Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Which means leaving Bowen behind. For real this time.
CHAPTER 24
Bowen
AFTER GETTING EVELYN’S THINGS INTO MY CABIN, I leave her to get settled and go in search of Dia. Unsurprisingly, I find her near the stern, smoking. I prop my elbows on the railing next to her and exhale slowly. “You were there when they voted me out. How likely is Miles to pursue branding me a traitor for letting the dragon flee?”
She blows a smoke ring. “He will want to do it for spite, but a brand-new captain is in a precarious position. The crew might not like what you did with the dragon, or how you handled the witch, but you have many years of goodwill built up, even if their confidence in you waned in recent months. When they voted you out, they were very clear in their wishes. They don’t want you dead—they just don’t want you as captain anymore. Miles is too smart to push something that might turn them against him.” She pauses to inhale deeply. “I wouldn’t go handing him a knife and turning my back, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
It’s what I wanted to hear, and yet it makes me feel so empty. “They just … sailed away.”
“Yep.” Dia offers me her joint and shrugs when I shake my head. “That’s one thing Ezra failed to teach you. The Cŵn Annwn may paint themselves in crimson and importance, but at their heart, they are a fleet of pirates. Pirates look out for themselves, Bowen. It’s time you do the same.”
I want to push back against what she’s saying. But it feels like another set of scales falling from my eyes. How many times have I looked at captains like Hedd and hated how they gave the Cŵn Annwn a bad name? They bully the locals and use the mantle of protectors to take what they think is owed to them. It’s not straight-up thievery if it’s a gift, even if that gift was the result of intimidation and underhanded threats. Sometimes they even hurt people, though any rumors or accusations I’ve heard have died quiet deaths before reaching the Council.
Or maybe they were snuffed out by the Council themselves.
The growing suspicion makes me sick to my stomach. “There aren’t many ships that are run the way Ezra and I ran the Crimson Hag, are there?”
“Nope.”
I nod. “Thank you for always being honest with me, even when I didn’t want to hear what you had to say.”
Dia snorts. “There you go again, being the best of us. Return to your witch, Bowen. No matter what course she takes, she’s going to need you before the end of this.”
I plan on doing exactly that. But I have one more stop to make first.
I find Nox at the helm. They look tired, but then, by my best guess, they’ve held more shifts on than off. Hedd isn’t a good captain, and if he’s not careful, he’s liable to be voted out. But then again, his crew embraces his awfulness. It paves the way for them to act the same way without recourse. Something that wouldn’t be true if Nox held the position.
I can recognize that and appreciate it, even if part of me still wants to wring their neck. “Stay away from Evelyn.”
They glance at me. “Just a bit of harmless flirting, Captain. Except I suppose you aren’t captain anymore, are you?”
I bite down on my instinctive need to throttle them. “I don’t want trouble, but I’ll happily wade in it where she’s concerned. Do you understand?”
Their amusement never leaves their blue eyes. But their smile does fall away. “I don’t go where I’m not wanted. If I’m not mistaken, she just moved into your cabin. That makes her preference clear, don’t you think?”
I could stand here talking in circles and get nowhere. Ultimately, they’re right. It’s not that I think they’re an active threat to this thing Evelyn and I have going on, but watching them flirt with her drove home the fact that I truly have no claim. She might have shared my bed, but she’s not mine. Not in any true way.
Even if she stayed in Threshold, how can I ask her to stay with me? I was her captor. I forced her into taking a vow that will cost her life if she tries to reclaim her freedom. Neither of those things is forgivable on its own. Together? We have no chance.
If Evelyn were standing beside me right now, she would point out that I’m making decisions without consulting her. Again.
I leave Nox at the helm and head down to my cabin. Inside, I find Evelyn with several small bowls emitting colorful smoke and strange scents. I close the door softly behind me. “What’s going on here?”
“It’s all a little hocus-pocus.” She doesn’t look up from her mixing. “I have expelled a number of my tattoos, and since they are my heaviest-hitting ones, I don’t feel comfortable getting off this boat without having them recharged.”