Chapter 17
Ramaro stood and puffed out his chest. “What did I tell you?”
I sat up and smiled at him. “You were wrong.”
Some of the steam escaped from his chest as he narrowed his eyes at me. “What do you mean?”
“That wasn’t fun. That was fantastic.”
The agama grinned. “It was, wasn’t it? That admiral is going to be picking coral out of his hull for a week.”
A shadow fell over us. We both looked up to find ourselves staring at Fidel. He folded his arms over his chest, and a faint smile graced his lips. “If you two are done with your gazing, you might remove yourselves from the steps.”
I scrambled to my feet, and Ramaro was quick to scurry onto my foot. “O-of course, sir. We just want to, um-”
“That captain needs a report of what happened while I make up a report of the damages,” Fidel mused as he nodded at the cabin door beneath us. “I think you can handle the first task.”
I bobbed my head. “Of course. Right away.”
I turned tail and scrambled down the steps. Ramaro rode along on my foot, clinging to my leg for dear life under my quick pace. I slipped into the cabin and slammed the door shut behind me, where I leaned my back against the entrance.
The shadows had lightened in the room, and the candle had been snuffed out. Torvus still sat up in bed with a bemused smile on his face. “Did you learn anything about my crew?”
I snorted as I pushed off from the door. “I learned I’d better not challenge two dozen of them to an arm wrestle. They might rip off my arm.”
He chuckled. “I’ve seen that happen.”
I froze halfway to the bed, and my jaw hit the floorboards. “Really?”
Torvus cocked his head to one side and studied me. “You have an incredible amount of credulity, Miss Larkin, especially for someone capable of magic.”
I wrinkled my nose. “That wasn’t magic. That was just some fluke. Maybe the Seas of Evil did something to me.”
“Erebus, and the magic of the seas don’t work like that,” he corrected me as he stared at the wall ahead of him. A contemplative expression slipped onto his face. “One of many rules you’ll learn if you’re on the water long enough.”
I took a seat beside the bed and lifted an eyebrow. “I’d like to hear about them if you’re willing to tell me. I’d like to know more about the Admiralty, too.”
“Why about them in particular?”
I pointed at my leg. “Because he told me they’d kill everyone aboard a pirate ship.”
Ramaro glared up at me. “I said no such thing. I just said they’d take no pirate prisoner.”
“Would they consider me a pirate?” I asked him.
“We don’t want to know,” the lizard mused as he crawled off my legs and climbed onto the bed. “Those fiends are worse than that monster on the island.”
I had to tamp down a grin. “Because they’ll throw you in a cage for eating someone’s cake?”
He wrinkled his snout. “Because they’re stiff with their rules. They’re almost not human in how they obey those stupid lists of regulations. They’d give up their mothers if she strolled down the wrong way of a street, and then be rewarded with a medal from the Dromos.”
“The Dromos?” I repeated as I looked between the pair.
“The five leaders of the Admiralty,” Torvus told me as he adjusted his position. “The name refers to their vaulted position of being the straight path on the stormy seas. They’ve worked their way up the ranks of the seamen to hold sway over one of the four parts of their empire.”
Something didn’t add up. “Four parts, but five leaders?”
“Four over the seas, and one to administer their ‘justice’ from their base on the island of Cathair.”
I rubbed a few fingers against my temple. “That’s a lot to remember.”
“Just remember that they’re trouble,” Ramaro advised me as he settled down on the sheets. “And to keep clear of them if you can.”
“Do they know about the Tempest?” I asked the pair.
Torvus flashed me a grin. “Ramaro isn’t the only one with notoriety among the Admiralty.”
The corners of my lips twitched up. “Did you steal the birthday cake?”
“And some of the wife’s jewelry,” he added.
There was something in the tone of his voice. “Anything else?”
“And the admiral’s new ship.”
I used a hand to gesture to the cabin around us. “That wouldn’t happen to be this ship, would it?”
His eyes sparkled with mischief. “It might.”
“How long have you had it?”
“Going on five years, and I can’t thank the admiral enough for the professional work. I heard he spared no expense when she was built.”
“You heard that before you took ownership of the vessel?” I guessed.
He chuckled. “Why else would I have taken this particular ship?”
Ramaro folded one claw over the other and rolled his eyes. “You make it sound like the job went smoothly. If I recall, even with your fancy magic, you almost got your head handed to you by the elite guard of the High Admiral.”
“I was inexperienced,” Torvus argued.
The agama scoffed. “You were an idiot.”
I cocked my head to one side and studied the lizard. “Were you there with him?”
The tip of his tail twitched. “What if I was?”
“So you were in on the theft?”
His tongue flicked out. “I don’t see where you’re getting at with this.”
“Our short friend here was the lookout,” Torvus revealed as he grinned at the lizard. “His ability to climb made him the perfect scout, but he became distracted by the cake.”
“I have a weakness for sweets, alright?” Ramaro snapped as his tail beat against the bed covers. “Is that so wrong?”
“When you have your head stuffed into a cake when you’re supposed to be spotting the contingent of guards running toward us, yes.”
A laugh burst out of my mouth. Both men turned to me, and I waved a hand in front of my face. “I’m sorry. I was just imagining all that chaos. It must have been, well, quite the day for everyone.”
Torvus leaned back against his pillows and smiled at me. “Quite the day, like today. Perhaps you should get some rest.”
I rubbed one of my eyes. “I guess my sleep was interrupted by that island, wasn’t it?” I looked down at my hand and furrowed my brow. “How was that island able to move, anyway? And why was it feeding that thing?”
“Now that’s a magical mystery no one’s ever been able to solve,” Torvus mused as he patted the bed beside him. “But why don’t you get some rest? We have another day before we reach our next destination, provided we aren’t interrupted again.”
“Where’s that?”
“A provision stop at a small port.”
I stifled a yawn and looked around the room. “Maybe I could sleep across a couple of these chairs-”
I moved to stand, but Torvus grabbed my wrist and yanked me onto the bed. Ramaro yelped as I fell on top of him, and the captain deftly stretched me out along his side. The agama squirmed out from under me and dropped onto the floor.
“You fools!” he snapped as he slithered onto the chair formerly occupied by me. “How dare you-” A look of warning from the captain was enough to shut down his complaints.
I tried to sit up, but Torvus draped his arm over my waist and pinned me to the bed. “I’m not sleeping in the same bed as you!”
“Then I’ll sleep and you can relax,” he suggested as he pulled my back against his chest. “Wake me when you’re asleep.”
My cheeks reddened. “How can I wake you up if I’m asleep?”
“That’s something I’m sure you can figure out,” he murmured as he buried his face in the back of my neck. I stiffened, and my heart thumped against my chest. Torvus’ whispered voice drifted over me. “You don’t have to worry. I’m just going to use you as a comfort blanket for tonight.”
I swallowed hard. “And after?”
He nuzzled his lips against my neck and chuckled. “We’ll see. Let me get some rest.”
My eyebrows crashed down. “How about you let me go and-” My protests were interrupted by a soft snore from behind me.
I turned my head and managed to see his patched eye. Another warm snore hit the back of my neck. I sighed and sank into the comfort of his warmth.
Ramaro rolled his eyes. “Humans. . .”