Fable (Fable #1)(10)
“I’m not taking you anywhere,” his voice ground like wet sand against stone.
I swallowed hard, grateful for the dark. I could feel the flush beneath my skin, the traitorous tears pooling in my eyes. “All right. There’s at least one helmsman on these docks who will take fifty-two coppers.” I clamped the blade of my knife between my teeth and slung one foot over the side, reaching for the ladder.
West’s shoulders tensed, and he let out a long breath, his grip tightening on the rail. “Wait.”
I froze, one tear falling down my cheek. He looked over me, to the other ships anchored down the dock before he turned back toward the water.
“West,” the girl said, her tone tipping down in a warning.
The profile of his angled face sharpened against the moonlight as he looked at her. He cursed as he held a hand out to me. “Give me the copper.”
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
“What?” The word was echoed by someone else on the deck I couldn’t see.
West ignored him. “The copper,” he said again, more slowly.
I jumped back down from the rail. “Fifty-two coppers and two pieces of pyre for passage to Ceros,” I repeated the terms, the desperation in my voice not hidden.
“Done.”
I took his hand into mine and shook on it, but the girl beside me was staring up at him, her head tilted in disbelief.
“You better not ever come back here, Fable!” Koy shouted, and I flinched as my hand fell from West’s. “If I ever see your face on this island again, I’ll tie you to the east reef! I’ll watch the flesh rot from your bones!”
I watched him walk back down the dock, disappearing in the dark. It wasn’t until I turned back to the faces of the crew standing on the deck of the Marigold that I realized what I’d done.
I’d made it off Jeval.
SIX
Lightning illuminated the clouds above the Marigold, splintering into a spiderweb of light. The edge of the storm reached the barrier islands in the dark, a cold mist blowing in with the wind. The ship rocked against it, the lantern swinging in the girl’s fist as she held it up before her.
“Last I checked, we voted as a crew.” Her gaze dragged from my head to my bare feet.
West ignored her, tossing my purse into the air, and a young man with spectacles caught it in both hands behind him. The lantern light reflected off the wide, round lenses as he looked up at me.
“I’m with Willa.” Another man with dark hair pulled back from his face stepped forward. “I didn’t hear you ask us if we wanted to take on a passenger.”
I stayed in the shadow of the quarterdeck, clutching my tool belt to my chest. Four crew members stood before the mainmast, waiting for an answer from West. But he seemed to be measuring his words carefully, the silence pulling tight with the tension between them.
“It’s fifty-two coppers.” West looked at the girl.
She half laughed. “You can’t be serious. What do we care about fifty-two coppers? We’ve never taken a single passenger on this ship in over two years, and I don’t see why we should start now.”
The man with the glasses stood watching, his eyes shifting back and forth between them. From the look of the ink-stained fingertips curled around my purse, I guessed he was their coin master. To him, it wouldn’t matter that I’d just been a breath away from being gutted by Koy or that they’d been trading with me for the last two years. It was his job to make sure they didn’t get involved in other people’s business, good or bad.
“What is this, West?” A third man with skin the color of obsidian came down the steps beside me, one hand raking over his shaved head.
“It’s copper,” West snapped. “You have a problem with that?”
The girl they called Willa stared at West, her wide eyes expressionless. “Actually, I do.”
West turned to the coin master, his irritation visible in the hard set of his jaw. “Divide it among the crew, Hamish. I won’t report it. Drink your weight in rye when we get to Dern or buy yourself a new pair of boots. I don’t care what you do with it.”
That seemed to satisfy them for now, a hush falling over the deck. But the suspicion was still there in their side glances to one another. They weren’t going to argue with pocketing my coin, especially if it wasn’t going into the ship’s log. But they didn’t like the idea of me being on the Marigold, and they didn’t care if I knew it.
“Fifty-two coppers, five ways,” Hamish spoke beneath his breath, as if repeating the words made the decision final.
I glanced up to the two masts of the ship. I’d never been on deck or seen the rest of them, I’d only ever met West on the dock when they stopped in Jeval. From the looks of it, they crewed this ship with only five sets of hands, but a vessel like this should take at least ten crew members, maybe twelve.
“Four ways,” West corrected. “I don’t want a share.”
Hamish gave a single nod, and I studied West’s face, trying to read him. But there was no hint there of what he was thinking.
“You just said you took her on for the copper.” Willa glared at him.
He met her narrowed gaze, jerking his head in my direction before turning on his heel. His boots knocked against the deck as he walked past them and disappeared through an open door.