Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Bowen

“MERMAID OFF THE STARBOARD SIDE!”

The call brings me out of my cabin. We’re not in mermaid waters, but if the sighting is correct, we have one bastard of a fight on our hands. I grab a spear from the rack, noting that my quartermaster, Miles, has the spelled net already in his hands.

We meet on the starboard side and I narrow my eyes against the glare of the sun on the choppy water. How the lookout saw anything at all is a damned miracle. “Where?”

Miles is a head shorter than me and built lean, his skin covered in fine green scales like a reptile. He shields his eyes and looks up to the crow’s nest where Sarah is perched. I can barely see her blond hair from here, but it’s obvious she’s communicating with him using her air magic. A few moments later, he points. “There.”

I follow his finger to see a figure in the water less than ten yards away. I tense, half raising the spear, before I register what I’m seeing. Pale skin. Long hair that’s hair and not water weeds. A face that is decidedly more human than the merfolk I’ve come across in my years hunting with the C?n Annwn. “Not a mermaid.”

Miles shrugs. “Then leave them. The sea will take care of it.”

He always does this. If there’s a change of plan, Miles would rather run it over than bend to adapt to new circumstances. I swear he’s started doing it solely to undermine me. If I say we go north, he starts arguing that south is a better route. Every. Single. Time.

To his view, allowing the sea to take this person instead of bringing them on board and triggering the decision between death and joining the crew would be less of a headache. There are others among the C?n Annwn who would agree with him and continue sailing.

But I am captain of this ship and that’s not how we do things on the Crimson Hag. I have enough blood on my hands to last lifetimes. I try to avoid adding more whenever possible.

I pass over the spear. “We’re not leaving them to the sea. They might be a local.”

“No local is going to be out here.” He shakes his head, the move too sharp to be strictly human. “We haven’t seen another ship in days, and there’s been no storms to sweep one down, let alone to bring a survivor into our path. They’re a Threshold trespasser.”

Probably. Likely, even.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to let the sea take them without checking, and then offering them their choice. The whole purpose of the C?n Annwn is to protect Threshold and all the realms connected to it by portals on the islands scattered across the vast sea. Not all the islands contain portals, though, and there are citizens of the realm who are supposed to fall under our protection as well.

Not that all of our people remember that. At least, not when it doesn’t suit them.

I wait for the Crimson Hag to sail a little closer to the person. I could dive in and retrieve them, but there’s no reason to go through those theatrics. Instead, I focus my power and extend it, scooping the person out of the water and bringing them carefully over to the deck.

The crew eyes these goings-on with some interest. It’s not every day we haul people out of the sea, and it’s even rarer that they’re still alive when we do.

I crouch next to our catch and take a better look at them. A woman, human or from one of the realms where they’re more humanoid than not. She’s wearing clothing that looks unfamiliar, a bag strapped to her back, so it takes me a moment to place the pants. Denim. Jeans. That narrows down the options of her origin considerably. They cling to a body that’s lush: thick thighs, broad hips, soft stomach. Her black shirt hugs her torso, hinting at small breasts.

I jerk my gaze up to her face, determined not to stand here ogling an unconscious woman, but there’s no relief to be found. She has round cheeks, a full mouth, and wide-set eyes. Her skin is pale enough that I want to get her under cover before the sun has its way with her, and her hair color is hard to determine while wet, but I think it is a few shades lighter than my own.

A spear flashes into view. I throw out my hand to stop it, but I’m too slow. “Fuck!” I tense, but it hovers in the air, its point a mere inch from her chest. A flare of violet magic surges and then disappears and the spear clatters to the deck.

I spin on Miles. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“My job,” he says flatly. “She’s not one of ours.”

No, she certainly isn’t. I don’t recognize the magic, but based on her human looks, I’d wager she’s a witch. No reason for that to intrigue me. It just means she’d be an asset if we turn her. “Our job is to offer a choice.”

“The C?n Annwn have no use for women like her.”

I open my mouth to tell him where he can fuck right off to, but her eyes fly open, stalling me. She takes us in with a single look and then slams her hand to her chest. Magic rises in a wave that pushes me back a full yard before I get my magic up in a shield. Several of my people aren’t so lucky. Splashes sound, quickly followed by the call, “Man overboard!”

Miles goes for the spear, but she flicks it away before he can get his hands on it. “Where the hell am I?” Her voice is hoarse, as if she had been in the sea longer than I realized.

“You, don’t move.” I point at her and then turn my glare on Miles. “Get our people out of the water. Now.”

For a moment, I think he might argue, but he finally gives a sharp nod and starts snapping commands to the crew. Within a few minutes, we’ve fished out the fallen crew and ensured there was no permanent damage done to the ship itself.

