Page 10 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

Minha’s body went rigid. “And if they’re not, I swear on the goddess of the sea, I’ll shove my dagger through the king’s throat.”

Nam had mentioned the goddess of the sea in her story. Was there such a thing as gods? And if a goddess of the sea existed somewhere beneath all that dark water, where was she? Why had she not freed us? Perhaps they were just a myth, a story of passing long forgotten. I let that thought sink back down.

We had gone from one prison to another. The cavern had bars and guards and Agusto’s whip. This one had open water on all sides and a woman who intended to sell us. I didn’t know what that meant, not really. I had no frame for selling. That word belonged to the world outside the cavern. But the way Resse had said it, told me enough.

The ship rocked steady and relentless beneath me like a slow breath. My eyes grew heavy. The events of the day pressed down: the cliff, the water, the net, the ship, the kitchen, all of it stacking one on top of the other until my body simply gave out.

At least Jina and Minha were beside me. Whatever came next, we would face it the same way we had faced everything else.

Together.

Chapter Four

Jina and Minha were still tucked against me, their breathing slow and even.

For a moment, caught in that thin space between sleep and waking, I thought I was back in the cavern. The same cold floor beneath my bones, the same sound of waves. Then the ship swayed and the illusion broke.

I was not in the cavern. I would never be in the cavern again. I didn’t know yet if that was a mercy.

The air smelled of old grease and the faint sweetness of yesterday’s bread. My neck ached from the angle of the floor and my legs had gone stiff, but some part of me had accepted that as normal.

“Rise and shine, Seaborns!” Brando’s boot connected with the doorframe hard enough to rattle it. “Sun’s been up an hour. You sleep like you’re paying for the room. Kitchen. Now. Help the old man with the morning meal.”

Jina startled awake, yawning. “Why does he call us that?”

Minha sat up beside her, eyes sharp, hand moving toward her secret pocket before she thought better of it. “I suppose it’s better than girl, or hey.”

I rose without a word and folded my blanket. We would dock soon. I would never see Brando again, and that suited me just fine.

The kitchen was at the back of the ship, already warm from the cook’s fire. The cook stood at the stove, his back to us, stirring.

He didn’t turn around to greet us. “Bread needs cutting. Porridge needs watching. Don’t let it stick. And peel the eggshells.”

We got to work.

The ship rolled through a deep swell, enough that the cook braced a hand against the counter. I kept cutting. Jina kept stirring. Minha didn’t look up from the eggs.

The cook set his spoon down. “Any of you sick?”

I looked up from the pot. “Should we be?”

He studied us a moment, a thought shifting behind those eyes. “Every landlubber who comes aboard spends the first day hanging over the rail.”

I looked at Jina. She looked at Minha. None of us had an answer. But as the ship swayed, all I felt was the same thing I had felt since hitting the water, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

The cook glanced at us sideways, then turned back to his pot and stirred. “In forty years on this water, I’ve never seen landlubbers take to the sea like you three.”

His words went through one ear and out the other. I had no idea what he meant.

Kit came racing down the narrow hall, boots loud on the wood, and stopped short, his gaze landing on Jina. The light caught her petite frame, the paleness of her skin, hazel eyes blinking up at him. She looked ethereal, like something the sea had conjured.

He forgot whatever had made him run. Despite our predicament and the people on this ship, I smiled. Kit seemed to have a good heart, unlike Resse and Brando.

“Boy…” The cook waved a ladle. “Stop looking at her like she’s your morning meal. What do you want?”

Kit’s face flushed red to the tips of his ears. “I—Resse wants food brought up.”

Jina ducked her head and went back to stirring. But the corner of her mouth gave a hint of a smile.