Page 14 of Saint
Saint.That was what Zola had called the helmsman with the crates of rye, but he’d given me the name Elias. I didn’t know why it surprised me. If the helmsman was anythinglike Zola, being a liar was the least of his flaws. And to be fair, I hadn’t given him my real name either.
“We’re not sailing the Snare,” Zola said again, more heavily.
The tone of his voice made him sound nervous. Afraid, even.
“Fine.” I sighed, turning to the next chart. “Then as far as I can tell, your best bet is going to be carnelian and zircon. Both can be found in shale, and that makes up half of what you’ve got in these seabeds. The gems are easy to locate and easy to dredge, and you can work the reefs to find out what else is hiding there. Once you’ve got updated charts, you can build out a more extensive plan. Hire more dredgers, find—”
“We.” Zola tapped his ringed finger against his empty glass.
“What?”
“We.You keep sayingyou.”
“We,” I corrected myself, keeping my eyes on the parchment.
I’d dismissed Zola has a fool when I first stepped onto theLuna.A pawn who was likely in over his head doing favors for the likes of Simon in the Unnamed Sea. But this helmsman wasn’t as simple as I’d first pegged him. He had designs of his own, and he intended to see them through.
“So, what? We just drop anchor anywhere and start bringing up gems?”
“It’s not that simple. There’s planning to be done, and theLunawill need to be outfitted with the right equipment.”
“Good thing I have your expertise, then.” Zola drapedone arm over the back of his seat. “Get Burke a list of what we need, and he’ll get it in Ceros.”
I studied Burke’s face, but he was distracted by the conversation of the next table, smoke trailing from his wide nostrils. He wouldn’t know the first thing about the supplies they’d need for diving and that was of no consequence to me. But dredging was my best bet at making coin after I did what I needed to do in Ceros, and I’d need a belt of tools.
“The tools I’ll need to get here.”
“Don’t trust me?” Burke asked, catching me off guard when I realized that he was still listening.
“Not particularly,” I said. He probably didn’t know a fine- needle chisel from a toothpick.
One side of Zola’s mouth lifted. “I don’t buy my bosun’s tools and I’m not going to buy yours either.”
“You’re also not trying to build your trade on your bosun’s back.”
His eyes began to clear, the lazy posture of his body straightening. “My trade is built onmyback.” His voice took on a tone I hadn’t heard before. One that sent a chill up my spine.
My shoulders drew back, my jaw clenching.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re running from in the Unnamed Sea, and I don’t care. But I do know if there was anywhere else for you to go, you wouldn’t have asked Simon to put you on theLuna.So stop pretending like you have any cards to play.”
That unsettled feeling I’d gotten in his quarters that afternoon returned as I met his eyes. I didn’t like what I saw there. He was right. Even if he didn’t know who my mother was or why I’d gone to Simon that night, he knew I needed him for something. And he wasn’t going to let me forget it.
“It’s a game, Eryss.” The name I’d signed on his contract sounded hollow in his mouth. “All of it. The guilds, the councils, the traders and their coin.”
I knew that better than he did. My father had known it too.
“I suggest you start figuring out how to play.”
The woman returned with the pot of tea and two cups hooked on her pinky finger, but as soon as she set them down, Zola reached for the bottle of rye again.
I slid the pot toward me instead, filling one of the cups. Grounds swirled in the bottom like mud painting the porcelain, and I grimaced.
“If you want to disappear in the Narrows,” Zola said, lifting his glass to touch my teacup, “then you better start blending in.”
“Is that all it takes? Drown myself in the same rye I smuggle my gems in and then I’ll be one of you?” It came out more bitter than I wanted it to and I didn’t like that it made me sound as if I cared.
But Zola didn’t seem as if he’d noticed. The glass in his hand stilled in midair the moment the words left my mouth. And though I wasn’t sure why, I was immediately certain I’d done something wrong.
