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“Don’t play like you don’t know what I’m talking about. They set us up in our own rooms and you could have been in mine this whole time, but you haven’t.”
His sigh rumbles through his chest and into my back. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted it, and I didn’t want to put you in a position where you felt like you had to keep sharing my bed to ensure my protection.”
Oh, of all the honorable nonsense. “Bowen.” I turn around, and he allows it, but he doesn’t move back. I have to strain my neck to look into his dark eyes. “If someone tried to pressure their way into my bed, I’d curse them. I’m very good at cursing people, and Bunny had some incredibly creative ones she taught me. How about instead of assuming you know what’s best for me, you just ask me what I want?”
He frowns at me as if I’m being ridiculous, when he’s the one being ridiculous. Finally, he says, “Would you like to share my bed, Evelyn?”
“Yes. Next question—what the fuck are we going to do about Lizzie?”
“I don’t know.”
It’s not the answer I want, but it is the most honest one. That doesn’t mean I like it. “Any of the Cwn Annwn who come across her and try to force a vow will end up dead.” I speak slowly, feeling my way. “I suppose that eventually becomes a numbers game. Lizzie is ridiculously powerful but she’s not all-powerful. She won’t survive indefinitely.”
I realize that should make me happy—or if not happy, then relieved. She doesn’t deserve to die just because she hurt my feelings, but I’m also not going to offer up my throat just because I made the mistake of stealing from her. There are no good options.
“That’s the most likely scenario if she won’t accept the vow.” Bowen lifts his head and looks out to sea. “I suppose the people on Sarvi might take pity on her and fold her into their ranks. There’s a small chance she could escape notice that way, though I don’t know that it would save her indefinitely. Unless you think it’s likely she’ll kill them, too.”
“No. She’s more than happy to slaughter her enemies, and occasionally her family, but she’s not one for indiscriminate murder.” There is absolutely no possibility of Lizzie giving up the hunt and settling down into some mundane life in a village on Sarvi. Even if there was … “Do the Cwn Annwn police the locals?”
Bowen’s jaw goes tight. “We’re not supposed to interfere with the citizens of Threshold.”
Easy enough to read between the lines. It’s not even surprising that the Cwn Annwn would overreach. Anytime there’s power to be had, there’s power to be misused. Threshold isn’t exempt from that rule. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and all that.
“Then she’s still a threat. It won’t take her long to figure out she can’t kill her way to me or the family jewels on the Crimson Hag. She’ll take a different route.”
“You sound almost relieved.”
I am, damn it. Or at least I should be. I shiver. Bowen tucks his cloak more firmly around me. He wraps his arms around me for good measure. As much as I appreciate the comfort, it does little to combat the conflicted feelings inside me. “I won’t say I loved her, because that wasn’t what we were to each other. But I’m fool enough to give at least part of my heart to the people I sleep with. I don’t want her dead. If she comes for me, I’ll do whatever it takes to survive, but really I’m going to hope that she never finds me again.” If I can find another portal to hop through, it becomes less likely. Threshold is littered with them, so it’s just a matter of going through one that she doesn’t expect.
Which means leaving Bowen behind. For real this time.
CHAPTER 24
Bowen
AFTER GETTING EVELYN’S THINGS INTO MY CABIN, I leave her to get settled and go in search of Dia. Unsurprisingly, I find her near the stern, smoking. I prop my elbows on the railing next to her and exhale slowly. “You were there when they voted me out. How likely is Miles to pursue branding me a traitor for letting the dragon flee?”
She blows a smoke ring. “He will want to do it for spite, but a brand-new captain is in a precarious position. The crew might not like what you did with the dragon, or how you handled the witch, but you have many years of goodwill built up, even if their confidence in you waned in recent months. When they voted you out, they were very clear in their wishes. They don’t want you dead—they just don’t want you as captain anymore. Miles is too smart to push something that might turn them against him.” She pauses to inhale deeply. “I wouldn’t go handing him a knife and turning my back, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
It’s what I wanted to hear, and yet it makes me feel so empty. “They just … sailed away.”
“Yep.” Dia offers me her joint and shrugs when I shake my head. “That’s one thing Ezra failed to teach you. The Cwn Annwn may paint themselves in crimson and importance, but at their heart, they are a fleet of pirates. Pirates look out for themselves, Bowen. It’s time you do the same.”
I want to push back against what she’s saying. But it feels like another set of scales falling from my eyes. How many times have I looked at captains like Hedd and hated how they gave the Cwn Annwn a bad name? They bully the locals and use the mantle of protectors to take what they think is owed to them. It’s not straight-up thievery if it’s a gift, even if that gift was the result of intimidation and underhanded threats. Sometimes they even hurt people, though any rumors or accusations I’ve heard have died quiet deaths before reaching the Council.
Or maybe they were snuffed out by the Council themselves.
The growing suspicion makes me sick to my stomach. “There aren’t many ships that are run the way Ezra and I ran the Crimson Hag, are there?”
“Nope.”
I nod. “Thank you for always being honest with me, even when I didn’t want to hear what you had to say.”
Dia snorts. “There you go again, being the best of us. Return to your witch, Bowen. No matter what course she takes, she’s going to need you before the end of this.”
I plan on doing exactly that. But I have one more stop to make first.
I find Nox at the helm. They look tired, but then, by my best guess, they’ve held more shifts on than off. Hedd isn’t a good captain, and if he’s not careful, he’s liable to be voted out. But then again, his crew embraces his awfulness. It paves the way for them to act the same way without recourse. Something that wouldn’t be true if Nox held the position.
