Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
It’s early, but everyone seems to be up and the sun is bright in my face, the salt air waking me up in an instant. I spot Ramsay at the aft deck sitting on a bench to the side of the helm beside Drakos the Greek who is whittling a piece of wood with a small paring knife that I always see in his possession, Henry watching Drakos as he works. Thane is at the helm with Crazy Eyes and Lucas discussing a chart and, occasionally turning around to see what Ramsay is saying.
I’m about to head up there when I notice Sam on the quarterdeck, waving me over. She’s sitting on an overturned crate cross-legged, a tall mug of what I assume is steaming coffee in her hands, adorned in her usual attire with a tricorn hat on her head.
“Fancy some?” she asks and then pats the seat beside her.
I nod, feeling strangely shy all of a sudden. I’d become so used to dealing with all the men on board and their brash ways, but Sam intimidates me. Perhaps because she’s so confident in her ways, owning who she truly is and not giving a rat’s arse what anyone thinks. Plus I’ve seen her fight.
I sit down next to her and she hands me the mug. “Here, you have some of this brew. I can get more from Sedge later.”
I give her a grateful “thanks” and take a sip of the coffee. “Strong enough to put hair on your chest,” I say with a cough. “How is Sedge?”
“He seems to be alright,” she says. “Nerissa reversed the curse so he looks more or less back to normal. He’s happy to be here, though perhaps a little traumatized.”
“I bet,” I say.
“Might I say, I like the way you’re dressed,” she says, eyeing me up and down. “So much better this way, ain’t it? Easier to move around without all those layers, not to mention cooler.” She pauses, peering at me. “And you, are you traumatized?”
“Me?” I ask. “No, I’ve been through a fair bit worse than that. The skeleton crew were practically angels in comparison.”
“I meant with Bones,” she says in a knowing tone. “He told me that he fed from you.”
I freeze, shoulders stiffening, before I carefully lower the mug from my lips. “He told you that?”
“Aye,” she says, leaning back against the rail and adjusting her black shirt. “So you know all about the Brethren of the Blood now.”
“Did he tell you…why he fed from me?”
She frowns. “Because he was hungry?”
What I’m trying to see without giving anything away is whether she knows that I’m a Syren or not. But from the way she’s acting, I don’t think she does. I relax a little and take another sip of the coffee. Ramsay had promised my secret would be safe with him and I have to trust him with that.
“Oh, he was hungry alright,” I say.
“I bet,” she says, her green eyes lighting up. “So how was it?”
I stare at her aghast for a moment. “You mean the feeding or…?”
“I’m meaning the plowing,” she says salaciously. “Look here, I’m one of the Brethren, don’t matter that I’m a female, I know what it gets like when you get the blood in ya. No doubt with Bones it led to the deed of darkness, aye.”
I feel myself flush. “It’s too early for this sort of talk.”
“Then finish your coffee and wake up.”
Laughing, I do as she says, finishing the rest of the mug. I’ve never had anyone to have this sort of “woman talk” with so I feel I should take advantage of it. I clear my throat. “You would not believe the abject filth that comes out of that man’s mouth,” I offer. “It’s enough to make a sailor blush.”
“Of course I can. Look at him,” she nods her head up at the aft deck where he’s seated. At that moment he’s grinning at Drakos, looking both wicked and handsome.
“I have to admit, we were worried for a while there thinking he might never come back for us and the Nightwind,” she adds, her voice turning grave.
“Were any of the crew seriously thinking of sailing under Sterling?”
“Nay. Not even close.”
“So you really are like a family.”
“Aye. I’m not just saying this as his sister-in-law, but we all trust him with our lives. Bones is doing what his father did and that’s thumbing his nose up at the politics and privilege of the world. There was no place for them there and there still isn’t. It doesn’t help that we are part of the Brethren and distanced from society to begin with. Here, on the Nightwind, we are together and we are safe and we have our own world to govern.”
“Even though Ramsay governs it.”
She shakes her head. “As you’ve seen, it’s a democracy. Can you say that about anywhere else where the kings and queens reign? The class systems that have been set up to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. They’re even telling us now what religions we have to follow, what god to believe in. As if you can force belief onto someone.” She shakes her head in disgust. “Here we are equal. Bones leads us but we all need a leader and in the end nothing is against our will. We can be free out here to live the lives we want and be who we want to be. Do you think back in Glasgow I’d be allowed to wear these breeches!? My goodness, they’d hang me by my neck for being an outlier for that and everything else that makes me who I am.”