15. Chapter Fifteen
Rahmi was immensely fucking proud of himself, immensely fucking proud. He kicked off his boots, letting them fall in a heap on the worn rug, and tugged off his long coat before tossing it over the back of the armchair. He swore he could almost smell the satisfaction in the air. He outwitted the djinn with nothing more than his dagger, a daring chance, and two men who would never admit to their guilt.
They had been on board The Mark of Malice for nearly fifty years, and neither one of them showed any indication that they were working on learning from their mistakes. He did what any good captain would have done.
On the other hand, the third man was one Rahmi had witnessed talking to Kalia. He had chosen the man merely to fuck with her. Rahmi was still debating whether it was worth keeping the man aboard his ship, considering not a shred of guilt marred his soul, but keeping him aboard for now was good enough for him. Primarily when the decision resulted in her finally bending to him. The last few days had been harrowing, and he wasn"t keen on repeating them.
Rahmi collapsed on the mattress, slipping a hand behind his head to brace against the pillow. If the weather behaved, the sailing to the Eerie Isles would take a few days, but getting his former crew member would be difficult. The Eerie Isles were only the first step in getting to The Labyrinth of Lost Souls, the prison where he knew Wright Thackeray had landed himself after his discharge from The Mark of Malice nearly twenty years ago. If Rahmi didn"t desperately need him and his irreplaceable skill set…
He had almost fallen asleep, nearly drifted off to the sound of the waves and sails creaking, when his eyes snapped open at the whisper of feet against wood just outside his cabin door. He raised his head off the pillow, peering down the length of his body to stare at the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. He watched it momentarily and almost readied to collapse back to the pillow when a shadow ghosted across the gap in the frame.
Rahmi"s lips curled into a broad smile, excitement thrumming a powerful beat through his veins. He had expected…, but not this quickly. At least when she promised to do something, she followed through with it.
He rolled from the mattress, his feet landing with feline grace against the floor. In no uncertain terms did he want to spook her. And he was nearing absolute certainty that it was her on the other side of the door. He grabbed his belt from where he had placed it on the seat of the old armchair, unsheathing his dagger with a quick tug. Just in time, too, because the brass knob had turned once, slowly and methodically before he heard something being inserted into the lock.
Did the djinn need to pick a lock to break through the door? From what Liddros made it sound like, they were the second most powerful beings on the continent. Wars had been fought to subdue their power. And here she was…using a pin like a pickpocket in Sha"Hadra. Perhaps she didn"t want to waste her magic before coming face-to-face with him.
He slunk into the corner of his cabin, hidden from the moon"s silver light that finally broke through the end of the storm clouds. It cut a cool path across the room, casting the armchair and the posts of his bed in sharp relief. The lock clicked, and the door cracked open. Rahmi was able to spot a single almond-shaped eye. He pressed himself further against the wall, feeling the ship"s swaying at his back.
Kalia placed a hand on the door, slowly opening it wide enough that she could slide her body into the cabin before shutting it with a soft click behind her. Rahmi watched as she froze at the door, glancing over her shoulder toward the bed, the blankets in a rumpled heap against the mattress. From her angle, he imagined it could appear that he was merely sprawled across the sheets.
She crossed the sliver of light, and Rahmi was pleased to see she had changed back into that red dress, leaving her feet bare and free of stockings or boots. She was a smart woman. The thick wool was harder to navigate in, and the boots would be loud against the wooden floorboards. She was a master of secrecy, as he could attest.
Rahmi left the confines of the corner, sneaking behind her just as she reached the edge of the mattress. Just as she raised the knife—where had she gotten a knife?— and plunged it into the mass of furs and sheets. It stuck in the bed with a loud thunk, and she let out a sharp sigh of relief, mirrored in how her shoulders sagged.
But Rahmi couldn"t be killed that easily, even if he were impaled to the bed.
"I think," he said slowly, watching with unfiltered glee as Kalia started and whirled on the balls of her feet, her hand releasing its firm grip on the knife, "that you need to try some other way of killing me. You"ve already attempted the use of a dagger."
"That was a kitchen knife," Kalia corrected in return, her green eyes glinting with white-hot fury.
He would have to talk with Elodie and Shirin about watching what kinds of utensils they brought back to their makeshift room. She twisted to try and grab the knife, but Rahmi grasped her wrist and a hip, pinning her to the post at the bottom corner of his bed. She let out a huff of air when her shoulders smacked against the column, and that breath warmly caressed his cheek. His hips pressed against her waist, and he could feel her wriggling against places he wasn"t interested in having her.
