Chapter 10
Alister occasionally looked at the woman walking beside him with her hands clasped casually behind her back. The sun was showering them with its brightness and warmth, making her clean hair look glossy and her skin shine.
He swore her freckles seemed darker the longer they walked through the biggest market in Tortaya, not that he was usually so attentive.
It was the same market in which they’d sold their own wares, almost a kilometre long of stall after stall of trade merchants and pirates selling their stock.
Although it ventured further into the town, it neared the pier for easy access for stocking and supplying ships for travel.
They had barely made a dent in walking down it, since most of the fresh food was at the very edge. Rosetta also slowed him down by checking every single stall when he normally just rushed past and picked what grabbed his attention. There were generally several stores selling most items anyway.
“Our men aren’t monkeys, Rosetta. They won’t eat an entire barrel of bananas before they become overripe.”
Completely disregarding what he said – as she had done the entire time – she reached inside her large coin bag reserved for supplying her ship to pay the seller for a barrel.
Two of her crew were following them, since most of it would go onto her ship because of the cargo space it had, and they moved to hoist it onto their shoulders.
They left to carry it back to the Laughing Siren but would be back in a little while to help transport more purchases.
“Then we can make sweet bread with them. If Mr Darkley doesn’t know how, my chef can teach him. I taught him.”
Glen definitely doesn’t know how to do that. Alister’s brows pressed together. You can make bread with overripe bananas?
He was learning there was much he hadn’t eaten before today.
Turning overripe berries into sauce instead of gravy?
Pickling vegetables he’d never heard of in jars because they lasted longer.
Drying herbs when they went old to season their smoked meat, so it didn’t taste so terrible.
Turning grapes into raisins that could be eaten as they were or added to other foods.
Perhaps we should have docked in a port earlier. To learn that he and his crew could almost eat in luxury like kings on the seas... well, that may just be a good enough reason to make port more often.
They led their men very differently. They also organised their ships differently. The more Alister watched Rosetta as a captain, though, the more he understood she was excellent at it.
With everything she was buying, and making him pay half for, she was guaranteeing them a higher chance of staving off sickness.
She also regularly threatened him that if she bought something he didn’t chip in for, she would remember and wouldn’t let him or his men eat it.
Once they were done with the food, they started buying tools. This often got them separated, since their ships required different, yet similar, maintenance.
Other than making sure his ship could be repaired to perfect sailing conditions, he didn’t care how clean it was, how warm it was, or how comfortable it was.
That’s why, when he turned around to find Rosetta in the crowd and saw a small line of her men holding thick blankets, he stomped towards her.
“What are you doing?” he asked, staring in disbelief when he saw another one of her men grabbing an armful of blankets.
He seemed to be the last one, and Alister realised he was too late to stop her.
Tilting her head back so she could see from under her tricorne, she gave him a puzzled frown.
“What do you mean?” She turned her gaze towards the back of the last man. “We’re coming into the colder months.”
“So? Your ship should already have blankets.”
“They’re barely acceptable!” she exclaimed, raising both her hands in an annoyed gesture because of his tone. “They may be just fine for spring and autumn, but my men will freeze if I don’t get them something thicker.”
“That’s not an opulence you should be affording. They know they’re about to go back to sea for a long time. They can buy their own warmth if they don’t want to go cold.” Alister palmed his own face in frustration. “Just because you don’t like the cold, lass, doesn’t mean we men can’t handle it.”
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to.” She folded her arms across her chest. “It’s my ship and my crew. I can buy whatever I want for them.”
He hated it when she was right.
Although Alister was going to keep a closer eye on her now, he worried he was too late to stop her from stupidly buying everything her heart wanted.
Of course, she wants to spend all her money on that ship. She just recently got it. She probably wanted to do what women did when they got a shiny new thing to play with: doll it up.
He watched her carefully as she bought cleaning supplies, disgruntled by it. He at least approved of the ropes, timber planks, and tools she’d need to fix her ship.
