Thick as Thieves by M. J. Kuhn

Author:M. J. Kuhn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press
Published: 2023-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter sixteen

EVELYN

Evelyn Linley was no stranger to long seafaring voyages these days, but she had to admit that none of her previous journeys compared to the trip to Volkfier. For starters, it was bloody cold. An uncomfortable chill sank into her bones about halfway up the Edalish coastline, and it never went away. The wind was cold. The sea spray splashing up on the deck was cold. Even the ruddy stars in the sky looked cold, like tiny chunks of glittering ice floating high above the snowy clouds.

Salt Beard’s ship was almost as large as the one she had sailed on with King Duncan Baelbrandt when she was with the Needle Guard. It was quick, too, cutting through the waves like a needle through cloth. When Salt Beard herself was at the helm, the Ophidian Fang seemed to zip through the fierce gales of the Sea of Boreas all the faster, though maybe that was just Evelyn’s imagination.

All said and done, it took them only eight days to reach Volkfier. Eight mornings of watching Ryia test the limits of her new powers, toying with coppers and forks and discarded socks. Eight days of playing dice with Salt Beard’s crew, talking every tiny detail of their plan to death; eight nights of sinking into sleep in her cabin belowdecks, dwelling on the thousand laughs Ryia had shared with the pirate captain that day.

Evelyn wasn’t sure what in Adalina’s darkest hell had happened back in the cells under the Shadow Keep, but the Butcher and the pirate were thick as bloody thieves now. More than that, Evelyn had the sense that Ryia was keeping secrets from her again.

Not that any of that should have surprised her. Ryia Cautella kept her secrets closer than most men kept their wives. She breathed lies like they were air and was about as easy to pin down as a cloud of smoke. Maybe that was what was pissing her off. It had taken Evelyn months of listening to the Butcher’s lies for Ryia to start trusting her. And it looked like Joslyn the pirate had swaggered in and won that same trust or more in a twice-damned fortnight.

“Volkfier ahead!”

Evelyn whipped her head toward the voice. Salt Beard’s first mate, Fagan, stood at the prow, peering out through a pocket telescope. In between snowflakes fluttering from the sparse clouds, Evelyn saw the outline of a town. It sprawled up and down the coast, an organized mass of sturdy, squat structures with angled rooftops stretching all the way down to the snowy earth on either side. The city stretched only a few miles inland, but at least twice that far north and south, only stopping its northern crawl when it reached a sheer cliff that cut straight up into the sky.

“Ready to show that sword of yours some action for once?”

Evelyn barely stopped herself from jumping at the sound of Ryia’s voice just behind her. She tapped the hilt of her needle-thin sword, as always, at her hip. “This sword’s seen plenty of action,” she scoffed.

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