While I’ve been dealing with this, the woman has done some looking of her own. She surveys my ship in a way that makes my skin tight, like she’s assessing every inch visible for value. I know what that look means.

Thief.

Sure enough, she has something in her hand that she’s fiddling with. I recognize it instantly, and my hand goes to my hip where my flask usually is. Gone now, taken by her quick hands while I assumed she was unconscious.

Maybe Miles is right about her.

I shake my head sharply. That’s dangerous thinking. A choice. We always offer a choice. It’s the very essence of what separates us from the monsters we hunt. Their victims are not offered anything resembling mercy.

She catches me watching her play with the flask and grins, completely unrepentant. “Should I call you Captain?” Her voice is throaty, and she puts enough innuendo into the question to sink the Hag.

I take a step toward her before I catch myself. This woman is no siren—they’re all but extinct, thank the gods—but she has a pull all her own. “You’re aboard the Crimson Hag, a vessel of the C?n Annwn.”

Interest sharpens her eyes. I belatedly realize they’re a green that makes me think of magic and lush forests. She leans closer and makes a show of looking me up and down. “Funny, but you don’t look like a hound.”

“A hound,” I repeat.

“Mmm.” Her gaze snags on my chest and stays there. “Hounds of Annwn, the Wild Hunt, and all that. I know my Welsh myths.”

I have nothing to say to that. We aren’t a myth. We never were. But history has a way of becoming myth if given enough time and distance. There are stories about the C?n Annwn in a lot of realms. As long as there’s been Threshold acting as its given name between the realms, there have been the C?n Annwn, protecting it. If the originals occasionally shifted forms and hunted in other realms …

Well, we try not to draw attention from the originals for a reason.

The rest of us who make up the fleet of ships that sail under crimson banners are mortal enough. Even the Council, who squat back in Lyari, ruling Threshold in the originals’ absence, tend to be only slightly more long-lived.

Not that I’m about to give this stranger a history lesson on my people. “You have a choice. Join the C?n Annwn or be given back to the sea.”

“Wow, that’s an interesting choice, very original and not at all overdone.” She rolls her eyes.

It strikes me that she’s not at all afraid of me. I blink. I don’t know what to do with that. Even the people in Threshold, the ones it is our entire purpose to protect, are wary of us. It’s a careful balance of respect, and I do my best to ensure I never abuse my power, but this witch doesn’t know that. She doesn’t know anything about me. “It’s the only choice you have,” I snap.

“Cute.” She turns and looks around once more before facing me again. “But I’m abstaining from making any choices. The lizard man tried to stab me in the heart before he knew I was awake, so forgive me if I don’t want to join your little murder club.”

“But you’ll steal from us.” I hold out a hand. “Give it back.”

“Oh, this little thing?” She holds up the flask as if she’s never seen it before. “It’s mine. Old family heirloom.”

“Why, you—” I bring myself up before I reach for her. “What’s your name?” I demand.

“Evelyn.” She flips the flask up and catches it deftly. “There’s one all-encompassing rule of the universe, dear Captain. I’m surprised you don’t know it.”

Even as I know I’ll regret asking, I sigh. “What’s the rule?”

“Finders keepers.” She grins. “This is mine. I won’t give it back, no matter how much you snap and snarl at me. Really, you’re taking the hound thing too literally. It’s embarrassing.”

That’s about enough of that. She’s obviously going to be difficult, and while that shouldn’t be a death sentence, I can’t let her undermine me in front of my crew. Not when Miles has spent months chipping away at the crew’s opinion of me. Letting this witch talk circles around me will just give him more ammunition.

Like all ships of the C?n Annwn, we elect our captains by a vote. My authority exists only as long as my crew has faith in me, and their faith is already precarious at best.

If I lose the captaincy, Miles will take the vote. The first thing he’ll do is stab that spear right through her heart.

I draw my power to me, as easy as breathing, and wrap her up in it. Evelyn squeaks, but I gag her before she can keep running her mouth, sealing her jaw shut. Her eyes go wide and then narrow, promising retribution.

I grip her waist and try very hard not to notice how enticingly soft she is. I lift her easily off the deck and toss her over my shoulder. Several of the crewman laugh when she makes an indignant noise, but Miles watches with narrowed eyes.

Let him watch. I haven’t given him anything to work with. I hope.

Evelyn’s not taking this seriously, but people often don’t when they mistakenly go through a portal and end up somewhere they’re not supposed to be. Not until it’s too late. The laws are the laws. I can’t bend them without risking myself and my crew.

Not even for a cute, mouthy little witch.