Page 26 of Ship of Smoke and Steel

In the past, when I’d overused my power, I’d had to suffer through the aftermath alone. On a ship full of mage-born, I suppose the problem would be a bit more common. Though a horrible thought occurs to me—

“She’s not a ghulwitch, is she?”

A shadow passes across Meroe’s face, and she shakes her head. “Just handy with a mushroom poultice.”

I let out a relieved breath. Having Kuon Naga’s ghulwitch messing around with my insides is enough for me for one lifetime.

“The others are more or less all right,” she goes on. “Ahdron needed some stitching up. The Butcher’s people took them back down to the pack cell, but I convinced them someone ought to stay here with you.”

“I’m surprised they care about me one way or the other.”

“I think the Butcher would have been happy to leave you to rot,” Meroe says. “But everyone’s been talking about what you did, so she couldn’t just ignore you.”

“What do you mean, what I did?”

“The thing you killed was called a blueshell,” Meroe says, grinning. “Apparently they’re pretty rare, and not the sort of thing people fight all by themselves, even Melos adepts. The story’s all over the place.”

“Wonderful.” I set the canteen aside, trying to figure this out. Having a reputation might help, but it’s only going to make the Butcher angrier. “How long has it been?”

“A day and a half.”

I groan, and pull myself to a sitting position. “You’ve been here the whole time?”

“More or less,” she says. “We’re still under guard, so I’m not allowed to wander around.”

“You should have let them take you back to your cell.”

“I didn’t want you to be alone when you woke up,” she says.

I give a sigh, which hurts. “You—”

“Besides, you’ve saved my life twice now,” Meroe says.

“Maybe you should be a little more careful with it,” I tell her. “What were you doing taunting that monster?”

“Getting it away from Berun, of course,” she says. “He was scared out of his mind, and it was coming right at him.”

“Berun is scared of everything.” I wince at another ripple of pain. “He’s useless.”

“Which means I should let him get eaten by crabs?”

“If you have to.” I shift awkwardly as she glares at me, and I try hard not to roll my eyes. Aristos. “Listen, Princess. You may have grown up in a happy fairy tale, but this is reality. You think Berun would jump in front of a crab to help you? He’d run for it, and more power to him.”

“Don’t talk about how I grew up like you know anything about me,” Meroe snaps. “You came and rescued me, didn’t you?”

“That’s different.”

“Why?”

“I have my reasons.” Even if I’m not quite sure what they are at the moment. “Don’t get the wrong idea about me.”

“What idea would that be?”

I grit my teeth. “That I’m a good person.”

She crosses her arms and sniffs. “Small chance of that.”

“What’s this?” a voice says from the doorway. “A lovers’ tiff?”