“I don’t know about shipping dragons,” Shiv remarked to Sirius the next day in the wheelhouse. They were both watching Pierre steer the ship into the port of Scarlett.

  “I’m not sure discussing it right before we go through inspection is the best time, Shiv,” Sirius replied. He’d left Amanda asleep in bed. He suspected she’d probably drunk more than he’d initially thought she had last night. Truth was he hadn’t really been watching her while they’d been concealing the blood barrels in the wine the night before and she seemed to have a reasonably high tolerance for the stuff. Neither of them had slept particularly well either. He’d dreamed of his missing sister again and Amanda had been tormented by nightmares of the events that had occurred back on the Wolverine.

  “Mmm, if we don’t discuss it now, I’ll just be thinking about it later. Besides, we need to let that sorcerer know earlier rather than later given the plan was to shift the eggs on this afternoon.”

  “Why wouldn’t we do it?” Sirius asked. He could think of several reasons but he wanted to know which ones Shiv was most worried about.

  “How are we going to keep them hot? They have to stay hot and he’s not shipping these ones in those special boxes.”

  Sirius frowned. He had an idea of where this conversation was going to end up now. “Amanda will keep them hot.”

  “For how long? We’re supposed to deliver them to the Tundra’s. That’s beyond the port of Little Rock.”

  “Only a few days beyond. They can last that long without being hot if…” but Sirius found he couldn’t say it.

  “If what? Go on. Say it. If she stays in Little Rock. I assume this means you’re committed to staying with us then and continuing as captain?”

  Sirius glanced cautiously at Pierre. No doubt the man was listening. Perhaps he and Shiv should really be having this conversation elsewhere. Truth was, he’d rather not be having it at all. “Of course I’m continuing on as captain.”

  “You’re not thinking about getting off in Little Rock? Of staying with her? Or did you ask her to stay with you?”

  Sirius glowered. Neither was an option. That much he knew. Why did Shiv have to bring this up now? Little Rock was still over a week of sailing away. He still had at least a week or two where he didn’t have to think of such things. A whole couple of weeks where he could pretend that things would just carry on as they were. “We’ll be staying in Little Rock for a few days anyway and we can come back through the port later. It’s a key port. It’s silly that we’ve avoided it as much as we have,” Sirius countered, even though avoiding it had been his decision.

  He noticed Pierre glance at them out of the corner of his eyes. He thought about telling him to focus on steering but it wasn’t Pierre he was mad at.

  “The money’s good, Shiv. There’s no reason not to ship this batch. Whether we do any more in future can be decided later.”

  To Sirius’s relief Shiv didn’t argue, but the exchange left Sirius in a bad mood for the rest of the morning. All he could think about was how eventually he’d be dropping Amanda back home. That was where it was safest for her, wasn’t it?

  “You have any luck convincing Riki to join us?” Shiv asked casually a few minutes later. He always asked that whenever they crossed paths with the Wolverine.

  “I promised Morgan I wouldn’t.”

  “Why?”

  “So she’d trade some of those books.”

  “Books! Books are not more valuable than Riki! You don’t even know what they’re worth.”

  “Amanda said she has a friend who can help with that, plus she had some ideas herself. At the very least I think we’ll be able to convince someone to pay a good price for them. They weren’t the usual sort.”

  Shiv groaned. “No book is worth having a proper healer.”

  “We have Patchie.”

  “I said a proper healer.”

  “Well, I also think the Wolverine probably needs Riki more than we do.”

  “Yeah, well, that ain’t no one but Morgan’s fault. If she didn’t keep picking fights with every gods damned pirate on the sea.” Shiv grumbled.

  Sirius smiled.

  Both of them fell silent as the ship inched slowly into the dock.

  Perhaps Shiv had done him a service because between every question the inspector asked, his mind kept wandering back to Amanda and whatever future they might have. If there were any mindwalkers here all they would find in his mind was the same circular reasoning. He loved her and if you loved something then you let it go, right? If it kept it safe? He shook his head. She wasn’t an animal. She might be fierce like a lion and brave like a bear, and wild like a mustang…

  “Are you carrying any of the listed goods?”

