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Instantly, whatever conversations were underway stopped, and everyone turned to scrutinize me.
“Did you have a good sleep?” Sebald asked. He sat closest to the door leading down to the cabins, Avenel sitting on the deck by his side.
“I guess,” I mumbled, looking around for Ludvig. When I didn’t find him, I asked, “Where’s Ludvig?”
“Resting in the captain’s cabin,” Magnus said, rising to come over and greet me. He ushered me into the group, inviting me to sit on the crate he’d been using. “He is doing well, you will be glad to know. Our new friend, Constantine, was impressed by the care he was given when his wounds were inflicted, which I assume is your doing.”
I shook my head. “I just got him to the boat and put water on the wound to clear away the blood.”
“And bandaged him,” Lefric added, as if he were defending me at a trial. “You did that too.”
I shrugged, not knowing what else I could say. “Is he going to be alright?” I asked Magnus, still standing. I didn’t feel right taking his seat, even if he’d offered it to me.
“Constantine seems to think so,” Magnus said. “He will need time to recover, but fortunately, we will have plenty of that while we stop over in Good Port.”
“We should be there the day after tomorrow,” a man I didn’t know, who must have been the boat’s captain, said.
I nodded. The conversation didn’t continue. It was almost like people were waiting for me to say something, but I didn’t know what to say.
I looked up at Magnus again. “Dmitri wants to be free from his confinement,” I said. “He…he ripped the bed out of the floor in his cabin and is sitting in the hall now.”
I noticed Peter—who had come out on deck instead of hiding in his cabin—shift closer to Neil, who shared his crate beside the one Magnus tried to offer to me. Peter was pale, but his expression was stalwart, like he’d grown used to the idea of Dmitri’s presence and was soldiering through.
Actually, I wasn’t the only one who looked at Peter. Everyone did.
“I will not allow him to come anywhere near you,” Magnus said, moving so that he could rest both his hands on Peter’s shoulders. Peter seemed to be comforted by that. “I cannot continue to keep Dmitri a prisoner on the boat, not if we want our illusion of the rest of you countering my desire to kill him intact, but perhaps a rule could be made that would sequester him on certain parts of the boat?” He glanced to the captain.
The captain let out a breath and nodded. “I’ll request that he stays in the stern and that he’s watched at all times.”
“He won’t like it if he thinks he’s being guarded,” I warned him, glancing back to Magnus.
“I’ll make certain my men are subtle,” the captain said, though he wore a somewhat vicious grin as he did.
I could only assume that the story of what Dmitri had done to Peter had been spread throughout the ship while I slept. Or perhaps the story of how he’d led me and Ludvig into trouble, then forced me to become his pup in order to get out of it was bad enough. Peter was more important than me, though, and more liked.
“Do you want some supper?” Ox asked, getting up from her barrel near a makeshift table that was stacked with the remnants of what looked like a fine supper. “There’s still plenty left.”
“Yes, please,” I said. Ox came forward to take my mug and to refill it. “Dmitri would like something more to eat too.”
“You’re not really his pup,” Lefric said, jumping up to help me fill a plate. “You don’t have to fetch and serve for him.”
“I think I do,” I contradicted him, hunching my shoulders a bit and feeling ashamed to say as much. “Dmitri wants me, so until we can learn what we need to from him, he gets to have me.”
“But why you?” Lefric asked as he plunked a roast pheasant leg on my plate. “Does it have to be you, or could it be someone else?”
I could see the concern in his eyes, and I knew he was only asking because he considered himself my friend. I wasn’t certain how much of a difference that made, though.
“There’s no one else,” I said with a shrug. “It has to be me.”
“But you know what he’s like,” Lefric continued to argue. “You know he’ll—”
“Lefric, stop,” Olympus scolded. When Lefric turned to him, Olympus gestured for him to come back. “Your friend has made his choice. And it’s a brave choice. We shouldn’t be arguing with him to change his mind, we should be looking for ways to support him.”
Lefric looked like he wanted to protest. He was practically vibrating with it. In the end, he gave up and slumped his way back to Olympus. “I don’t like this,” he said as he sat on the barrel he shared with Olympus, crossing his arms as he did.
“Neither do I,” I said, stepping away from the table and taking the refilled mug when Ox handed it to me. “But I’m going to do it anyhow.”
I walked halfway across the deck, intending to take Dmitri the food I’d gathered, but I paused by Magnus’s side.