Since she’d lost the top half of her mast, she needed to buy new sails to give him back the spares he’d lent her. She also bought extras in case it, somehow, ever happened again. There was also a small team adding a new crow’s nest and checking that the mast was fully stable.
Lightning striking a mast through a storm was rare. It had never happened to Alister’s own ship, or any ship he’d sailed on.
He doubted she’d have to deal with the issue again, but she seemed set on making sure she was prepared. Trying to talk her out of it was useless. She refused to listen to him. Him! The more experienced one who had been sailing for years.
He almost lost his mind when he turned around for two seconds and turned back to see she was two stalls down buying paint! Paint, of all things!
It worsened when he reached her and saw she’d dug her hand into her dress as if she was dipping into her own personal coin sack.
He grabbed her wrist before she could pay the vendor. His other palm felt the bag in her hand that she had been using to pay for everything with today, and he discovered it was completely empty.
Don’t tell me... “Was this all the money you’d put aside for your ship?”
He’d calculated this with her, had budgeted what he thought she would need and then an additional sum for the occasional whim he couldn’t foresee.
“Yes,” she answered while ripping her hand from him.
“You shouldn’t be digging into your own funds. If you’ve spent your quota on your ship, then you’ve failed to hold back from what you want to buy, so you can afford what you should buy.”
Despite what he said, she gave him a bright smile.
“This is the last thing I want to get. I may not find another blue that matches the colour of my ship the next time I port.” She reached forward and paid the vendor.
He gave three ceramic pots of paint to her men, and Alister thought his eye might twitch when they were also given high-quality brushes rather than the cheaper ones.
“Since you paid for my booze and food, I have coin I can spare.”
“We may not be so successful the next time we set sail.” They’d found a medium chest of mostly silver coins. It was unlikely they’d find anything that grand again if they didn’t find Dustin’s trove. “You should have kept some in case you need to make port for an emergency.”
He slapped the bag upwards to show her it was empty.
“Now you have nothing to lean on except your own funds. That’s how you make yourself poor.”
She reached up and patted the side of his face in a teasing gesture. “I have faith you will help me earn more coin, big guy.”
What if he didn’t? They could part ways in a month if he chose. Just as he was about to tell her this, ask her what she would do then, he realised he may not like the response he got.
Rosetta turned to her crew currently following her.
“You can all get lost and leave me alone now.” She shooed them all, including him, by waving her hands forward. “Anything else I buy is for myself and I can carry that.”
He watched her walk further into the markets alone, a small hum floating up from her.
“Wait.” He trod after her. “Are you planning to spend the day by yourself?”
“Aye, laddie.” She chuckled. “Not afraid of no one in the daytime in a busily crowded area. The worst of the degenerates have passed out in a filthy hole somewhere.” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.
“Before you say anything about it, Naeem is back at the ship directing everyone bringing back the supplies. He’s too busy to join me and I’m free to do whatever I want. ”
His gaze wandered over the dress she was still wearing from the day before, as though it was the only one she owned.
He didn’t like that his thoughts weren’t only for her safety. She would also be free to do whoever she wanted.
He may have told her what he would do if he discovered she’d been with another man, but he didn’t know what she had been truly upset about: the fact that she thought he may touch others, or because he’d stopped her from having the freedom she’d wanted. Would she try to hide it from him?
After knowing the man the day before was attracted to her – Alexander whatever his name was – he wondered just how many other men were interested in Rosetta. Would they approach her if she was alone?
She was very pretty. He bet even strangers would approach her with the intention of bedding her.
Shit. Alister ran a hand over the top of his hair, feeling the bumps of the braid she’d put there, and jerked it away in surprise. He wasn’t used to the sensation of his hair being plaited.
I’m not used to feeling like this.
How was he supposed to handle these unexpected jealous and possessive urges? Ones he didn’t particularly want her to know the full extent of.
He’d eventually realised that’s what he’d been feeling, but he hadn’t bothered to acknowledge it, so long as she remained his for as long as he wanted her.
“I’ll come with you.”
She stopped to turn with a frown.