any of the divinities will be in a mood to answer nicely.”
Mister Kindly began licking a translucent paw on his perch above the door.
“… this whole endeavor would be made infinitely easier if, o, i don’t know, we could somehow make ourselves unseen for the rest of the journey…”
Mia scowled up at her passenger. “It’s truelight, Mister Kindly. I can barely manage to hide me and Jonnen with those accursed suns in the sky. But my thanks for making me feel shittier about our predicament than I already did.”
“… you are most welcome…,” he purred.
Mia turned her eyes to the door the privateer had left by.
“Our captain seems a clever one,” she murmured.
“PERHAPS TOO CLEVER,” Tric said.
“No such thing, in my experience.”
Mia eased herself into one of the hammocks with a groan and a wince. She sat and chewed her lip in thought for a while, fighting a losing battle with her leaden eyelids.
“But Ash is right,” she finally declared. “We don’t have much left in the way of choice. I say we take our chances on the Maid. As long as Jonnen and I stay out of sight, and you can put up with his flirting for a few weeks, I think we’re safe here.”
“… i am sure dona järnheim will loathe every minute of the attention…”
Ashlinn ignored the shadowcat above the door, looking at Mia with concern. The girl was slouched in her hammock, head hung low, rocking softly with the shush and whisper of the water against the hull. Mia looked about to fall over from sheer exhaustion. They could hear the Maid’s crew overhead, BigJon’s rainbow-colored bouts of profanity, the song of sails being unfurled, the smell of salt and sea strung in the air.
Jonnen was still standing in the corner, Eclipse in his shadow.
“Did you hurt him, Kingmaker?” he asked softly.
Mia met her brother’s dark eyes, the shadow of Julius Scaeva hanging in the air between them. It was long moments before she answered.
“No.”
“I want to go home,” the boy said.
“And I want a box of cigarillos and a bottle of goldwine big enough to drown in,” Mia sighed. “We don’t always get what we want.”
“I do,” he scowled.
“Not anymore.” Mia ran her fingers across her eyes and stifled a yawn. “Welcome to the real world, little brother.”
Jonnen simply glared back at her. Eclipse uncoiled from the dark at his feet, the shadowwolf joining the boy’s silhouette on the wall, darkening it further. Without the daemon riding his shadow, he’d likely have been reduced to hysterics by now, but considering what he’d been through, the child was doing well.
Still, Ashlinn didn’t like the way the boy stared at his sister.
Angry.
Hungry.
“… WHAT NOW…?” Eclipse growled.
“… a quick round of crumpets and strumpets…?” Mister Kindly offered.
“… MUST YOU, LITTLE MOGGY…?”
“… always, dear mongrel…”
The shadowwolf turned its not-eyes to the rest of the room.
“… AM I HONESTLY EXPECTED TO BELIEVE THIS BOORISH CUR AND ITS PREPUBESCENT HUMOR IS THE FRAGMENT OF A SHATTERED DIVINITY…?”
“Shut up, the pair of you,” Ashlinn snapped.
“The ‘what now’ is simple,” Mia said, stifling another yawn. “The Ministry have Mercurio. Until we have him back, Scaeva and I are at an impasse.” She shrugged. “So we have to get him back.”
“Mia, they’ll have Mercurio in the Quiet Mountain,” Ashlinn said. “The heart of the Red Church’s power on this earth. Guarded by Blades of the Mother, the Ministry themselves, and ’byss knows what else.”
“Aye,” Mia nodded.
“Further, I’m sure I don’t need to point out that they took Mercurio to get to you,” Ashlinn continued, her voice rising. “They told you they have him because they want you to come looking for him. If this were any more obviously a fucking trap, they’d have a row of high-priced courtesans dancing in Liisian lingerie atop it, singing a rousing chorus of ‘this is obviously a fucking trap.’”
Mia smiled faintly. “I love that song.”
“Mia…,” Ashlinn moaned, exasperated.
“He took me in, Ashlinn,” Mia said, her smile vanishing. “When everything else had been taken away. He gave me a home and he kept me safe when he had no reason under the suns to do it.” Mia looked up at the girl, eyes shining. “He’s familia. More familia to me than almost anyone in this world. Neh diis lus’a, lus diis’a.”
“When all is blood…”
“Blood is all,” Mia nodded.
Ashlinn just shook her head.
“MIA—” Tric began.
“The Quiet Mountain is in Ashkah, Tric,” Mia interrupted. “We have to head that way, regardless. So ease off on the destiny talk for a while,