is in command.”
Asger bit his lip and didn’t look over at his father—he was afraid he would have a gloating expression on his face if he did.
“That’s ridiculous,” his father snapped. “I have ten times as much experience.”
The crushers gazed at him without arguing, without wavering.
“Ten times, Father?” Asger murmured. “Are you even older than I realized?”
His father glared icy comets at him.
“Perhaps we can consider it a joint command,” Asger offered. “If there’s something you want them to do, run it by me, and if I agree, I’ll tell them to do it.”
“That’s not a joint command. That’s a chain of command with you above me. How about this. I’ll tell you what I want done, and then you tell them verbatim without arguing.”
Qin cleared her throat and stepped forward with raised arms. Even though she was diffident, she was too tall and strong to ignore. “They are Casmir’s crushers, so it’s fair that he choose who they’ll obey. Can we please be glad they’re helping us and load up and go? I’ve told my sister that we’re on the way and not to do anything to tip our hand to the pirates, but if we don’t leave soon, we may have trouble getting out.”
The last Asger had heard, the first mercenary ships would arrive within twelve hours. And it was possible there were additional ships out there with slydar hulls, not yet close enough to show up on the slydar detector.
“We can load up and go—” Asger’s father glared at the crushers, “—but we’re not done discussing this.”
“I’m sure you’ll find further discussions with them scintillating,” Asger murmured.
The glare transferred to him, but his father stalked up the passenger ramp through Jemadari’s open hatch without further comment. Asger gestured for the crushers to file in after him while he hung back with Qin.
“Do you think this’ll be a problem?” she asked quietly.
“I think he’ll try to order them around through me. I’m sure we can make it work for one mission.” Asger couldn’t keep his tone from growing wistful as he added, “Maybe I’ll perform adequately and he’ll think more highly of my experience and abilities.”
“You always perform adequately.” Qin smiled shyly and looked like she felt she was being daring when she patted him on the butt. “More than adequately.”
“I’m glad to know you feel that way.” He put an arm around her shoulders as they headed up after the crushers but almost dropped it. His father had returned to the hatch and was glowering out at them.
Asger didn’t know if it was a glower for the chain-of-command debacle or for his closeness with Qin. He kept his arm around her shoulders, refusing to hide his feelings for her. Besides, it wasn’t as if there were any secrets about who was sleeping with whom after that appalling midnight meeting in the Dragon’s corridor.
“Is he all right with us?” Qin murmured as Asger’s father disappeared into the interior, barking orders about where the crushers should situate themselves.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to him about it. I don’t care if he is or not.”
“Truly?” She paused in front of the hatch and looked at him.
Asger hesitated. He wanted it to be true, but he hadn’t yet convinced himself to stop caring completely what his father thought. “I’d prefer he not have a problem with it, but it won’t change anything if he does.”
“He always seemed… to not mind me. That I’m a genetically engineered warrior woman. Not when he was playing the role of Johnny Twelve Toes and not after he revealed himself as a knight. I didn’t like him, but he never reacted like he hated me or thought I was a freak. But he’s been giving me some weird looks lately. Since, uhm.”
“The robe incident?” Asger noticed they had an audience—Queen Dya watching from the hatch of her yacht—and waved for Qin to step inside with him.
“When you two ran into each other naked in the corridor? Yeah, since then, I guess.”
“He wasn’t naked.” Asger shuddered.
Qin must have also been aware of Dya watching them, for she glanced at her before stepping into the ship, where a soft blue-green illumination emanated from bulkheads, reminding Asger of bioluminescent algae in the tidal waters back home.
“Do you think she’ll be trouble?” Qin asked.
“I don’t see how. We’re leaving.” Asger closed the hatch behind them.
Similar to the outside, the yacht was all curves inside, with no hard edges. Cabins and common areas blended together, a cushy carpet that looked