Of Knives and Night-blooms by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Author:Tansy Rayner Roberts [Roberts, Tansy Rayner]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780645702545
Publisher: Tansy Rayner Roberts

16 At the Frisky Foxglove

Nimue got her onion dumplings. Mardi, who apparently had a softer spot for the girl than Ikaros had realised, went into the Frisky Foxglove to collect them personally, along with a cask of cider as a gift for the crew of the Silken Hare.

“Buttering them up?” Ikaros observed.

Mardi, looking more cheerful than she had in days, tipped him a wink. “Perhaps I’ll be a tavern keeper as my next career. The first rule of business is to keep your staff content so they’ll work harder for you.”

“If you say so,” said Ikaros dubiously. “That’s the future you want for your young one, is it? Running a riverside bar, at the beck and call for scoundrels and sailors?”

Mardi settled down on the deck, making herself comfortable on cushions she had brought out from the cabin. “Why not?” she said lightly, opening her own basket of dumplings, and smacking Ikaros’ hand when he reached for one. “It worked out fine for yours.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Janna’s family have owned that tavern for generations, on her mother’s side.”

“Well?” Mardi patted the curve beneath her dress. “This little one’s mother could be doing anything by the time she’s born. I certainly don’t intend to induct her into the current family business.”

“I thought — sewing and such?” Mardi wasn’t just called the Needle because of the time she’d gutted three men with the same rapier.

“Maybe,” Mardi sighed. “I always thought I’d end up a seamstress. But it’s hard on the hands. And the eyesight. I’ll be ageing again, once the Raven releases me. I have to think about the future. Far ahead, not just where my next meal is coming from.”

Ikaros didn’t like to think about it. Mardi had been a constant for him, for the last twenty years. Soon she would slip away from them, into a life of constant change while he and Valeria continued, untouched by time.

Losing Bors had been a fast, sharp pain. Losing Mardi would be a slower, more drawn out kind of ache. Most of it would happen when they weren’t paying attention.

“What if the gods want her?” he asked, eyes drawn back to her belly.

“They’ll have to kill me first,” Mardi said with a ferocity that took Ikaros aback.

He hadn’t realised she was still angry at the Black Raven. It shouldn’t have slipped his notice. He’d been spending too much time distracted by Calyx and her concerns, not paying enough attention to the people who mattered.

“Where’s Valeria?” he asked, to change the subject.

Mardi took her time finishing a mouthful of dumpling. “Sleeping, I think.”

“So early?”

“She’ll take first watch, she said.”

For a calm, competent killing machine, Mardi was a terrible liar. Ikaros watched as she ate two more dumplings, one after another: an excuse to not say anything else.

“I don’t see Dio on deck,” he said after a moment’s thought. “Did he skive off to the tavern?”

Mardi said something around a mouthful of dumpling and tried to look innocent.

What was Valeria up to? Wait. “Are they fucking?” he asked.

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