Four

The Sea Mistress was moored just north of the Rif Mountains, about a day’s sail from the port city of Darmoor. The moment she stepped aboard, Eris went to report to the pirate Kor, as per Jemsin’s orders. Kor’s cabin door was closed and she could hear the faint sound of muffled voices within. Not wanting to risk his temper by walking in on something, Eris handed over her spindle to Rain, the first mate—something Kor insisted on. She told Rain to inform Kor that he could find her belowdecks when he finished.

Kor was Jemsin’s precious protégé. A year after the scrin burned, Jemsin found Kor beaten half to death by a dockhand in Axis’s port. Kor was thirteen at the time, and the dockhand was his father. Jemsin killed the man and took Kor, raising him like his own son and turning him into a formidable pirate. Jemsin’s crew grumbled about the favor he bestowed on Kor. Thirteen-year-old boys were half-grown men and less moldable than children, they said. He should have been more careful.

They were right. When Kor turned eighteen, he started showing signs of dissatisfaction. It wasn’t enough to be part of Jemsin’s crew, obeying Jemsin’s orders. He wanted his own crew. He wanted to give orders.

Kor was an investment Jemsin couldn’t afford to let spoil. So he gave Kor his own ship—with the understanding that Kor would continue to do his bidding. He would patrol the waters Jemsin wanted him to patrol. He would attack the ships Jemsin wanted him to attack. He would come to Jemsin’s aid when requested. In order to ensure Kor’s obedience, Jemsin gave him a crew full of spies. That way he could keep an eye on Kor from a distance, enabling him to get word if Kor ever planned to stab him in the back.

Fully aware of the spies in his ranks, Kor bided his time, sniffing them out and slowly winning them over, making promises better than the ones Jemsin made. Now, two years later, his crew was fully his own—a fact Jemsin knew, and one that made him nervous.

But other than outright killing Kor, there was nothing Jemsin could do. Kor hadn’t done anything to provoke such an action. Not yet, anyway.

It was only a matter of time, though. Because the more power Kor tasted, the more he wanted. One day, Kor would break free of Jemsin. Eris knew this. So did Jemsin. But before Kor made his final move, he wanted one more thing. Something Jemsin would never give him.

Kor wanted Eris.

As she lay in her borrowed bunk, Eris listened to the wind howl and the hull of the Sea Mistress groan. The single lantern in this cabin swayed, casting light back and forth across the dark room as she studied the slender throwing knife in her hands.

She’d been gripping it in her fist when she stepped across.

It was different from the other knives the commandant kept sheathed in her belt. The blade was thinner and more delicate. The hilt was more ornate.

As Eris ran her fingers over it, she thought of the commandant alone in her room—her trap dismantled, her criminal gone.

Strangely, it brought Eris no pleasure this time.

The sudden sound of heavy boots clomping down the stairs made Eris go still. She’d barely sat up when the cabin door swung open, and the glow of her lantern illuminated the young man standing there.

He had a square face and deep-set eyes. Long dark hair was pulled back from his shoulders and the pale cotton shirt he wore was wrinkled, the cuffs undone. His left ear was missing, cut off by his father in a rage when Kor was only five. In one hand was the neck of a bottle. In the other, two copper cups.

Her stomach turned over at the sight of him.

“Kor,” she said, forcing a smile as she lowered the knife in her lap.

“Would you look who it is. Jemsin’s little pirate thief. Four days late.” Kor grinned thinly as he stepped into the cabin, kicking the door shut behind him. He set the bottle and cups down on the overturned supply box in the corner. “I’m assuming you have it?”

“Have it?” asked Eris, watching him uncork the wine.

He stopped and looked back over his shoulder, shooting her a puzzled look. “The loot Jemsin told you to steal.”

Right. Eris shook her head. She’d stolen the king’s ruby so long ago now—was it a week already?—she’d forgotten it was the thing Jemsin sent her to Firgaard for. “Of course I have it.”

That strange look didn’t leave his face as he turned back to the wine and started to pour. “Well, what took you so long?”

I got distracted, she thought as she slowly traced her thumb along the hilt of Safire’s knife. “I took my time,” she said instead. “Didn’t want another run-in with the empress. Or her dogs.”

When Kor turned and offered her a full cup of wine, Eris was tempted to refuse. She didn’t like taking things from Kor. Didn’t like owing him anything. Kor had a mean spirit and a temper. But Eris was under strict orders from Jemsin to do what was needed to keep Kor on his quickly fraying leash.

Kor wanted Eris—for more than just thieving. Therefore, so long as Eris remained with Jemsin, Kor would remain with Jemsin too. It was one of the reasons the captain made her report to Kor so often. Made her stay aboard Kor’s ship—where her spindle was locked away, keeping her bound and defenseless until Jemsin summoned her for her next assignment.

Please him, Jemsin told Eris in no uncertain terms. Keep him close.

So she took the wine Kor offered her.

