fool swam in waters with nightshade eels. Unless, of course, they were a famed Ishikawa.
Naoki finished off a bite of fried octopus and chased it with saké. Before he could ask for more octopus as he should have when he ordered the saké, a different barmaid arrived with it. "Dōmo, bella."
She scoffed and bustled off. Naoki went back to eating and drinking, idly watching the rest of the bar's few patrons. He should be at home, and he'd get a blistering earful from his stepmother when he did stumble in, but he had every intention of passing out in a ditch first. Or getting arrested for public intoxication. All things considered, the city jail had relatively comfy beds.
A couple of the bar workers gave him looks, whispering amongst themselves. They must be new, to worry about what this drunk don in their midst might do. The proprietor didn't even spare him a glance anymore, not when Naoki kept a full account and was generous with his tips.
Or, more likely, he'd taken one look at the scars on Naoki's arms and decided it didn't matter whether he was a problem or not—nobody was going to trifle with or impede a stregone dell'acqua. His blood spilled on a ship guaranteed safer travel, and the very presence of his family in Verona ensured it would never suffer the brutalities of the ocean the way other islands did.
So even a drunk like Naoki wasn't likely to get thrown out for anything less than murder—and then only if the corpse had been someone important. Or a Ferro. Naoki's lips curled, but the reaction was habit. Ishikawa hated Ferro the way water hated fire.
When he bothered to push past habit, all he really felt was a dull, tired indifference. Hate was exhausting, and the long-running feud had already taken his little brother.
"Resolving" it once and for all was going to cost him his life. Figuratively and probably literally. Carac had killed Asata, and Selinah was a nasty little malmignatta.
But given how Naoki's stepmother, Izumi, ranted at him and beat him as often as she could get away with, she was probably counting on Selinah making herself a widow. Izumi had never forgiven the world for taking Asata instead of one of her stepchildren.
The only thing Naoki and his stepmother agreed on was that the world would burn before they let any harm come to Haru, the youngest Ishikawa and the only one who wasn't a complete and total bastard.
As though summoned by Naoki's thoughts, Haru stepped through the half-heartedly curtained door and glanced around, a hopeful look on her face. She had Izumi's breathtaking looks, with the moon-pale skin Izumi never let be touched by the sun, large eyes the soft, silvery blue of the ocean in the early morning, fine-boned features that seemed rendered by an artist's brush, and hair the fine blue-black that could go for five yinn a measure.
Naoki was nothing like Haru, or even like their sister Mineko, who were nearly comparable in beauty. No, Naoki took after his mother, Chouko, plain of face, with darker-than-fashionable skin, and hair that was a dark, muddy reddish-brown with dull brown eyes to match. Just one of his many failings.
Haru's gaze finally found him, and her hope turned to relief and disappointment.
"Go away," Naoki said as she reached his table.
"Ciao," Haru said dryly, staring down at him. "It's well past halfnight."
Naoki lifted his cup in a toast and threw back the saké. "Time aplenty left for drinking, then." He ate more octopus and chased it with the light, dry and fragrant saké.
Haru's disappointment grew, pinching her face and putting lines around her eyes. Naoki was inured to such looks, though, even from Haru. He'd been the family disappointment all his life. He was a handy pawn, that was it. Haru and Mineko were the ones that really mattered.
"Don't force mother to send someone to fetch you. She wants you sober and rested in time for the betrothal ball and you know she'll do whatever is necessary to make that happen. Just come home with me now, please."
Naoki laughed. "She wants me sober and rested by the day after tomorrow?" He drank more saké. "She wants in vain. I intend to be neither, and even that hag won't prevent me."
Haru looked pained at his word choice, but only said, "Come on, Naoki. Don't be like this. It's—"
"If you say 'it's an honor' I will break this bottle over your head and continue drinking while you lay