In the distance, the surface of the water roughened, the waves bristling as a cold north wind swept in from the sea. It sent a chill up my spine as the heaving lines were pulled up and I turned back to the deck. The last of the dredgers came up onto the ship and I froze when the sunlight hit a face I knew. One I’d feared almost every day I was on Jeval.
Koy stood almost a head taller than the other dredgers as he took his place in the line. And when his gaze fell on me, I could see the same wide look of recognition that I knew was in my own eyes.
My voice was hoarse, hollow on a long breath. “Shit.”
FOUR
I watched him.
Koy leaned against the crates secured along the stern, his gaze set on the full sails overhead. The Luna was already drifting from the barrier islands and Jeval was growing smaller behind us. Wherever we were headed, Zola wasn’t wasting any time.
Koy didn’t look up, but I knew he could feel my eyes on him. And I wanted him to.
The last time I’d seen Koy, he was tearing down the docks in the dark, screaming my name. I could still see the way he’d looked beneath the surface of the water, blood trailing in twisting streams. I don’t know what had made me jump back in after him. I’d asked myself that question a hundred times, and I didn’t have an answer that made any kind of sense. If it were me, Koy wouldn’t have hesitated to leave me to drown.
But even if I’d hated him, there was something I had understood about Koy from the start. He was a man willing to do whatever he had to. No matter what, and at any cost. And he’d made me a promise that night I first stood on the deck of the Marigold. That if I ever came back to Jeval, he’d tie me to the reef and leave my bones to be picked clean by the creatures who lived in the deep.
My gaze dragged over his form, measuring the height and weight of him. He had the advantage over me in almost every way, but I wasn’t going to turn my back or give him a single chance to keep that promise.
I didn’t blink until Clove came up the stairs with heavy steps, running both hands through his curling hair to rake it back from his face. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows, and the familiar movement made the pain in my chest flicker back to life.
“Dredgers!” he called out.
The Jevalis lined up along the starboard side, where the dredgers from Zola’s crew, Ryland and Wick, stood waiting. The crates of tools were in their hands, and from the look on their faces, they didn’t like what was about to happen.
Koy slung his own belt over his shoulder, taking the place on the deck before Clove. That was just like Koy, finding the scariest bastard on the ship and making a point of showing them he wasn’t afraid. But when I looked up into Clove’s face, his attention was on me.
The steely glint in his eye was unwavering, making my insides feel like I was falling. “All of you,” he grunted.
I sucked in my bottom lip and bit down to keep it from trembling. In that single look, the years ticked back, making me instantly feel like I was that little girl on the Lark he’d chastised for tying a knot wrong. My expression hardened as I took a single step forward, putting me a few feet away from the end of the line.
“While you’re aboard this ship, you will not step out of line,” he crowed. “You will do as you’re told. You will keep your pockets empty.” He paused, giving each of the Jevalis a silent look before he continued. I’d seen Clove give a hundred speeches just like it on my father’s ship. It, too, was painfully familiar. “You will be given two supper rations a day while you are employed on the Luna, and you will be expected to keep your quarters clean.”
He was likely repeating the terms on the parchment in his hands—the one Zola signed with the harbor master—and there was no denying it was a generous deal. Two rations a day was decadent living for any Jevali on the deck beside me, and they’d likely be taking home more coin than most of them could earn in months.
“The first of you to break these rules will be swimming back to Jeval. Questions?”
“We stay together.” Koy was the first to speak, outlining his own terms. He was talking about their sleeping quarters and I suspected it was to ensure they didn’t become targets for the Luna’s crew. Dredgers were every man for himself on Jeval, but this was different. There was safety in numbers on this ship.
“Fine.” Clove nodded to Ryland and Wick, who looked like they were ready to pull their knives out. They stepped forward, each setting a crate down before the line. “Take what you need for a two-day dive. Consider it part of your payment.”
The dredgers lunged forward before Clove had even finished, crouching around the crates to fish out picks and press their callused fingertips to the sharp points. They rooted in the pile for chisels and eyeglasses to add to their belts, and Ryland and Wick watched, disgusted by the way they fumbled through the tools.
I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Koy stood back behind the others, not taking his gaze off Zola’s dredgers. When they locked eyes, the silent tension that flooded the deck was palpable. I felt a shade more invisible then, thinking that maybe the presence of the Jevali dredgers was a good thing. It took the attention off me, if only a little.
“Fable.”
I stiffened, hearing my name spoken in Clove’s voice.
He took three slow steps toward me, and I drew back, my fingers finding the handle of West’s knife.
His boots stopped before mine and I watched the easy way he looked at me. The wrinkles around his eyes were deeper, his fair lashes like threads of gold. There was a scar I’d never seen before below his ear, wrapping around his throat and disappearing into his shirt. I tried not to wonder where it came from.
“We need to worry about any of them?” His chin jerked toward the dredgers on the deck.
I glowered at him, not sure I could believe that he was actually talking to me. What’s more, he wanted information, as if we were on the same side. “I guess you’ll find out, won’t you?”
“I see.” He reached into the pocket of his vest, pulling a small purse free. “What’ll it cost me?”
“Four years,” I answered heavily.
His brow knit in question.
I took a step toward him, and his hand tightened on the purse. “Give me back the four years I spent on that island. Then I’ll tell you which one of those dredgers is most likely to cut your throat.”
He stared at me, every thought I couldn’t hear shining in his eyes.
“Not that it would really matter.” I tipped my head to one side.
“What?”
“You never really know a person, do you?” I let my meaning fold under the words, watching him carefully. Not a single shadow passed over his face. No hint of what he was thinking.
“We’ve all got a job to do, don’t we?” was his only reply.
“You more than any of us. Navigator, informant … traitor,” I said.
“Don’t make trouble, Fay.” His voice lowered. “You do what’s asked of you and you’ll get paid like everyone else.”
“How much is Zola paying you?” I snarled.
He didn’t answer.
“What’s Zola doing in the Unnamed Sea?”
Clove stared at me until the ring of grommets singing on the ropes overhead broke the silence between us. A sail unfolded on the deck, casting Clove and me in its shadow. I looked up to where it was silhouetted against the sunlight, a black square against the blue sky.