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If he weren’t being such an ass, I’d admit it.
Instead, I focus on the matter at hand. I want to review the maps in his stateroom, but that’s going to have to wait until Tessa is done. “For now,” I say, “I’d appreciate seeing the lower decks.”
“Where would you like to start?”
“Rocco said you have cannons on board. I’d like to see your gun deck.”
If he’s surprised, it doesn’t show. “Right this way.”
Once we’re on the steps to the lower levels, I say, “In case there was any uncertainty, I don’t like you much either.”
“Truly? You’ve been incredibly subtle.”
“I’m going to knock you down the stairs.”
He stops and turns, his eyes in shadow now. “Do not pick a fight with me.”
He says it evenly. Coolly. The same way he said,Don’t threaten my crewwhen we were sitting at dinner.
I stare back at him, and there’s something about his quiet composure that makes me want to throw the first punch. I’m sure he can read it in my gaze, because he doesn’t move, and he doesn’t look away.
Just a bit of wounded pride between men.
Yes. I definitely understand.
But I need him to get us to Ostriary. I’m not failing in this mission over something as frivolous aspride.
“I certainly wouldn’t pick a fight by announcing my first move,” I say, and there isn’t an ounce of tension in my voice. I glance past him as if I’m bored with this delay. “Lead the way, Captain.”
The gun deck is exactly as Rocco described: wide and dusty, with the cannons tethered together at opposite ends of the ship. The gun bays are sealed shut, making it very dark down here, but Rian brought a lantern, and he leads me around the space. A large section sits at the front of the ship, with a padlocked door behind the cannons. That must be the armory Rocco mentioned.
“You indicated that it was too costly to remove them?” I say to him.
Rian nods. “They were quite literally built into the ship.” He points to the deck above us. “We’d have to pull apart two decks to get them out. Even then, we’d need a crane. But here, I can offer you more proof about this ship’s origins.” He moves closer to one of the cannons, holding the lantern close to the end.
For a moment, I’m not sure what he’s showing me, but then I see it. The forge mark hammered into the steel at the back of the cannon.
STEEL CITY METAL WORKS
The cannons were forged in Kandala—and if the ship was built around them, that means the ship most likely was, too.
“This mark appears in other spots, too,” Rian says. “Inside the ovens in the galley, on some of the chains along the main mast, on a few of the steel beams along the hull. But this is the most convincing, because there’s truly no way for me to bring these cannons aboard.”
I brush my fingers along the letters. Itispretty convincing.
I look up, gesturing to the padlocked door. “And your armory? Rocco said your crewman didn’t have a key.”
“I don’t either.”
I don’t believe that for an instant. He’s the captain of the ship. “Surely we can hate each other without havingliesbetween us,” I say.
He smiles, and this time it’s a bit more genuine. “Yes, we can, but this isn’t a lie. I don’t carry the key on me, and I will not be retrieving it for your purposes.”
“You allowed the palace guards to search the armory,” I say. “They reported it waswell stocked.”
“And you don’t trust the palace guards?”
No, but I’m not going to admit that. Just the words send a chill down my spine. We already suspected something was amiss with the palace guards, but until this moment, I hadn’t considered that this journey might be part of it.
