Eris didn’t answer. Because at that moment, the boots stopped directly before her. Eris’s jaw clenched just before she looked up.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t come for you?” Kor said. He held the spindle in his hand, squeezing it so hard, Safire was sure he’d snap it in half. “After you torched my ship and ran?”
Safire didn’t like the way he looked at Eris. She’d seen that same look before, in another man’s eyes. Possessive and ravenous.
“Honestly,” said Eris, holding his gaze, “I was thinking you might be dead.”
Kor’s face darkened. He handed the spindle to one of the pirates beside him, wincing from some hidden pain, then grabbed a fistful of Eris’s hair. Looking to Safire, he said, “Is this her? The trollop you were with in Firgaard?”
Safire felt all the gazes in the room turn to her.
With them came a sharp realization.
What? she thought, instantly appalled. “No,” she said. “Gods, no.” She looked to Eris, her wet shirt clinging to her thin frame, tendrils of wheat-colored hair plastered to her pale skin. “Not in a hundred years.”
Eris refused to meet her gaze.
“You two looked awfully cozy on Jemsin’s deck. Didn’t you think so, Rain? Lila?”
Safire looked to the first girl—tall and muscular with a nest of red hair and a bird tattoo on her forearm.
“Very cozy,” said Rain, staring hard.
The girl named Lila crossed her arms and smirked at Safire. “Coziest pair I ever saw.”
Safire needed to make it clear she was in no way associated with the criminal beside her.
“I was trying to escape,” she told them, shaking her head in disgust. “She kidnapped me. Then tortured me. She would have watched Jemsin kill me tomorrow if you hadn’t boarded his ship and taken us hostage.”
Rain and Lila exchanged glances.
The boat suddenly dipped and Safire’s stomach lurched.
“Come on, Kor,” said Eris, kneeling now, her back straight as she stared at him. “You really think I’m the kind of girl who goes in for spoiled princesses?”
A strange silence bled through the room as eyes met.
“Is that true?” Kor demanded, staring Safire down. “You’re a princess?”
Safire caught Eris’s gaze, which was sharp as a honed blade.
“I’m not—” she said.
“She’s the dragon king’s cousin,” Eris interrupted her.
Safire glared.
Eris ignored it, continuing. “Jemsin found her spying and took her prisoner.”
“Really.” Kor’s gaze slid over Safire, studying her bright blue eyes and tanned skin. He was comparing her, no doubt, to what he knew of the king’s line. Of draksor complexions in general. But Safire had never looked like her cousins. Had never looked like anyone in the palace. She didn’t fit there—a fact she’d spent her life being constantly reminded of. A fact she could clearly see in Kor’s eyes.
“I don’t care who she is,” Kor decided, drawing his dagger. “I think a trade is in order, don’t you? You hurt me, Eris. Now I’m going to hurt your sweetheart.”
“I’m not—”
“What should I take from her?” Kor cut Safire off, circling them both. Eris said nothing. “An ear? A hand? Your choice, Eris.”
With her first plan going up in flames, Safire glanced at the knife hilt protruding from his boot. If she could seize it . . .
Eris sighed, almost lazily. She shook her head. “This is your problem, Kor. You take everything so personally.”
Kor’s knuckles tightened around his weapon.
“Let’s play this out, shall we?” Eris pressed. “Let’s say you’re right, that I’m out of my damned mind and in love with a Firgaardian princess.” She rolled her eyes. “Let’s say that’s true. So, because you’re mad at me, you maim her.” Eris paused. “Then what?”
Kor narrowed his eyes, keeping his dagger raised.
“First”—Eris raised one graceful finger, which was when Safire realized her hands were manacled together—“you’ll enrage Jemsin. She’s his prisoner, and you can be sure he’ll give chase once he finds her gone. And second”—Eris raised another finger—“you’ll have the entire Firgaardian army—not to mention that cousin of hers, the one with the dragon?—on your tail.”
Safire stared at Eris. These were the exact same reasons Safire gave aboard Jemsin’s ship. The ones Eris easily refuted.
Is she trying to protect me?
Safire shook off the thought, reminding herself that Eris still needed to find Asha and deliver her to Jemsin. And only Safire knew where Asha was. Nothing had changed. Eris was just a desperate girl protecting her own interests.
“You might be able to outrun them for a day or two,” Eris was saying. “But then either the dragon will have reduced you and your ship to a pile of flotsam or you’ll be spending the rest of your miserable life in the king’s prison.” She smiled up at Kor, her green eyes sparkling. “It’s up to you. But at least think before you do something stupid.”
Kor’s eyes flashed. He grabbed a fistful of Eris’s shirt and pressed the edge of the blade to her throat. His hand was steady, but his eyes were feverish.
Eris didn’t cry out. Didn’t even break his gaze.
But Safire saw the tremble in her shoulders.
She also saw that beneath Kor’s steady anger simmered the red craze of desire. It reminded her of Jarek, wanting Asha. Needing to either have her or harm her.
Kor could never have Eris. Safire saw this clear on the girl’s face. And if Safire saw it, so did Kor.
In that moment, she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to open Eris’s throat.
Before he could, Safire burst out: “I knew a man like you once.”
The blaze in Kor’s eyes flickered. He turned his burned face to Safire, but still kept his blade pressed hard to Eris’s skin.
“His name was Jarek and he commanded the king’s army. Whatever he said, people did.” Safire felt the dark memories creep over her. Only this time, she let them. “He thought he could have whatever he wanted. And what he couldn’t have, he tried to destroy.”
Kor narrowed his eyes at her. “And why should I care about this man?”
Safire lifted her gaze to his face. “Because I’m the one who buried a knife in his heart.”
Into the silence of the room, the ship creaked.
The hunger drained out of Kor. Something far more dangerous rushed in to replace it. He shoved Eris, who fell back. From the corner of her eye, Safire saw the girl touch her throat, then study the blood on her fingertips.
Kor crouched down before Safire now, his face level and so close with hers she could see the open sores of his freshly burned skin. “Let me tell you something about Jemsin’s precious Death Dancer. That girl there?” He nodded toward Eris. “She’s an enemy of the empress. Seven years ago, she set fire to a temple full of people. Half of them children. Not a single one of them escaped.”
Safire drew away from Eris. What?
She’d known the Death Dancer was a thief. But a murderer?
Eris’s voice went taut as rope as she said, “Who told you that?”