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Kerina frowned. "It's stopped now anyway. That's strange. No crescendo, no fade away, it just stopped."
"They might have been practicing," I suggested.
"I suppose so," Kerina replied, but she seemed unconvinced. "It doesn't matter anyway, we should hurry. The captain said he wouldn't wait. After you, sir." She waved and grinned.
"Thank you, but be careful how you address me."
"Of course. you wouldn't want anyone to think you're in charge of me." She laughed at the last word.
I snorted. "Right." I drew out the word. "That and from now on, we have to pretend to be other than who we are."
"Naturally," Kerina agreed. "I told the captain we were brother and sister."
My eyebrows twitched. We had no family resemblance, and spoke with slightly different accents. Thank Hades most people didn't bother to ask questions as long as they were paid. They would probably assume we were lovers escaping disapproving parents, or unhappy marriages.
"You can be the younger sibling this time," I said. I made a face at her that drew a laugh.
"But it's such fun when you're the baby brother," she teased.
"I don't have the temperament."
"I suppose you do suit grumpy older brother better," she mused.
"Precisely. The crew will ask fewer questions if I toss you overboard."
She chuckled. "If I go, you're going with me."
"I don't want to be food for the sea serpents." I nodded to the crewman who waved us aboard and started to draw up the gangway from the dock.
"You wouldn't be more than a snack, brother dear," Kerina said, obviously for the benefit of the crew. If we said nothing important, we wouldn't draw any attention. They'd forget us the moment we reached the Cape.
"A chewy, hard snack, sister dear," I agreed.
I caught the eye roll of a barefooted woman who wound a length of rope around her arm. She evidently assumed we were a pair of spoilt brats, off on some sort of adventure which would get us killed, or visiting estates in Cape Massin. No one, certainly, worth paying any attention to.
I shot her a smile which I hoped was ingratiating, greasy even, and she looked away.
Kerina snorted softly. "You've still got it, dear brother."
"Thank Hades for that," I muttered. I didn't need anyone trying to attach themselves to me.
Except maybe Viva.
Guilt made my heart hurt. She was in danger because of me. I let her go into it, without at least some idea of what she might face. And I had done fuck all to stop it. I wouldn't be surprised if she hated my guts after all of this. That hurt even worse.
On top of that, I was worried Knox's presence might endanger her even more. I sent him to keep her safe, but knowing her, she wouldn't be able to keep from talking to him, or trying to get answers.
Although, I reminded myself, she wasn't stupid. A woman smart and determined enough to survive the Council, discarded by the mate Hades chose for her, who made a place for herself in the Vault, would be smart enough not to take stupid risks, regardless of her curiosity.
At any rate, nothing in Knox's message suggested she was other than alive and well. At least, at the time it was sent. I had to hold onto that and beg Hades to give me a chance to explain.
I forced the woman to the back of my mind and set my bag down on the bed of the cabin I was shown to. Not, as Kerina suggested, a corner of the deck. It was nothing special, I could touch the opposite walls without raising my arms, but it would do.
I closed the door behind me and headed back up on deck. I claimed an empty spot by the rails and watched the city slip further and further away. I scanned the sky for dragons, and the waves for sea serpents, but saw neither. The eerie feeling of a city waiting extended far behind the docks. Even the sailors seemed to be waiting for something. They went about their jobs, moving around on deck as though it didn't rock, but every last one seemed tense, tied tighter than one of their knots.
It was my imagination, I decided. That was all.
I turned and caught a glimpse of a small figure hurrying down belowdecks.
