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You and I, then, brother?
He and I aboard a pirate's ship. How long would he and Ellas wait to start their butchery? What would I have to do to stop them? Saint, I stood between my own brother and pirates, lawless men and women I’d sworn to bring to the gallows.
Ellas decided, “I’ll remain with Captain Fisher. I trust Mr. Rosser to see to our interests.”
Fisher smiled around the table, and I was not the only one who caught the satisfied twist of her lips. It reminded me of Slader.
“Then,” she declared, “we are agreed.”
The meeting dispersed. I stood by as the pirates exited the cabin, nodding to Demery as he passed. He held my gaze, a question hidden in his eyes, and I wondered if he suspected Ellas. No, I was certain he suspected Ellas. I’d have to speak to him soon.
Finally, Fisher and I stood alone on the quarterdeck of our ruined ship, staring towards the shattered stump of the mizzenmast.
Fisher murmured, “Ellas will try to takeHartfrom me once you leave, of that I’m sure. Have you foreseen anything?”
I glanced towards the companionway, where Ellas and her people milled about, making themselves at home. “No. But I agree.” I looked at her sideways and found her eyes already on me, quiet and assessing. “I do not like the idea of leaving you to handle her alone.”
“And I’m reluctant to leave you with your brother and a ship full of pirates, but this is the situation we have.” Fisher looked away and laced her arms over her chest. “You must warn Demery.”
I pressed my lips closed. My ideals still strained at the thought of siding with pirates against the Navy, but our choices were few.
Fisher went on, her voice low, but determined. “We cannot fight on two fronts, and Ellas has made it clear that if we do not help her, she’ll dispose of us or ruin us. We need Demery. He’s not just a newly commissioned privateer for the Usti. He’s effectively nephew to Queen Inara, and if we sail back into Usti waters without him? You heard her threat. If the Usti are displeased with us, they may just shift the tide of thewar—andnot in our favor.”
***
Harpynosed through the dusky hush of the ruined fleet. Soon after our departure fromHart, grey cloud had descended to obscure our surroundings. Fires now speckled the gloom here and there, but Demery did not investigate them.
“Lirr sets fires,” he said by way of explanation. “He’s burning any ships that we might use for salvage. It only means he’s close.”
My Sooth’s sense turned at that, but he would say no more.
As to our Usti companions, they stood sentry at the prow of the ship. Olsa hovered on the edge of the Other and guided us through the landscape by premonition alone, while her husband watched for other threats.
Envy smoldered in my chest. This was one service Sooths could give to their ships, but I’d rarely been able to perform it. Next to Olsa Uknara I was all misplaced instincts and clumsy tumbles into the Other. If Slader had still been alive, I might as well have jumped off the ship and started walking home.
“She’s making you look terrible,” Benedict voiced my own thoughts, leaning against the ship’s rail like a gambler on a bar. “At the very least you could find Mary.”
The familiar way he said her name made my anger flare, but we were on deck in sight of dozens of eyes. Given what Fisher and I suspected about Ellas’s plans and the dark look on Demery’s face when I warned him of them, I should not cause any undue conflict. Particularly with my volatile brother.
I swallowed my temper and closed on him, stopping just close enough for him to feel my displeasure.
“I looked for Ms. Firth before we leftHart,” I reminded him, clearly pronouncing her name. “There are too many ghistings here to pick her or Lirr out, not unless I am very close.”
Benedict maintained his lackadaisical posture. “Ah yes, when you vanished into your cabin for a solid twenty minutes with your young captain. She’s not precisely pretty, but I can see the appeal.”
“Ben. I am broken. She knows, and she was there to ensure I did not become trapped in the Other.”
He straightened and shoved his hands into his pockets, his jaded eyes narrowed against the wind. “I thought the coin solved that.”
“It did. It does. But using it weakens me even more.” I instinctively lowered my voice. It was doubtless unwise to admit vulnerability to my twin, but he already knew I was not whole. “I cannot use it all the time. And if I go too deep in the Other, a day will come when I cannot return. Or something will follow me back and eat me alive.”
“Both splendid options.” Benedict’s expression was opaque.
“Hold!” The whispered word shushed across the deck of the ship, passing from one person to the next, bow to stern.
My twin and I turned. Up at the fore Olsa remained in place but Illya and Demery conferred in low, rapid tones. One wave of the captain’s hand and the crew scurried to trim our sails, slowingHarpyto the pace of the current.
Benedict and I crossed the ship and joined the Usti and Demery. An old woman in black and grey came too, along with Athe, Demery’s second-in-command.