"I would stop moving like that, ruehi, unless you"ve suddenly come to your senses and want in my bed." Her immediate stiffening garnered a chuckle out of him. "You"ve already stabbed me. Twice, I"m afraid. What"s next? Poison? I"m afraid I don"t have many pistols aboard my ship, but if you were to come across—" His mocking came to a clipped and grunting end when she trod on his toes, rocking her full weight onto his bare foot before kneeing him in the balls.
Kalia skidded away from him, coming to a halt on the other side of the armchair. Like fuck that rickety, old piece of furniture would keep him from ripping apart this room to get to her. As soon as he could stand straight.
"Why are you in here?" Rahmi asked as he sank onto the edge of the mattress, breathing through the radiating pain that was surely going to make his stomach overturn.
Kalia scoffed, though it seemed his stare pinned her in place. "I made you a promise. You killed two men, you—" She went utterly still as he rose from the bed, stalking toward her. "Don"t come any closer to me."
Rahmi stopped, he didn"t need to come any closer. Seeing her shrink under his gaze was the finishing touch of the day that he needed. "What"s your plan here? Kill me? My crew"ll rip you apart before I rise from the depths of Samael." His mouth twisted to the side when she shifted in discomfort. He quickly knocked aside her bond when she tried to bridge their minds. He had already locked himself up, a steel wall between them. "I don"t think so, ruehi."
"Why do you call me that?" Kalia shot back, taking a sliding step toward the door. It wasn"t lost on Rahmi. "Ruehi?"
Kalia didn"t quite say the word right, not placing enough emphasis on the final inflection, but his nickname on her lips made him stand a bit straighter. He wouldn"t admit it; he would rather die with that knowledge than allow her to be privy to it.
Instead, Rahmi sighed and jerked his chin toward the door. "Get out of here, Kalia, before I change my mind."
For once, she didn"t need telling twice.
"We lost two men," Alaric said, pacing the floor before the desk. "Two men who worked the sails. And some of the newer ones are afraid you"ll chuck them overboard before the end of the week."
Rahmi leaned back in his seat, chuckling as his quartermaster lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. "And you think that"s a bad thing, Alaric? Respect from the crew?"
Alaric stopped his pacing, squaring his shoulders to face Rahmi. "Respect is earned, captain, as you well know. Fear gets us nowhere except an eventual mut—"
"Don"t," Rahmi cut him off, shooting him a warning glare that Alaric didn"t back down from. "Do not use that word in this cabin."
Alaric leaned forward, placing his knuckles on the edge of the desk. He sent a menacing glare through one blue eye, the patch still tightly secured over the other. "We"ve been lucky, captain. Lucky with the men you force on this ship. Remember, you will lose this ship the same way you took it."
Rahmi looked away. Alaric liked to remind him of that from time to time. Liked to remind him that he was the captain of a merchant ship long ago and that he once led a mutiny when the old captain of The Mark of Malice had captured him. And that Rahmi had won. "What would you have me do, Alaric? Would you have me forget this business Karim put on our doorstep or—"
"All I"m saying," Alaric interjected, standing straight to cross his arms over his chest, "is not to throw away what we have on this ship over the whims of this djinn." He shook his head, gazing at the round window just over Rahmi"s shoulder. "There"s something funny about her."
Rahmi snorted, picking up the quill he had tossed on the roll of parchment in front of him and running his finger along the edges of the feather. "You mean, besides the fact that she"s repeatedly tried to kill me? Or beside the fact that she seems to enjoy torturing you in particular?"
"If she does manage to kill you, we"re all in for a load of trouble." Alaric sighed, ignoring Rahmi"s quip. "Tell me the truth, captain. What does she mean to all of this?"
His quartermaster was the only person Rahmi would allow to give such demands. They had been together for centuries, had weathered storms, had sacked ships, and had been through an endless amount of shit. Rahmi set down the quill and tapped his finger on the folded map set to the side of the desk. "The gemstone we seek, Karim may have made us aware of the path, but we"ve been set on it by Liddros." He lifted his eyes and watched Alaric"s expression range from confused to horrified in seconds.
"Liddros? The Liddros? I thought the two of you weren"t on speaking terms."
"We weren"t—aren"t," Rahmi amended, planting his hands on the desk and pushing himself out of his chair. "I summoned him to inquire about the truth of the legend. Once he discovered the gemstone"s survival, he propositioned me for its retrieval—an accord I could not step away from."
Alaric"s brows flew high on his head. "And you think you can trust him to keep his promise once you hand it over?" He clicked his tongue against his teeth. "This is far more complicated than I thought."
"More complicated than hauling a man from the capital aboard my ship under the guise of keeping our djinn"s capture a secret?" Rahmi smirked. He let out a bark of a laugh at Alaric"s gaping, open mouth. Just as Alaric was the only man allowed to challenge him, Alaric was the only man Rahmi allowed himself to joke with.
