Page 57 of Commander’s Mate

“I’m panicking professionally.”

Scarlet looked over my shoulder.

At the top of the first slate I had written:

NAME

WORLD

LANGUAGE

MEDICAL

FOOD

CLOTHING

FAMILY

DESTINATION

DO NOT—

I stopped.

“Do not what?” Nora asked.

I looked around the room.

At women who jumped when doors opened.

At people who still carried auction numbers on their wrists.

At a child sleeping beneath a table because it felt safer than a bed.

“Do not assume.”

Scarlet nodded once.

I added it.

DO NOT ASSUME CONTACT / FAMILY / DESTINATION / WORK / MATE STATUS.

Zoe leaned closer.

“Mate status?”

“I heard two women asking if rescue means they get paired with soldiers.”

Scarlet’s expression turned murderous.

“Who told them that?”

“No one. That’s the problem.”

Nora sat beside me.

“They’re filling the silence with whatever happened on the last ship.”