The Bright and Breaking Sea by Chloe Neill

Author:Chloe Neill [Neill, Chloe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781984806697
Google: l5LJDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1984806688
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2020-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Kit found a hive of activity in the forecastle. At present, Mr. Oglejack and Mr. Bailey were involved in a heated discussion over how tight to make the wooden plug they’d prepared.

“It will swell when it hits the water!” Oglejack said. “If it’s too snug now, it’ll pop right out again.”

“And if it’s not tight enough,” Bailey said, “it’ll pop out before you leave the damned harbor.”

When the sailors realized Kit had entered the room, the din quieted for a moment, then picked up again at twice the volume as each man tried to sway Kit to his side.

Kit stared at them blandly until they stopped shouting.

“Thank you,” she said in the ensuing silence, and looked at Mr. Oglejack. “While I think you’d be absolutely right if the hole was beneath the waterline, it may not swell enough above to keep the plug seated. So seal it now but”—she said, holding up a hand as she saw a fresh barrage being loaded—“in the event Mr. Bailey and I are both wrong, we should have an extra plug that we can plane down and use if the first one does, as you said, pop.”

Neither man looked especially pleased by the result, which Kit figured was a pretty good sign she’d done the right thing.

She checked the hold herself, then went back to the deck to watch the work, when someone called her name.

“Captain.”

Kit refocused, found Mr. Oglejack on the deck a few feet in front of her with one of the village carpenters, a piece of decking, and a wooden box of tools. And there was plain discomfort on Mr. Oglejack’s face.

“Yes?” she asked.

“You’ll beg my pardon, but the, well, the pacing is making it a bit hard for us to accurately plane the decking.”

She looked around, realized she was the only person standing in this part of the ship, and didn’t remember having walked here. She’d been pacing, something she did only when working things over. A marauding water buffalo, Astrid had once called her.

“Pardon,” Mr. Oglejack said sheepishly, cheeks blushing.

“No, it’s my fault,” Kit said with a smile she forced into place. “I was thinking, and hadn’t realized I’d stepped into your workspace. My apologies, gentlemen.” She went back to the helm, crossed her arms, and felt her foul mood returning.

“Irritating your own men?”

Kit refused to look at Grant. “I’m observing their progress.”

“I’m aware,” Grant said. “But your very fine carpenter is right; they won’t get as much done with you hovering over them like a governess.”

“I don’t hover,” she said crisply. “I lead. I manage.”

“You’re slowing their work.”

This time, she bared her teeth at him. “And what else am I supposed to do? Learn to cook pasties? Perhaps a bit of embroidery while Mrs. Spivey brings me tea and biscuits.”

Grant’s expression stayed mild. “If she’s biscuits, have her send some up for me, as well. And I’m fairly certain you can’t tell a needle from thread.”

“I’ve mended a shirt now and again,” she said, sounding defensive even to her ear.

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