Scavenge the Stars (Scavenge the Stars #1)(44)

Amaya shook herself. “The last one, please,” she said with a smile, although she had no idea what she was ordering.

“And I’ll have your strongest blend,” Cayo said.

“Excellent choices. I’ll return shortly.”

Once he was finally gone, Amaya turned her smile to the young Lord Mercado. Cayo glanced at Avi before offering her one of his own smiles, somewhat forced and guarded.

“I’ll admit, Countess, that I’m surprised you asked to see me.”

His voice was like the rolling of a gentle wave, mild enough to disguise the strength that hid beneath it. She would have to tread more carefully than she thought.

“Well, you made such an impression at my party,” she said. “I couldn’t help but be curious to find out more about you.”

“I’m really not that interesting.” One of his eyebrows lifted. “Not as interesting as a countess who dives into a pool to save her servant.”

“Would you have preferred the girl to drown?”

“Of course not. Although it might have been avoided altogether if you didn’t hire children in the first place.”

Shaky as she was, she grinned. He was ready to spar today. And that was just what she needed: to let loose some of the tension coiling within her.

“I took her away from a violent lifestyle,” she said. “And this is how she wanted to repay me.”

Cayo frowned at that. “What do you mean, a violent lifestyle?”

The sound of wood knocking on wood echoed through the teahouse then, saving her from answering. They looked down as a man in a nice suit stood at the podium, his spectacles gleaming with the light coming through the glass dome.

“Good morning, fine patrons of Laelia’s. As you must know, today is considered an auspicious day in the Rehanese calendar, one that promises fortune and favorable odds. It only comes once per month—which is why we conduct our auctions on this specific date. This month, we’re delighted to partake in this day with you in the hopes of bringing you the wealth you desire.”

There was a polite round of applause, peppered with coughing. Amaya suspected today’s patrons were frequent attendees of these auctions. Contempt simmered low in her gut as she considered them, dressed up and glittering like a magpie’s den, having nothing better to do than to flaunt their expendable wealth.

Briefly, the image of Zharo’s ringed hands flashed through her mind. She winced even as she fisted her own hands under the table.

“We have two Widow Vaults to auction off today,” the auctioneer went on, signaling to his workers to unveil the easel stands. They held canvases with paintings that depicted vases, golden statuettes, jewelry. “Vault one contains an exquisite collection of artifacts from the second and third Yomir eras, which I think will impress quite a number of you. I’m looking at you specifically, Lord Nadim.” A gentle wave of laughter rose from the crowd.

As the auctioneer began to list the items, Amaya again took a moment to study Cayo as he watched the goings-on below. His question still rang in her head.

She wondered how he would react to the truth.

“The girl was sold by her parents to a debtor ship,” she said.

He blinked and swung his gaze back to her. “What?”

“The girl in my employ. She spent quite a few months on a debtor ship before I came upon her. It was on the Brackish, actually.”

The name sparked something in him, and she felt her chest go cold. Something like muted horror crossed his face, and she realized then that she had made a mistake.

“The Brackish,” he repeated slowly, sitting back. “Your ship, you mean.”

“Yes. When I bought it, I knew I wanted to provide a better life for the children who were being subjected to cruelty on a daily basis. So I gave them a choice: work for me, or continue to gut fish until their indenture was up.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t a difficult choice.”

He took a moment to reply, the auctioneer’s steady, fast-paced voice filling up the silence. “Why do you care about the children but not the rest of the debtors?”

Amaya took a breath to steady herself, knowing a boy like this would never truly understand the next words out of her mouth.

“Because children are the victims of their parents’ crimes.”

He thought on that as his attention seemingly drifted back down to the auction. Amaya continued her unabashed study of him, wondering if he had any idea what his father had done. Her fingers tingled in her lap; her chest tightened with inaction. She needed to get up and walk away, she needed to yell at the auctioneer below to shut up, she needed to pick up the small knife beside her plate and—

“Did you hear the news this morning?” he asked suddenly. “The former captain of the Brackish was found dead in his apartment.”

The cold in her chest spread. Waves beat against her ears, the deafening madness of the sea at night. She breathed hard through her nose as she fought against it, tried to clear her vision and compose herself before he knew, before he guessed.

Amaya forced her hand up to her throat, widening her eyes in what was only a partial imitation of shock. “You…You can’t be serious.”

“I am. I…” He cleared his throat. “I saw the crime scene this morning. They brought his body out on a stretcher. You knew nothing about it?”