Chapter 6, Roberts

  "We can’t leave Thelos without a navigator." Harken says as soon as the others have gone.

  I know what he’s hinting at. If I can’t hire one, I’ll have to take more drastic measures. Hellcat's history, before she was mine, is riddled with forced labor. The crew knows full well why I added an article to the code forbidding it unless absolutely necessary for survival. And with the winds growing more unpredictable, sailing without one is a death wish.

  "Did you figure that out all by yourself?" I say over my shoulder. "I’ll get us a navigator first thing when we arrive in Thelos. By force if I have to." Sharper than necessary.

  Harken doesn’t reply. He knows I get condescending when I’m unsettled.

  It isn’t the navigator problem that's unsettling me. I’ve made worse bets and won. And not by Sarah’s uncanny knack for landing her hits. Hell, I enjoyed that. I press my tongue against the tender underside of my split lip, feeling the throb of it. Had I indulged her any longer, I might have found myself in need of a jeweler. No, it’s not the myriad of pressures a Captain faces, it’s just her and her presence on my ship.

  I lean back against the mast, arms crossed, eyes on the horizon. Harken stands beside me, quiet. I glance down at the deck. Sarah’s keeping to the perimeter and somehow still getting in the way. She doesn’t belong here and yet I practically dragged her here.

  I tell myself it was necessity. That I couldn’t just leave her there, not in the shape she was in. But I know that’s not the whole truth. I should have turned my back, let her become just another passing ghost in my long, bloodied wake. I thought I was over her, that I had burned through every foolish, lingering feeling years ago.

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  And yet, when I saw her again in my world, raw and reckless and still so damn stubborn… I had to know what she’d become.

  Besides, I can’t unsee what I saw. Her body falling, that flash of light in the shape of a winged creature. It was blinding, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It seared itself into my mind. And I still can’t shake the feeling that I witnessed something crucial, something bigger than myself.

  I don’t pretend to understand all the old stories, the ones whispered in dark corners of portside taverns and sung low over dying fires. Nor do I know much about dragons. But I do know they don’t just wake for no reason. They come when the world needs resetting.

  I’ve known for some time now that something big is coming. Piracy isn’t what it used to be—we have to be careful, pick our marks wisely, take only what we need. Even then, the tides are shifting. The empire sinks its teeth in deeper. And we send what we can home to families who have no other way to survive. The world is cracking. And in it’s center? Her.

  I could be wrong. Maybe she’s not some destined figure or some force set to change the world. Maybe she’s just the same girl who dragged me along for years, only grown now and carrying her own ghosts like the rest of us.

  But if I’m right… then she’s more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine. And for the first time in a long while, I don’t know if I want to throw myself headfirst into that abyss, or stay far away from it.

  “I have to say,” Harken breaks the silence, still watching the horizon. “I’m surprised with this one. She seems a little rough for your taste.”

  I stiffen. The comment is casual, a slip back into our usual banter, but it doesn’t land. He’s baiting me, trying to get a reaction and bring me back to something familiar. But for once, I’m not in the mood.

  “She’s not my taste,” I say flatly.

  Harken hums, amused. “No?”

  I don’t answer. His smirk lingers a second longer before he shakes his head. “Fair enough.”

  Sarah looks up, catching my gaze and her expression shifts like she might come to me. I turn away before she can decide. Slip out of sight before she can take a step in my direction.

  Not yet, Sarah.