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“Very well. Search all ships!”
Isaiah waited as promised, and two vampires were a blur as they focused on the other ship. The gray-eyed man remained where he was, perusing Isaiah and his equally-unmoving crew until there was a distinct splash from the other side.
Shouting ensued. He spotted the gleam of a vase, and Jasper in a panic before the confirmation rang out loud.
“They have the stolen items, Oskar.”
“It was a good thing I mentioned searching the small ship first, Oskar,” Isaiah piped in. “Are the items accounted for?”
“Stay put,” Oskar ordered. “We still need to search your ship.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Are the stolen items accounted for?”
The answer was visible on the vampire’s face, but pride had Oskar refusing to relent.
“It’s standard protocol.”
“I have not heard of this policy.” Isaiah leaned forward. “And you are going to make us late. We have a delivery for Centro from House Rue. Do you know how disappointed House Rue would be if these are delivered late, and they find out that House Bruno’s search is the reason?”
Rage thundered in the gray-eyed man’s features, turning Isaiah’s blood cold. There would be retribution from this house, he knew—not now, but someday.
“Someone confessed! Oskar, handle this.”
The emotion dwindled into sheer frustration, then nothing as Oskar took on a placid expression. Wordlessly, he swiveled, marched toward the smaller ship, and ordered his men about. Not about to waste the opportunity, Isaiah made hand gestures until Marko and his crew snapped into action, hastily finishing the loading of boxes and pulling the anchor back.
“Captain, they did it on purpose. To cause us trouble.”
It wasn’t until the ship was safely out of the harbor that Isaiah finally removed his gaze from the port to look at Marko.
“This is why you shouldn’t get involved in fights in strange places, Marko.”
“But I didn’t start it. I was just mad that…” Marko scowled, but there was a hint of a pout, too. “Fine. Yer right. Those idiots would have gotten us in major trouble, wouldn’t they?”
“They can try. They are petty.” Isaiah smirked. “We are pettier.”
“Ye are smart, Captain.”
“You can praise me later, Marko. I see Wheeler already getting Alvin mad.”
That was all it took to get Marko moving as the man bellowed at the top of his lungs to stop whatever fight was brewing next. He watched them for a few seconds, then set toward his cabin. On the way, he glimpsed another group pushing boxes that were labeled fragile toward an enclosed space. A small figure teetered over a rougher wood path, the box rattling.
“Be careful with that, fellas. I don’t want another reason for that fiasco earlier.”
The figure ducked his head, rolled his shoulders, and stepped sideways onto a smoother pathway. A bigger figure attempted to help, but the former shook his head. Curiosity sparked, but his brain was too tired to figure out what caused it. Isaiah strode inside his cabin and dove on the settee, hat and all.
He was asleep in seconds.
The noises outside were mild enough not to interrupt him in his stolen moment, and waking up felt like he had the best sleep in his life when it had only been an hour or two. Isaiah stretched and wandered to his desk, where he sighed and dove next into the paperwork that he had been ignoring for a while. Pirates weren’t supposed to have paperwork, but there was hardly anything to scavenge from the seas these days, aside from pillaging other pirates and the occasional bound ships—which wasn’t a lot in their area and wouldn’t feed them in the long run.
So, he went through the trade paperwork, calculating the payments they had received in the past month and adjusting their next schedules. He crossed Ostrov Krov off the list, needing House Bruno to preoccupy themselves with something else first before Isaiah returned there.
“Captain, are you up?”
The knock was light but insistent. Isaiah called out a reply and waited for Moon to come in.
“There you are. Are you here for your lessons? I have some time now, but I have to finish this first.”
“I’m not here for the lessons, Captain.”
