Page 54 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

Bramwell took it back and examined my work. My stomach squirmed, expecting to be told what I did wasn’t enough. Or that I did it wrong, ruined it in some way.

“This looks sturdier than it was,” he commented, taking me by surprise.

“It’s okay?”

“More than okay,” he said. “Would you actually mind doing a couple other things I’ve got holes in? We don’t stop long enough normally to see a tailor, so they just sit around.”

“Of course. Bring them to me at dinner.”

“Thank you.”

We went back to our reading afterwards, but his approval of my work kept a smile on my face for the rest of the afternoon.

Chapter 17

Adrian

The last thing I wanted to be doing was stopping at Pointet Harbor, but I wouldn’t risk the crew for my own gain.

Connie brought the ship into the port with ease. Everything ran smoothly, as it should. I stood on the deck to monitor, but I was really just there to watch. The ship functioned like a well-oiled machine without me. And I built it that way. Sometimes, I thought about whether or not they really needed me, but that was the point of it all. Everyone on this ship knew what they needed to do, and did it.

Respect is the most important thing you can earn on a ship.

“Just tying off,” Connie said, giving her report as always. “Everything went smoothly. We should only need to be here the night.”

“Thank you. Are the shifts set?”

She nodded. “Handed out this morning.”

“Perfect.”

Being on port meant spending some time on land, and everyone wanted to get off, stretch, and spend whatever coin they had. But someone had to stay here, so they were sent out in rotations. Plus, having an entire crew of pirates on an island at one time was its own recipe for disaster. Everyone on my crew understood respect, but they were all pirates at the end of the day, and chaos would be imminent.

I also had to make sure there were small groups. Going out alone could leave you lost.

Or dead.

“Are you staying aboard?” she asked, following me down.

I normally would but… “Bramwell and I have to go to the library.”

That was the other reason we were stopping here. There were plenty of ports to stop in, but Pointet had one of the largest transatlantic libraries on the continent. There was usually some kind of shared library system at every port, and books traveled from so many places, they were some of the best resources to find information in.

She nodded. “I’ll stay until the evening then. As long as I can get a crisp ale before sundown, I’ll be happy.”

“Got it,” I said.

Connie split off to go to her own room, and I continued down to the meeting room where Sage and Bramwell were.

When I got there, she had her golden hair up in some sort of pin, a few side pieces falling into her face as she looked down. Not at a book, no, but at a piece of fabric between her fingers and the needle in her other hand.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

They both looked up at me. “Fixing Bramwell’s shirts,” she said. “Many of them were ripped. Seems he has a pension for breaking out of them.”

He looked bashful for a moment. I’d never seen that man look anything but stoic, with a slight smile on occasion.

“I hadn’t had an opportunity to get them mended for a while.”