She takes hers without looking, downs a generous sip, then taps her long, crimson nails against the wood of the bar. They’re glossy and wickedly sharp. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s slit a man’s throat with them. Probably more than once.
“I did,” I say at last, taking a slow sip to buy time. I feel her eyes on me, smirk tugging at her lips like a cat waiting for the mouse to admit it’s already caught. “I guess you may have been right.” There. The words are out, what she’s been waiting to hear. A balm to soften the edge of the favor I am about to lay on her, to dull the sting of what I need to ask.
She lets out a short, musical laugh. “Funny how I always am, aye?” Her tone snaps like a whip, sharp and smug. Then her gaze narrows, curiosity slicing through her amusement like a blade. “But what I’m wondering is, why are you both back so soon? And together? It’s barely been a month.”
I finally tear my eyes away from the swirling amber in my glass and meet her fog-gray gaze, eyes that always seem to see too much. “I need a favor, Neressa. A big one. And I don’t want a lecture.”
Her brows rise, then her eyes lower into slits, her expression shifting from amused to intrigued. “What kind of favor?” she asks, voice curling with interest. Then a slow, wicked grin spreads across her lips. “Do you finally want me to kill someone for you?”
The way she says it, casual, almost hopeful, makes my skin crawl. “No,” I say quickly. “You know I wouldn’t ask you for that.” I pause, the words bitter as brine on my tongue. “I need you to look afterThe Sirenwhile I’m gone.”
Her jaw slackens for a beat, just long enough to make my chest clench, then she snaps upright, her voice cracking like a whip. “You what?”
“I need you—”
Her palm slams against the bar, rattling both glasses, her nails leaving scratches in the wood. “I heard you, Mira. What the hell is wrong with you? Have you completely lost your mind?” Her voice rises with each word, sharp enough to draw blood. The sting of it lingers, but I don’t flinch.
“I told you not to lecture me,” I bite back. “I need what I need.”
Neressa shoves off the barstool, eyes wild, motioning toward the room like she wants witnesses. Like she wants the entire island of Magda to know I’ve gone mad. “You’re leaving your greatest heirloom, your entire family's legacy, to go after some old pirate tale?” She leans in closer. “And do you even trust him?” Her voice curls with venom, and the way she sayshimfeels like a curse, and maybe he is. She jerks her chin to the other side of the room.
I follow the direction of Neressa’s gesture. There he is, with his mouth on some hooker and his hands roaming like I was nothing more than seafoam lapping at his boots. Rage coils hot in my chest, rising fast, unforgiving. I shift in my seat, knuckles white around my glass. The urge to tear her away by that knotted messof hair or slap the arrogance off his smug face blazes behind my eyes.
He’s not mine. He’s not mine,I keep repeating in my head. I know that, I really do. But damn it, why does it feel like he is? “This isn’t about him,” I say, forcing calm into my voice even as it splinters at the edges. My grip on the glass tightens. It's the only thing keeping me anchored.
Neressa eyes me sidelong, lips curling with the smallest, most infuriating smirk. “You don’t have to play stone-hearted with me, love. I can see it, you’re pissed.”
She takes a slow sip from her glass, the amber shimmer of rum catching on her nails, turning them into little blades of light. “But it’s not just your pride, is it?” She taps the rim of her glass on the bar. “A ship needs a captain. Especially that ship. And she doesn’t follow just anyone. She answers to blood.Yourblood.” The truth of it hits like a blade touching flesh. I try not to flinch. Try not to think ofThe Sirenwaiting, sensing my absence like a wound that won’t heal.
“You’re the closest thing I have to a sister,” I say quietly. “You are blood to me. The only one I trust with this. She’ll sense that, she knows you.” My voice barely rises above the hum of the tavern, but I know she hears me. “I’m not asking you to captain her. Just check in. Keep her safe. Live there, if you want. Just make sure no scallywags think they can take her.” Neressa raises a brow, the sharp angles of her face softening, just slightly. And for once, she doesn’t hide the flicker of something real in her eyes.
I let out a dry laugh. “Not that she’d let them. She’d drown the bastards before they even got close.”The Sirendoesn’t suffer intruders. Her ropes slither and tighten, catching ankles, wrists—sometimes throats—before casting the unlucky bastards overboard. The sea always takes what she rejects.
Neressa places her hand over mine. It’s a rare gesture from someone like her. “I’ll take care of her,” she says. “Just promise me you’ll come back. Alive… and still yourself.”
I look up, locking eyes with those rare grays. How many have stared into them right before they died? I wonder if they saw this softness, even for a second. “I’ll do my best,” I murmur.
“This isn’t about him,” I add, my tone edged with warning. “You know that, right? Something is calling for me to get to that fountain. I need to answer that call.” She nods, but she doesn’t meet my gaze. And that, more than anything, is my answer. I clear my throat and shift the weight of the moment. “I’m heading down to the safe. I need to grab whatever gold I can. Supplies. Weapons. Don’t think I’ll be back in Magda anytime soon.”
“Take whatever you need,” she says. Her voice is even, but her eyes soften just a shade. “Magda will be waiting for you, Mira.”
I drain the last of my rum, the burn grounding me. I set the glass down on the golden wood of the bar and rise to my feet. “Thank you, Neressa. I know this isn’t a normal favor.”
She cuts me off with a wave of her hand. “This is destiny, love. I’ll never stand in the way of that. Especially yours.” Her voice, for once, is delicate. A word I never thought I’d use to describe her.
But then her eyes darken, like storm clouds curling at the edges of a calm sea. “However, if he hurts you, I’ll hunt him down myself. And he won’t want me coming. He would have much rather had the Kraken kill him than die at my blade.” A chill scurries down my spine, but oddly, it comforts me. Because I know she means it.
“I have a feeling,” I murmur, “he’ll doanythingbut hurt me.” And then I turn, walking toward the tunnels that lead to the underground vault, leaving behind the only person who’s ever felt like family, entrusting her with everything I can’t carry.
Chapter nine
Kai
Cinnamon & Steel
