Arabessa’s last words to her floated forward.
Yes, thought Niya, anticipation building. It was growing obvious that what he sought was very important indeed. But important for what? Or perhaps the better question was, For whom?
She had taken note that Alōs no longer wore his pinkie ring when he had met her at Fate’s Falls.
Was this connected? Or merely a coincidence?
Niya was desperate to find out.
Leverage, her magic purred within her.
Yes, leverage was what she was after. Leverage helped everyone, and Niya would gladly take any help if it could get her out of her binding bet faster. How, exactly, she could not yet say, but when the moment presented itself, she was sure she’d know.
“Tired of our company tonight?” asked Saffi as she came to stand beside Niya along the covered deck.
The master gunner’s brown skin was warm under the swaying lanterns hanging above them, her gray braids shifting forward as she leaned on the railing.
“Needed a bit of air,” explained Niya.
Saffi nodded. “Yes, that lot can really stink up a room.”
Niya smiled before a thought sobered her. “I am sorry to have caused you to lose some of your team,” she said.
Niya believed Burlz had deserved his death, of course, but she was not without feeling for how this might affect Saffi’s ability to protect the ship. The master gunner was an exacting boss, but she was also fair, and Niya found herself admiring the woman.
“It’s a bit of an annoyance, but a long time coming, I suppose.”
“What do you mean?”
She glanced over at Niya. “Prik and Burlz were as much of a liability as they were assets. Those sorts of pirates never last long on any ship.”
Saffi’s response prickled uncomfortably along Niya’s skin. Perhaps because she believed the same could be said of her. She had not exactly been the most . . . cooperative in all her duties the past weeks.
She blamed Alōs, of course. When it came to that man, she couldn’t help but fight. It was a reflex too hardened in her muscles to change. Alōs meant danger; Alōs meant nothing could be trusted.
“They were rather awful,” Niya agreed with Saffi.
“They were right swine,” said Saffi before taking a sip from her mug. “And in my opinion, the way I’ve seen Burlz treat women, he deserved more than his neck being snapped. So I don’t blame you for putting him down. And don’t even get me started on Prik. Fool,” she spat. “Thinking he could touch the Cax Island bounty before the rest of us. I would have cut off his head myself if the captain hadn’t.”
Niya raised her brows. She knew the crew was ruthless, but she had never heard the master gunner speak so mercilessly about any on board. The way she had acted around Burlz and Prik certainly hadn’t given away her loathing for them.
Saffi caught Niya’s surprised expression. “I’ve shocked you, have I?” She grinned. “We all don’t get along like we might seem, Red,” she explained. “But it’s not my place to make trouble aboard the ship. I’m here to do my job like the rest of us.”
“But surely if more of you had issues with Burlz and Prik, you could’ve said something to the captain.”
Saffi shrugged. “The captain had enough to worry about.”
Niya’s ears perked up at that. “What do you mean?”
“You know, with the bounties on all our heads from the Thief King.”
Ah, yes, that, she thought, slightly disappointed that Saffi hadn’t revealed something else. Something Niya didn’t yet know about Alōs.
Secrets.
Leverage.
“Did you know what you were all doing in stealing phorria? What it would mean once you got caught?”
Saffi leveled a calculating gaze on her. “Do you mean, Did we know the risk we all took?”
Niya nodded.
“Yes,” said Saffi.
“And yet you still went along with Alōs’s orders to steal the drug from the Thief Kingdom, though you all could have been killed by the king?”
“The captain,” Saffi said, correcting Niya’s slipup, “always puts such big decisions to a vote.”
“A vote?”
“Aye, he may be our captain, but he needs us as much as we need him. Boats don’t sail well with crew that ain’t inclined to sail them.”
Niya let this information settle. She was surprised that such a symbiotic relationship existed between Alōs and his pirates. She always viewed him as an unyielding captain, at least with how much he enjoyed bossing everyone around. Could he truly care for what his pirates wanted?
Niya glanced down to the rippling water, not enjoying the tingling of jealousy that rose with the idea of Alōs allowing his crew to be a part of making such important decisions. For she could not help thinking of her father, the Thief King, and how his commands were exactly that, commands, never to be questioned. And Arabessa, chastening her whenever she had an outburst, despite often being the one to incite them. In contrast, the pirates hardly blinked if Niya awoke in a foul mood or cut them with words if they annoyed her. In fact, this lot merely gave it right back, her attitude blending in seamlessly with their own. At these thoughts, a prickle of unease wriggled in Niya’s gut. Though she was chained to the Crying Queen, could there be more freedom here than at home?
Guilt instantly gripped her.
Traitor, her magic hissed. Disloyal.
No, she thought. No. I didn’t mean it! My family is my everything. They had done and would do anything for her. Just as she would for them.
Shaking off her sudden nonsense emotions, Niya glanced back at Saffi. “So what did you all gain from risking such a treasonous act against the Thief King?”
“‘Treasonous act’?” Saffi repeated before laughing. “By the lost gods, you really must have high-ranking connections in the kingdom to speak so loyally.”
Niya did not respond, merely shifted as warning bells went off in her head. She had to be more careful with her words. Otherwise she might allude to exactly how connected and loyal she was.
“But what we gained,” Saffi continued, her eyes glazing over as she looked out to the dark waters, a fond memory arising, “was more coin than any of us had ever seen for doing such little work. We didn’t even have to kill anyone for it.”
Niya snorted. “You chanced your lives for some silver?”
“It wasn’t just ‘some silver,’ Red.” Saffi’s narrowed gaze swung to her. “It was enough money for us to be sitting pretty for the rest of the year. Which we now are. Yeah, sure, we got caught in the end, but our captain got us out of that mess. He always does. Which is why we trust his decisions, no matter how dangerous. We’d sail any course he sets, for he’s never led us astray yet.”
Yeah, he got out of that mess because of me, thought Niya sourly.
Despite Saffi’s words, she didn’t believe for one grain fall that Alōs had risked all he had gained in the Thief Kingdom merely for some silver. No matter the amount.
Niya rubbed at the mark of her binding bet on her wrist, the black band feeling heavy on her skin.
Riches might have been the story he’d painted for his crew, but she knew Alōs well enough to understand his goals were bigger than monetary gain. They always had been. Power, status, information to blackmail with. These were the things he hunted.
But she kept quiet regarding her suspicions of the pirate captain.
It was clear her doubts would not be shared with her current companion. Plus, it was best to not let on that, besides Burlz and Prik, there might be another traitorous crew member in their midst, despite temptations of freedom she might enjoy aboard their ship.
Niya was determined to find out what secrets Alōs kept hidden, what treasure he truly hunted, and why. And when she did, she would not hesitate to use every last piece of that leverage against him so she could truly be set free.