Page 53 of Saint
At that, he paused, and his eyes met mine for just a moment. But again, he said nothing.
“So, you have the license. Or you will once we get to Ceros. And you have the ship. Now you just need the inventory.”
“Well done, dredger. You’ve discovered the secret endeavor of every trader who ever lived: coin.”
I shook my head. “A helmsman who’s in it for the copper doesn’t spend years making a map like that,” I said. “That’s something else.”
Saint looked uncomfortable now.
“You see a future for the Narrows, don’t you?”
His chin lifted. In defiance? Self-preservation? I wasn’t sure, but I’d definitely hit a nerve.
“You think it’s foolish.”
“I don’t,” I said, my voice a whisper, and the way he looked at me made me shift on my feet.
It wasn’t foolish. It was terrifying.
He was like this room, this ship—honest. Not pretending. I didn’t know what to do with that. Because what I was coming to realize was that I believed every word that came from his mouth. Worse, I suspected I could believe inhim.This vision of his.
I could feel that endless well within me, the capacity I had to fall in love with this trader and his dreams. But I’d spent too many years giving myself up for the glimmering ambitions of others. I couldn’t do that anymore.
“Don’t worry,” I said, my voice hoarse in an attempt at another laugh, “I think you may have convinced the world of your indifference.”
“Maybe. I think people believe what they want to believe,” he said.
“Maybe,” I echoed.
“What should I believe about you?”
He was asking without asking. He wanted to know. But I couldn’t make myself say it.
“When I met you in Dern, you didn’t even tell me your real name.”
“I didn’t know you.”
“You still don’t,” he said, more seriously. “And I still don’t know who you really are. Or what you’re doing in the Narrows.”
There was that hard line again.
“But it doesn’t matter to me why you came here. Everyone has secrets.”
I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. It was true, but not all secrets carried the same weight. The same risks.
“I need a dredger if I’m going to run a crew.” He let the words hang in the air between us. “And from what I saw last night, you can handle yourself on a ship.”
I blinked. “Are you giving me a formal offer?”
“We can’t pay you. Not for a while yet.”
We.The distinction of power between him and Clove was no more than a blur.
“But we can feed you. Make sure you don’t get your throat cut. I think those are pretty good terms.”
He was right. They were good. I could go looking for a place on another ship, but standing before me was the devil I knew. And if they’d planned to trade me as a gem sage, they’d already have me locked in the cargo hold like Nash.
“Why me?” I asked. “You can find a dredger at any port.”
