to be. But I wasn’t sure West understood what he’d risked by forcing their hands. By the time this was over, I might not have a place on this crew.
I looked again to the window with a sigh. When I sent Clove to the docks, I’d told him to be back by noon.
“He said he’ll be here,” West said, reading my mind.
I pulled my attention from the street and placed it back on the maps. “We start in the eastern section of the quadrant, where Holland’s ships were dredging when Isolde found the midnight, and stick to the reefs I’ve marked. There’s no way to know if it’s the right call until I get down there, but they have the best conditions for a diverse gem cache. There’s warm water from the southern current, a gneiss bedrock, and a pocket of reefs old enough to hold a few secrets.” It was the best place to start, but something told me it wouldn’t be that easy.
The door to the tavern swung open again, and I squinted against the bright light. Clove pulled the cap from his head, unbuttoning his jacket with one hand, and I let out a relieved breath when I saw Koy behind him.
“Took half the day, but I found him.” Clove sat down, taking the pot of tea without asking and filling one of the empty cups.
Koy was still wet, and the raw cuts on his fingers told me where he’d spent the last two days since Zola’s ship was commandeered. He’d been scraping hulls. His face gave no trace of shame as he watched me inspect his hands. It was an undignified job, one that Koy hadn’t likely done in years, but Jevalis had done a lot worse for coin.
Beside me West sat straight-backed, studying him.
“What do you want, Fable?” Koy finally said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
“I have a job, if you want it.”
His black eyes glinted. “A job.”
Willa leaned forward with her jaw dropped open. “I’m sorry, are you now hiring crew without our permission, too?”
“Shut it, Willa,” West growled, silencing her.
I looked back up to Koy. “That’s right. A job.”
“The last time I saw you, you were a prisoner on the Luna, dredging under the thumb of Zola. You spend two days in Bastian and now you’re running your own jobs?”
“It appears so.” I shrugged.
Across the table, Willa was fuming. She shook her head, gritting her teeth. Koy stared at me with the same sentiment.
I leaned back into the bench, looking at the maps. “Seven days, twelve reefs, one gem.”
“That doesn’t even make sense. What do you mean one gem?”
“I mean we are looking for one gem, but we don’t know where it is.”
He huffed. “Are you serious?”
I nodded once.
“And how exactly are you going to do that?”
I rolled up the map between us, tapping it on the table.
“I knew it,” he muttered, shaking his head. “You’re a gem sage.”
I didn’t deny it.
“I told everyone on that island there was a reason you were dredging more than Jevalis who’d been diving for fifty years.”
He’d never accused me outright, but I’d known Koy was suspicious. The only thing I’d had to hide behind was the fact that I was so young. No one was going to believe him unless they knew who my mother was.
“I’m not interested,” he said. “I only got half my pay from Zola before his body was dumped into the harbor by whoever cut his throat. I’m going to spend most of it getting back to Jeval.”
And that’s what I was counting on. Koy had a family on Jeval who depended on him, and that was the reason he’d taken the job from Zola in the first place. His brother was probably running his ferrying trade while he was gone, and in a few days they’d be wondering where he was.
But I’d have to get him to trust that I was good for the coin if I was going to convince him to come with us.
“We’ll double the pay Zola promised you. And we’ll give it to you now,” Clove grunted between sips of his tea.
“What?” I turned in my chair to face him. It was a much better offer than the one I was prepared to make.
Clove looked uninterested, as usual. Not a single feather ruffled. “You heard me.”
“We don’t have that kind of coin, Clove. Not here.” I lowered my voice. Even if we did, the crew would have my head for spending that much