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Luckily the wind will carry my words away, especially if I keep my voice low. “That’s it?” I say. “I see?”
“Yes,” he says. “Now I can claim to be judging you by fact.”
Maybe I liked it better when he was being contemptuous. “I’ve spent four years being hated by everyone,” I say. “Please don’t think I’ll be very affected by your opinion of me.”
“Of course not.” He glances my way. “I’m just here to sail the ship, Your Highness.”
He’s not quite mocking me, but it’s close. “I do admit to being surprised by your boldness. You’re the one who came begging for steel.”
“Only because you couldn’t manage to reach Ostriary to beg for Moonflower.”
I bristle. Every time I have a conversation with this man, I can’t find my footing. I’m both furious at his impertinence and intrigued by his mettle. “Have I wronged you in some way I’m unaware of, Captain?”
“Not me directly, no. But I was sent to Kandala to see if the new Ostrian king would be able to negotiate for steel so the kingdom can be rebuilt. I expected to find King Lucas, a ruler who was known for fair dealings throughout Kandala. Instead, I’m bringing back aman who put citizens to death after they’d been left desperate, with no means for survival.”
“You weren’there,” I say roughly. “You don’t know the circumstances. My father might have been known forfair dealings, but he never had to deal with widespread illness. His consuls had an equitable balance of trade between sectors. But once the Moonflower was determined to cure the fever sickness, it caused a massive shift in which sectors had money and power—and which ones did not. Suddenly his consuls—ourconsuls, Captain—held leverage over the throne, while ordinary citizens were quite literally killing each other over medicine. We had terrible choices to make, and we made them.”
“So the choice was to anger your consuls or execute your people?”
“The choice was to restore order by whatever means possible. People were already dying, Captain. The penalties had to be harsh or they wouldn’t have made a difference.”
He’s quiet for a moment, but hostility crackles in the air between us.
“If I locked you in your quarters without food,” Rian finally says, “and if I said you’d be put to death if you tried to escape, how long do you think it would take before you’d risk it anyway?”
My jaw is so tight. I don’t have an answer.
Or rather, Ido, but I don’t like it.
I don’t think it would take very long at all.
“And which is the greater crime?” he says. “Is it the imprisonment? Or the punishment?”
“You’ve made your point.”
“Or does the crime matter?” he continues. “Since the same person is responsible for—”
“I said you’ve made your point.”
I say the words sharply. Most of the men were pretending to ignore me, but my raised voice is enough to draw attention. Even Lochlan is glaring now. Kilbourne must sense trouble, because the guardsman has drawn closer.
“Come along,” says the captain, as if the tension between us isn’t as thick as the scent of fish guts and seawater. “I promised you a tour, Your Highness.” Without waiting, he keeps walking, but he calls back over his shoulder. “Brock, if you can’t get through that lot, Gwyn and I will help in a bit.”
I follow him. “I sense you’ll be recruiting my guards, next.”
“If they want to work, I wouldn’t turn away the extra hands.”
“Is that why you had Tessa climbing the masts this morning? You needed extra hands?”
“She volunteered.”
“And you thought it was a good idea? Sending my apothecary to the top of the main mast?”
“I thought it would be a poor idea to suggest she couldn’t do it.” He pauses. “Jealous?”
Thatreally does startle a laugh out of me. “No.”
But … maybe. Not just of the time with Tessa. I’ve spent weeks locked in the palace, surrounded by advisers and courtiers and royal demands. I stare up at the miles of rope and sails and rigging that hang suspended above us, and I can’t help the swell of intrigue.
