Page 84 of Saint
“You’re mad.” I looked between them. “Both of you.”
They didn’t deny it. How could they?
Something shoved into me hard as a man shouldered past and a pain shot through my arm before I was being spun around. Zola’s face was suddenly before me, his hands dragging me by the jacket into the flood of people headed into the market. We were slipping into the alley before I could even get my feet steady beneath me.
As soon as he let go, his fist flew back, coming down across my face. Light exploded around me, the deafening ring in my ears throwing me off-kilter until I tumbled back into the brick wall. I dropped to the ground, pressing a hand to my mouth. The taste of blood was already covering my tongue.
In the next moment, Saint and Clove had pressed through the crowd, Saint’s knife drawn as he stalked toward Zola. Clove caught him by the jacket, wrenching him back before he could drive it into Zola’s gut.
“Don’t.” Clove’s voice was a resonant warning as he wedged himself between Saint and Zola. I could barely hear his words over the ringing in my ears. “You kill him, and everything you just did in there doesn’t matter.”
I wiped my lip with the sleeve of my jacket, getting back to my feet unsteadily. “He’s right. Let it go.”
Nearly every merchant in Ceros had been in that room and if Zola suddenly disappeared, there would be no question about who was responsible. And the Trade Council had no restitution for an offense like that.
Clove held out his hand for the knife and Saint hesitated before he gave it to him. But before Clove’s hand had evenclosed over the handle, Saint was rearing back, his closed fist flying through the air and catching Zola in the jaw.
His head whipped to the side and he fell to one knee, blood dripping from his lip in a steady stream on the dirt beneath his feet. His chest was rising and falling in a panic now, eyes ablaze.
At the mouth of the alley, Lander was watching us with wide eyes, his pathetic hand still clutched to his ribs.
Clove pointed Saint’s knife in Zola’s direction. “Touch her again and I’ll kill you myself. Those laws don’t apply to a navigator.”
“I won’t have to.” He spat on the ground, a stream of red trailing his chin as he looked to me. “Your mother has crews combing the Unnamed Sea for you. All I have to do is show up at her door.”
A sinking feeling pulled heavy inside of me. His loss with the Trade Council would cost him the coin he’d been promised when he delivered me to Oliver Durant. And it was the kind of sum that paled in comparison to the enemy he’d make of Simon.
“Wonder what she’d give me for the trouble,” Zola added.
“I know exactly what she’d give you,” I said. “A blade in your chest.”
His gaze hardened.
“AllIhave to do is tell her whose ship I left Bastian on.”
Zola had built himself a cage with this deal and I could tell by the look in his eye that he knew it. He’d probably never sail the Unnamed Sea again as long as he lived.
Saint helped me to my feet, wiping the blood from mymouth with his thumb before he ran his knuckles softly across my tender cheek. I could already feel it bruising.
“I’m fine,” I said, wishing my voice were more convincing.
He stepped aside, waiting for me to pass him before he followed me toward the street. When we reached it, Lander scrambled backward, out of the way, but Saint stopped in front of him when his back hit the wall.
“You owe me a debt,” Saint said. “And one day, when you’re least expecting it, when you’re sure I’ve forgotten”—he took another step toward Lander, making him grimace—“that’swhen you’ll pay it.”
31SAINT
TheRivenhad never felt more like home.
The ship creaked, wood popping and masts groaning against the steady winds taking us to Dern. The cargo hold was empty, but not for long. In another week, it would be filled with rye and grain and fishermen’s goods. Whatever we could manage to secure in trade to be taken on to Sowan and Ceros.
We’d readied the ship in silence. Even Nash had had the good sense to keep his mouth shut as we raised the new sail over the bow. The trader’s crest was supposed to fly over theAster,but there was something that felt right about seeing it catch the wind over theRiven.In a way, we’d been born on this ship, Clove and I. It was only right that she take us across the Narrows as traders for the first time.
It wasn’t until the shore was out of sight that Isolde foundher way to my quarters. She stood at the door as I added Oliver Durant’s coin to the ledgers, bringing them back up from the deficit for the first time in weeks.
“Maybe there’s still a way to get it back,” she said, her voice small.
I set down the quill and closed the ledger, looking up at her. Her hair was tucked behind one ear, its ends brushing her shoulder. I didn’t know if I’d seen that look on her face before. Like she was guilty of something.