"That isn"t—I didn"t—We—," Alaric sputtered, and Rahmi laughed again at the flush that crept up his cheeks. "He was chasing us through the streets of the capital!"
"And it was quite convenient that he just so happened to be your type," Rahmi said, a teasing, shit-eating grin on his face. He picked up the cutlass and the set of daggers from the desk, strapping them quickly to his belt. Relief fluttered through him at the change in conversation, one that he wasn"t sure Alaric would allow. More often than not, Alaric didn"t let things slide. "I saw the way your hands tightened around him when I threatened to execute him. I—"
A shout emanated from the deck below, one that had Alaric and Rahmi glancing at each other in alarm. They thundered from the cabin a moment later, Rahmi tossing open the door and letting it hit the wall with a loud bang. He squinted against the deluge of sunlight reflecting brilliantly off the calm sea. Sweeping his gaze over the quarterdeck, it didn"t seem any chaos required reining in.
But one of his crew, Dagwood Thorpe, a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair chopped close to his skull, thumbed in a gesture over his shoulder at the question Rahmi hadn"t yet voiced. "The berth," he shouted over the thwap of the sails, his hands gripped tightly around the rope as the men to his right and left tied it in place. "A card game." He returned his attention to the rigging, grunting as the rope slipped from his grip and hauled him forward. He caught himself with an expert foot against the mast.
Rahmi"s eyebrows snapped together, and he frowned. It was the middle of the day, and while he knew that card games were popular in the late night hours, it was rare that the night crew was still awake. He crossed to the hatch that led to the berth, his boots splashing in the puddles made by the men scrubbing the deck, and clomped down the wooden stairs.
It took another moment for his eyes to adjust from the afternoon brightness to the dim, windowless cavern of the berth. While the lanterns were already lit and swung against their sconces, there wasn"t enough light to give the space more than a dull, orange glow fragmented by the dozens of hammocks hanging from the ceiling. While some men still slept, their hats pulled tightly over their eyes and cotton stuffed into their ears, a gathering toward the back of the berth immediately caught Rahmi"s attention.
Four men sat around the old round table, its legs long gone and its surface propped up by three crates. When the fifteen men in the crowd shifted just enough to create a gap, Rahmi spotted the familiar red dress and flow of dark hair, delicate forearms braced against the edge of the table. She had pulled on the spare pair of boots Shirin found for her, their heaviness in direct opposition to the lightness of her dress.
"Did your mothers tell you that it"s okay to cry?" Kalia said, laying down the cards she had in her hand, a probing, smug smile on her lips. The men seated groaned again as one of them slammed his cards on the table, letting out a shout that was nearly identical to the one Rahmi heard from his office. "Apparently not," she mused, reaching forward to swipe the small pile of pipe tobacco and silver coins to join her growing collection. "Better luck next time."
The man who had yelled, a younger man named Hollis Bane, stood abruptly from his seat and pointed a thick finger in Kalia"s direction. "You cheated," he snarled at her, his reddened face contorted with rage. "I know that you cheated."
Kalia didn"t flinch as she gathered the cards, shuffled them a few times, and began to deal them back to the remaining men. "Alternatively, you"re a terrible player with no understanding of when you shouldn"t go all in on your hand." She glanced down at her new set of cards. Directly behind her, Elodie bit the nail of her forefinger.
Hollis stormed away from the table, leaving behind all of the coins and pipe tobacco he had lost to Kalia, and breezed past Rahmi to take the steps two at a time. He hadn"t even seemed to notice his captain was there. No one had, not yet.
Rahmi watched closely as Kalia"s eyes darted down to her cards and back up to each man, her gaze clouding over just enough that he had to bite his lip to keep from chuckling. He knew that look. Had seen it aimed at him a time or two in the last few days. And he had an instinctual feeling that she was hustling his men, a sorceress of secrets indeed. Rahmi recognized Reshef on Elodie"s other side. He bent down to whisper something in Kalia"s ear, who promptly waved him off and set down her first card.
The next hand proceeded, the stakes increasing with every new card draw. The winnings pile in the middle of the table grew, and it didn"t take long for the final three men to eye it hungrily. Rahmi knew what things that kind of currency would buy on his ship— days off, extra stew at dinner, more fion when the barrels were close to running dry. And from the way Kalia seemed to skillfully weave in and out of each man"s mind, she must have realized that, too.
When she laid her final card, the three men groaned again, and another one fell to her hustle. Kalia reached forward and slid the pile toward her, no longer bothering with the self-righteous smiles, as a second man rose from the table and threw his cards down. Rahmi knew it would take him weeks of gambling to earn back what he had just lost.