But she didn’t drink it.

For a heartbeat, she wondered if she might be able to slip a pinch of scarp thorn powder into Kor’s cup without him noticing. It was how she’d drugged the guards in Firgaard’s palace, enabling her to walk undetected into the king’s treasury.

“You know, I’ve been thinking.” Kor sat down on the bunk across from her. Eris’s fingers tightened around the cold copper, mentally measuring the space between them. “Thinking about how the captain always seems to send you away whenever he’s meeting Leandra.”

This time, Eris did drink—just a sip—if only to have somewhere to look other than Kor’s eyes. Which were staring hard at her now. No one but Jemsin knew who Eris really was: the fugitive the empress had been hunting for years now.

Eris and Jemsin had a deal: he would never reveal her or hand her over to the empress so long as she did his bidding. She had to steal whatever he wanted her to steal. And, more recently, she had to keep Kor biddable, too.

But the presence of the empress’s army—soldiers called Lumina because they “illuminated” her law—had increased on the Silver Sea these past few years. Eris feared Jemsin wouldn’t be able to keep her hidden forever.

If she could have run, she would have. She’d get as far as the southern isles, or maybe farther, just to be out of Leandra’s reach. To be free and safe.

But the three times she’d tried it, Jemsin’s summoner always found her. It always brought her back.

“It’s almost as if Jemsin doesn’t want you and Leandra to cross paths,” said Kor thoughtfully. “As if he’s afraid she’ll know who you are and take you away from him.”

Eris froze, looking up into his hard eyes. Has he figured out who I am?

He laughed then. “Can you imagine it? Jemsin losing his precious Death Dancer to the woman he despises? I would pay to see that.”

Eris tried to relax. Kor didn’t know who she really was. He thought of her only as the Death Dancer—a thief.

“I’d rather be owned by a pirate than a monster,” she said.

“Is there a difference?” Kor lifted his cup.

Eris forced herself to lift her own, clinking it against his.

They both drank.

Eris wiped the wine from her lips and then set the cup down on the floor. Thinking of his closed door, she asked, “Who was in your cabin tonight?”

He raised one dark brow. “Why? Are you jealous?”

Ugh. No. Not in a thousand years.

Kor took another sip. “Kadenze was there.”

Fear rippled through her as Eris thought of the creature who did all of Jemsin’s summoning. Red eyes. Black talons. A voice as old as the sea.

It was Kadenze who’d located her all three times she tried to escape.

According to the cook on the Hyacinth, who liked to tell Eris stories when she helped him wash up after dinner, Jemsin killed Kadenze’s former master and took the bird for himself. Kadenze was an ancient creature, sung about in old sailor’s ballads, said to be capable of tracking down three things: treasure, enemies, and the blood of immortals.

“Jemsin wants us in Darmoor,” Kor said. “Both of us.”

Another assignment? That was good. It would keep Eris away from the sea—and those hunting her on it.

It would also keep her out of Kor’s reach. He tended not to toy with her when there was a mission occupying him.

“What does he want us for this time?” she asked, picking up Safire’s stolen knife and running her hands over it again. The cool steel had a calming effect.

“Didn’t say. Just that he expects us there by tomorrow.”

Kor talked on, but Eris was no longer paying attention. Because this time as she traced the knife, her fingers found something new. When she raised the blade, trying to catch the lantern light, she found something embossed in the steel: a pattern of fiery-looking flowers.

“Tides, Eris. Would you listen to me?”

She had just leaned in to examine the pattern when suddenly, the knife was gone. Snatched out of her hands by Kor.

“What are you fidgeting with?” He squinted at the knife.

Annoyance broke like a wave through Eris. She reached for it. He jerked it out of the way.

“Give it back, Kor,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Gilt handle,” he murmured, ignoring her as he studied the weapon. “The owner must have a good deal of coin—or at least connections. And the flower pattern is very pretty. Delicate, you might even say. A girl’s knife?” He looked up to see if he was correct.

Inexplicably, Eris felt her cheeks heat.

“Whose is it?”

“It’s mine now, you sandeater.”

She lunged for it. Kor pulled away, getting up off the bed.

“Give it back!” she said, rising with him. But that’s where she paused.

Kor was twice her size and twice as strong. Eris was faster, lighter, trickier. But the cabin was too small to move well in, and the ship rocked over the waves, making it difficult to stay steady.

“I’ll give it back . . .” Kor smiled too calmly, his gaze taking in too much. “If you give me something first.”

Eris’s stomach twisted. Her body hummed with hate. She knew what he wanted.

She also knew she would never give it to him.

Seeing her answer on her face, his own darkened.

“There’s no chance it took the legendary Death Dancer seven days to steal that ruby. What were you doing the rest of the time, Eris? Meeting with a sweetheart?”

A sweetheart? She would have laughed, but he took that moment to lunge for her. With the bed to one side and the cabin wall to the other, she had nowhere to move.

