Page 109 of Tempest

Cat smirked, watching him give one-word answers and sip tightly at a half-empty glass of spiced rum. His face pulled at the flavor. She had never known him to favor rum, but supposed the wine was too poor for his refined tastes.

He leapt to his feet when she approached, passing the glass off to the hopeful woman without so much as a glance. It finally did the trick, and she flitted away with a roll of her eyes, quick to find another customer.

“Am I interrupting?” Cat said with a raised brow.

Fell shot her a withering stare.

“Very well,” Cat laughed. “I’m sorry you were so tortured by the company. Did you at least hear anything of use?”

Fell sneered over his shoulder to an officer in green uniform, holding court amongst a gaggle of eager, beflowered men and women.

“I didn’t fight that Esperese officer,” he said. “Though the pompous ass certainly deserved it.”

Cat rolled her eyes and pushed him towards the street, away from his more violent urges.

“I suppose that’s a triumph,” she said dryly. “You would’ve been dead before I returned.”

“You think I couldn’t have bested him?” Fell snapped, his words slower and sliding together.

Cat had to fight her grin. He had clearly drunk far more than she realized in their time apart. At least it made him manageable; she was easily able to steer him out into the street, past the taverns and musicians towards the docks, the Fledge, and some much-needed sleep.

“I think you would have bested one man only to be subdued by an entire battalion of Esperese sailors,” she offered.

Fell smiled dreamily. “At least a battalion.”

“At least,” Cat echoed.

“What of you?” he said, leaning heavily on her arm. “Do you have any idea where to look next? Or do you have more terrible things to put me through, Cat?”

He said her name quietly, his voice thicker.

As many terrible things as I can, Cat thought, her mind trailing back to Ana, still ensconced in her tower. How she would have liked to feed Fell to the Seawolf. But Ana was not her ally, not anymore. Just like the man next to her.

He never truly was.

“You put me in a cell with a warrant of execution hanging over my head,” she replied.

He rolled his eyes. “Not really—”

“I could do many terrible things to you before we break even again, Jasper.”

“Even?” His playful manner disappeared in an instant. Though drunk, his gaze was piercing. It made Cat think of Ana and the dagger at her neck, the cut still healing. “We have not been even since the day we met, Catrine Rose.”

She stopped short, letting Fell stumble on a few paces. He lost his balance but never fell, righting himself against a dockside rail. When he turned back to face her, Cat was already glaring.

“What is that supposed to mean, Captain?”

Her blood blazed beneath her skin. Not even, she thought, raging inside her mind. It was ten years ago, but she still remembered the day they met, when Jasper Fell was a lieutenant outside the bars of her crumbling cage. When he smirked at her as if she were just another stupid woman to charm.

She expected him to wilt or wave her off, but the rum made him bold.

“You know exactly what I mean, Lady Rose. Don’t pretend like you were some lowly indentured flung into the Lyrian Sea.” He stalked back towards her, closing the distance between them. “You are a noblewoman, no matter how poor or unlucky you claimed to be.”

“Claimed?” Cat snarled back, never giving ground. “You remember Rosby. You remember Ryman. You know what I came from.”

“And you know the same of me.” He did not relent. In the dim light of the evening, the torches of the dock burning odd reflections in the water, he seemed young again. But the scar through his left eyebrow remained, testament to the Venerable, and all that came after.

“You know how hard I had to fight, and how much higher I had to climb,” Fell growled. He still smelled of his expensive oil beneath the rum, and Cat knew why. It was a shield as much as his medals, as much as his neatly combed hair and freshly shaved cheeks. He clung to the appearance of perfection, of wealth, of higher standing. “You know how much further I have to fall, Cat.”