Rahmi had been around long enough to know that he could spot a con faster than he could spot the king"s prized warship against the horizon. And he had indeed seen enough out of Kalia.
He stepped forward, shouldering through the multitude of men before coming to the seat that had just been occupied. He felt the stares of his crew on him—he had never ventured down here to participate in a card game before—and dropped into the empty chair just as Kalia finished shuffling the cards. If he were right, which there was no doubt in his mind that he was, this should be quick.
"Deal me in, ruehi," Rahmi purred, leaning forward to place his elbows on the table.
"Are you sure that"s wise, captain?" Kalia retorted, though she still included him when she began to deal the cards. "We all need something to bargain with." Her green eyes slid to his lap, and she regarded it with the utmost disdain. "I"m not sure you have much to offer."
Rahmi concealed his agitation with a smirk as mutterings and chuckles broke out within his surrounding crew. "Cock jokes, both charming and ladylike. Come on with it, then, unless you"re afraid. If I win, you have to work in the galley for the rest of the time you are aboard my ship."
"And if I win?"
Rahmi"s smirk deepened, and he watched as her eyes shifted to the single dimple on the left side of his mouth. "If you win, I"ll take you to shore right now."
Kalia"s hands faltered as she dealt the last of the cards, and he felt a worm of pleasure threatening to overtake him as her gaze darted upward to connect with his. "You"re lying."
"I"m not," Rahmi replied, picking up his cards and looking them over. As if on cue, he felt her power begin to needle into his mind, and he slammed the steel door shut, severing the bridge between them. He swallowed his chortle at the apprehensive look on her face. He still needed her. If he couldn"t retaliate against her in the way he wanted to, slowly, painfully, and with his favorite blade, he would do it in the only way he could. She had shown her hand with Reshef, and now he knew where to strike. "You should know, I"m not sure I ever want this to end. Especially if it means not having those little moments like last night."
The crowd jeered as Kalia huffed a breath, though he didn"t miss the squirm of discomfort as she looked down at her cards, then lifted her eyes to look at the back of his as if she could see right through them if she tried hard enough. She shifted her sight to Searle, the man to her immediate left, and Rahmi watched as her stare went a tad hazy before clearing again. She set down her first card, keeping the rest tucked tightly to her chest.
"I"ve never felt so wanted. I think the first thing I do will be to use my winnings and hire a crew of my own," Kalia said sweetly as Thorne, the man to her right, set down his first card. "I haven"t forgotten my promise."
"To kill me?" Rahmi asked in confirmation, setting down his card. Searles thumbed through his stack before laying one down, and Rahmi reached forward to take the hand. "I hope you haven"t forgotten already. It"s been the most exciting thing to happen to me in decades."
"I just need to get back to my roots," Kalia responded, laying a card on the table. "Stabbing isn"t usually my thing."
Rahmi flicked up his gaze, locking eyes with her over the tops of the cards. "What is your thing then? What should I expect from you?"
She didn"t respond, letting her stare intensify as she laid down her hand.
Kalia had won the second set. Searles won the third. Rahmi won the next three, much to Kalia"s chagrin. Rahmi felt her assaults on his mind, still steel-trapped against her attempts. And she was becoming desperate.
A thin sheen of sweat glistened against Kalia"s hairline as her eyes slid from Rahmi to Thorne to Searle and back again. Searle was the first to lose, his hand of cards deposited in the middle near the ever-growing pile of coins and pipe tobacco. Rahmi had even flicked in a few silvers to appease the grumbling men at his back—men who didn"t believe the captain should be down in the berth gambling with the crew.
But Rahmi had a point to prove, and as he laid down his final card, sending a saccharine smile to Kalia, he made it.
Rahmi reached forward and pulled the pile of winnings toward his end of the table, most of it from Kalia"s now dwindled stash, divvying it up between the men who had already lost it. "I expect Elodie to show you to the galley starting this evening. I like my stew on the saltier side so that you know." If looks could kill, Rahmi would have been dead on the floor. He reached into the remaining pile, grabbed a coin, and flipped it into the air before tossing it to Kalia. She caught it in between her palms.
"Oh, and ruehi?" Rahmi tacked on just as Kalia rose from her seat. "If I hear that you"re using your magic to hustle my men again, I"ll lock Reshef in the brig until he forgets what the sun feels like."
Kalia rolled her eyes, and it took significant effort for Rahmi not to react. "You"re coming up with an awful number of rules," she merely drawled in response, slipping that mask of indifference back onto her face.
"Only for you, it seems."