He grabbed her shirt, pulling her toward him.

Before he could do worse, Eris kneed him in the groin.

The ship lurched. Kor stumbled back, dropping Safire’s blade and wincing hard.

“Bitch.” He spat the word as Eris snatched up the knife before it slid across the floor. Her hand shook as she gripped the hilt, pointing it at him. She was no good with weapons, and Kor knew it. He also knew that without her spindle—which was currently locked in a box somewhere aboard the ship—she couldn’t step across.

With Kor blocking the cabin door, there was no escape.

But the scariest thing? Eris didn’t think about all the ways she might possibly get out of this unscathed. Instead she thought about what Jemsin would say.

Kor was cunning and cruel and power hungry. He’d be a dangerous enemy if he ever turned against Jemsin. It was Eris’s job to keep Kor cooperative and loyal and close.

Kor might hurt her if he got his hands on her, but the captain would hurt her worse if he lost his dominance over Kor.

“You’re not so formidable now, are you Death Dancer?” Kor gripped the door handle, still weak from the blow she’d dealt him.

Eris kept the knife steady. Her heart pounded in her temples. Her breath came quick and fast.

“Without that spindle, you’re nothing. Just a helpless . . .” His words trailed off. He smiled, his eyes lighting up with a sudden thought. “That spindle. What would happen if I accidently used it for kindling, I wonder?”

Eris went cold. “You wouldn’t,” she said, even though the look in his eyes said the opposite. “Jemsin would kill you.”

“Or, useless as you’d be to him, he’d kill you.”

He turned the doorknob. Eris moved then, throwing herself at him. But he’d already opened the door. Her shoulder collided hard with wood as he shut it on her. She heard the sound of clinking keys. She grabbed the handle, trying to wrench it open.

The door was locked.

“I’ll come back for you when it’s over,” he said through the wood.

Eris’s rage grew within her like a tempest’s screaming winds.

And that’s when she remembered . . .

She still had the pin in her hair.

Eris didn’t think about Jemsin this time or what the consequences would be. She just took the eight steps up to the deck, Safire’s stolen knife gripped in her hand.

The crisp cold turned her breath to fog. The wind caressed her face. The stars shone down, lighting her path across the wooden planks.

Eris followed Kor into the galley. An oil lamp glowed on the table while he pushed aside pots and pans, then pulled something down from the shelf next to the hatch.

It was a crude pewter box. Big enough to hold her spindle.

Eris crept toward him, silent as a shadow. As he turned the key in its lock, she readied her knife. When he lifted the lid, Eris struck, stabbing him in the back, just below the ribs. She shoved the blade in and twisted. Hard.

Kor screamed.

The box fell, taking the spindle with it. Eris pulled out the knife just as Kor turned to face her. He touched the wound, then stared down at the blood coating his fingers as he stumbled back against the shelf.

“How did you . . . ?”

Eris didn’t hear him as she picked up her spindle. She turned to leave, but at the sight of the oil lamp burning on the table, she stopped, considering it.

Behind her, Kor was screaming again. Screaming at her this time. She felt the heat of his rage. Heard him push away from the shelf, coming toward her.

Before he got within reach, Eris swung out her arm, knocking the oil lamp to the floor.

The glass broke.

The oil spilled out.

The galley floor went up in flames.

At the sight of it, a memory flickered within her. Of another time and place. Of flames that raged, eating away at a place she’d once called home.

Kor stumbled back, away from the fire, and the movement pulled Eris out of the memory. He stared—first in bewilderment, then in fear.

Eris left him there. She stepped out onto the deck gripping the bloody blade in one hand, her spindle in the other. She could have crossed right then. She probably should have. But there was another lamp burning just above the galley. And there was something so soothing about chaos. Something almost beautiful.

Alerted by Kor’s screams, the crew began to stagger up out of their cabins.

But not before Eris unhooked the lantern and threw it across the deck.

It shattered. Fire spluttered up, released from its confinement. As if in a rage, it devoured the wooden planks, moving toward the sails.

But Eris still didn’t step across.

Instead, as the crew panicked around her, she stepped up to the side of the ship, cut the only rowboat free of its ropes, then pushed it into the waters below. From across the deck, her gaze caught Rain’s. The first mate’s hair was a red, tangled mess as she screamed for everyone to get topside and put out flames. At the sight of Eris escaping, Rain’s eyes went black. You are dead, she mouthed.

Not tonight, thought Eris as she swung herself over the side and dropped, landing on one of the rowboat’s benches. Sitting down, she secured the oars in the oarlocks, then started to row, taking the only means of escape with her.

And there she watched the Sea Mistress burn.

The red flames gorged themselves. The smoke curled through the sky, leaving a trail that blotted out the stars above. And all the while, Eris rowed.

She would make her way to Darmoor. And if Jemsin wanted to kill her when she got there . . . well, it wouldn’t be the first time.