Fable (Fable #1)(17)

A grin was pulled up the side of Auster’s face as my feet hit the deck. I walked straight to Paj, blood rolling down my wet skin from the cuts on my shoulder and dripping onto the deck in a trail.

Hamish muttered something, shaking his head.

“Thought we’d lost you, dredger.” Paj smirked from where he stood behind the helm, but the nerves were showing beneath the calm of his face. I didn’t know what West would do if he knew what they were up to, but I could see that Paj was wondering.

I stopped before the wheel, opening my hand between us. His mouth dropped open before he uncrossed his arms, standing up straighter. “What the…”

My hand tipped, letting the coin fall to the deck with a ping, and I looked up into his eyes without a word. Behind him, Willa’s look had turned from curiosity to inquiry, a question playing in her eyes.

I turned on my heel, shoving past Paj to the steps that led below deck, and muffled voices sounded through the passageway as I slammed the door of the cabin closed behind me. Suddenly, every bit of pain in my back awoke, the sting of blood making my stomach turn. I stumbled to the pail in the corner, falling to my knees and shaking with cold before I retched.

Four years on Jeval and this close to Ceros, I almost drowned on a dive for a single copper. But that was one of Saint’s rules.

Nothing is free.

He wasn’t just talking about food or passage or the clothes on your back. He was talking about respect. Safety. Protection. They were things no one owed you.

And one way or another, you always paid.





NINE



The pain searing under my skin almost made me forget how hungry I was.

I’d been stung by coral many times, so I knew what was coming. Fever would spread and my bones would ache for a few days, but that was better than welcoming more taunting from the Marigold’s crew. If I made myself easy prey, taunting could turn into something much more deadly.

I cracked the shell of another crab on the table, the nausea in my belly twisting. As soon as Auster pulled the traps from the water, he’d dropped one at my feet and walked away. I stood in the breezeway, my hands numb from working the spiny shells. But I’d cleaned an infinite number of crabs in my lifetime, and even if it was a job no one wanted, I could do it with my eyes closed.

Hamish went to the bow, peering over the water, and I looked around the corner to see West coming around the coral islands. He’d been gone long enough for the sun to drop halfway down the sky, but the hull still looked empty.

Auster and Paj hoisted the little boat back into place on the stern and secured it. A moment later, West was coming over the side. He unbuttoned his jacket, letting it slide off his shoulders as he came into the breezeway, and he stopped short when he saw me, his gaze hardening as his eyes ran from my face, down my back.

“What happened?” His teeth clenched on the words.

Behind him, Paj reached up, rubbing a hand over his shaved head, the faintest flicker of uneasiness in the set of his shoulders. And I wasn’t sure why. If I’d drowned in the current, it wouldn’t be West’s problem. Or maybe this was a test too.

“Slipped on the jib and fell into the shrouds,” I said, turning my back to him.

The feel of his stare crawled over my skin as I dropped another empty shell into the bucket at my feet. He disappeared into his quarters, and I let out a long breath, pinching my eyes closed against the sting creeping up my neck.

When I opened them again, Auster was standing beside the table, setting a bowl down in front of me as I picked up another pair of crab legs.

I eyed the steaming stew, swallowing hard. “I’m not hungry.”

“You work, you eat. It’s fair,” he said, sliding the bowl closer to me.

I looked up, studying his face. There was no hint of a trick in his eyes, but some people were better at hiding them than others. Anyone who looked at me could probably see that I was starving, but I couldn’t afford to owe anyone anything else.

“You’ve cleaned an entire crate of crab. It’s a square trade.” He picked up one of the pails and walked away, leaving me alone in the breezeway.

My hand tightened around the edge of the worktable as I leaned into it, thinking. The truth was that it didn’t matter why he was giving me the food. I needed to eat, especially if I had days of fever ahead of me.

I dropped the mallet and took the bowl into my shaking hands, sipping carefully. The salt and herbs stung the broken skin around my lip, but the broth warmed my insides and I groaned. The taste of it resurrected a string of faded, frayed memories that made the knot in my stomach tighten, and I blinked them away before they could fully take shape. I fished a soft bit of potato out of the stew with dirty fingers, dropping it into my mouth and letting it break in my mouth until it burned my tongue.

My eyes went to the closed door of the helmsman’s quarters, and I wondered if West knew Auster was feeding me. He’d been clear he didn’t owe me anything. Maybe a bowl of stew for a couple days of work didn’t count, like Auster said. Or maybe he pitied me. The thought made me want to not take another bite.

I poured the last of the liquid into my mouth, my stomach already sore from being too full, and got back to work. Once the last of the crab was finished, I went down the steps with another pail in my arms. The creak of the hull was the only sound in the shadowed passageway, where the three doors lined the walls, each one marked with the Marigold’s crest.