Smugly, she noted that taking stairs required more balance than her ridiculous MerSir sibling was possessed of, clutching at the banister for support. Although perhaps it would have been easier had he not been gawking at everything like a literal fish out of water.
“Close your mouth, you’ll catch a fly,” she tapped his chin with her finger.
“What exactly do you do here?” Silverfin asked, as he followed her into her room, examining Mara’s spartan possessions with a look of rabid enthusiasm.
“Oh,mon dieu,” Mara sighed and allowed her body to sink into the armchair.
The entire room reeked of human coital fluids, not that her brother would know the smell of it. At least he, when he inevitably failed his ridiculous quest for love, would have far more options for gainful employment among the bipeds thanshe. Not that Mara’s decision to stay at the brothel had been fully one of necessity. She’d thought perhaps that walking Elizabeth’s path – a whore gaining power by manipulating the men around her – she might finally gain Elizabeth’s respect. That Mara might become worthy of her notice, again.
Mara knew she was a fool. But where else was she to go in this world that had never been her own?
Bitterly, Mara pushed thoughts of Elizabeth aside.
“I get fucked for coin,” she explained with the patience of a saint. “What do you think Mami Wata gave you your third leg for?”
“To empty my bladder, I assume,” Silverfin shrugged. “I can’t very well go around excreting through my gills whilst among land-dwellers, can I?”
For a long moment Mara stared at her brother. As much as she thought she ought to set him straight, if he'd managed to avoid all knowledge of the birds and the bees up until this point she wasn't particularly keen on being the one that had to rectify that. "You'll understand soon enough."
"Right." Silverfin rubbed his hands together. "Where do I find him, then?"
"What?"
"My beautiful golden pirate. I'm here, he's here. What else is there to it?"
"You really think you can just go waltzing into his bed, don't you? Even if you were, by some miraculous feat, able to get there, you wouldn't have a clue what to do with yourself."
"Well, I don't see why not. I still have enough of my hair to be attractive."
Mara's lips pursed in annoyance as she stepped closer to him. "Listen, little brother. I told you to stay away from here for a reason. Men don'tdothat here. Not openly, not with othermen. If you go throwing yourself at him, you're just going to get yourself a black eye - or worse."
"Well, that seems silly." Silverfin perched on the edge of the bed. Mara decided not to tell him what exactly he was sitting on. "Why in the sea would that matter?"
"There are some things that even I don't understand. But in any case, if you wish to earn his affections you must do it in a way that is subtle. You must first become close to him in some other way. And this I cannot help you with."
Silverfin nodded as she spoke, in a way that meant his mind was already miles ahead, galloping along towards his goals with reckless abandon. "Help me find him, then. I'll take it from there. I've got it all figured out, you see."
"Do you?"
"Of course." He leaned forward, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "And when I get what I want I'll bring you back so much coin that you won't need to - whatever this is - for it."
"Far be it for me to get in your way. Come on. We'll see if he's awake yet."
Silverfin stood, then stopped. "Mara. What's a Lucas?"
"Who?"
"A who, then. Man or a Woman?"
"Man. I don't recommend you ask these kinds of questions in front of the land-dwellers."
"Right," Silverfin replied, and perhaps it was Mara's imagination, but he seemed to look even more smug than he had before as he followed her out of the room.
Hawk opened his eyes to a world of hurt.
Cockbitinghell. How long had he been out?
Why had Elizabeth allowed him to linger here, in these sweat-soaked sheets? His muscles were atrophied with lack of use and his stomach gnawed at his entrails, attempting to devour him from within. Jesus Christ. He was a fucking mess.