  A voice interrupted his thoughts.

  “What?”

  “Are you carrying any of the listed goods?”

  “No.”

  The inspector made to check a box.

  Sirius glanced at the list again. “Oh, wait, sorry. We are carrying wine yes. Wine is being taxed at the highest rate now?”

  “New law,” replied the inspector. “Just for certain regions. Is your wine from any of these areas?”

  Sirius took the list, scanned it, and then handed it back to the inspector. “No.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Well, you’re all fine then. The rest is still at the usual rate. How much are you carrying and what percentage is being offloaded here?”

  The rest of the morning passed by in a daze. Sirius was glad that his men knew what to do because he was hardly able to pay attention.

  Amanda woke up part way through inspections and asked if there was anything she could do to help. Sirius assured her that they had it all under control. She told him she’d head into the town then and asked if she could borrow some money and pay him back later. Sirius briefly considered sending an escort with her but she persuaded him out of it. Instead he drew her a rough map and pointed out which areas had good deals and which ones to avoid. She promised to avoid anyone who looked like royalty.

  He watched her walk away for a bit with a nagging sinking feeling in his stomach. But he was soon distracted by another inspector. “Can you please show us where your wine is stored, sir?”

  Sirius was so distracted worrying about Amanda that he didn’t even think about what the barrels contained until after the inspector had left.

  They paused for a quick lunch. Amanda still wasn’t back yet but given the time they had started it was still early in the day. The routine calmed his worries for a bit but a few hours later when she still hadn’t returned he found himself glancing around occasionally looking for her.

  The dragon trader came and went. He was dressed a little more demurely today, in all black but his clothes were still the looser sort, identifiable as the sorts of clothes a sorcerer wears if one is paying attention. His eggs arrived in boxes, latched and locked, and conveniently at a time when the inspectors were inspecting elsewhere.

  “She must be some woman,” he remarked to Sirius with a knowing smile, before he handed over a key and left.

  Sirius’s focus did not go unnoticed by the others either. Eventually Shiv remarked, “We’ve completed most of the trades, why don’t you go and see where she is.”

  He managed to find her surprisingly quickly, more by chance than anything else. He was walking along the section of the boardwalk that consisted mostly of bars and eateries, the sorts of places that sailors like to visit first and which were thus located closest to the port. He happened to glance in one door and there was Amanda, sitting on a bar-stool, slumped over a large jug of beer.

  He went inside and took the stool beside her.

  She glanced up with half-drunk eyes. “Oh hi,” she slurred in a decidedly less enthusiastic tone than the one she’d left with in the morning.

  He frowned. “Hi. What are you doing?”

  "I am drinking," she replied with a lop-sided smile that vanished as fast as it appeared.

  Before Sirius could inquire any further she suddenly declared, "I got you a present." Then she reached down for a small bag near her feet and pulled out a book.

  He took it from her. "The Care and Maintenance of Pegasi," he read.

  "Yup." She nodded and then nearly fell off her barstool.

  She probably would have if he hadn't reached out and steadied her. "Err, thank you," he replied, unsure what to do with this turn of events. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful. It was actually a very thoughtful gift given his library contained many books on various creatures but none on pegasi. The trouble was that she very clearly very very drunk and that obviously elicited some questions. Especially given she didn't seem to be in a particularly happy drunk mood. It seemed more like she was drinking to try and escape something she didn't want to think about. He could ask outright but he didn't want to come off as accusatory. If she really wanted to drink, that was her choice. But nor did he want to ignore someone who needed help, no matter what he had said about people minding their own business. He'd meant it when he'd said standing up for others was something he loved about her, even if she didn't always consider the consequences.

  He decided on a light-hearted teasing approach. He nodded at the book. "So does this mean I win the pegasus then? That you forfeit your bet?"

  She sighed and stared sadly down into the last of her beer. Then in a mumble so quiet he could barely hear her she replied, "Sirena wants it back."

  "What?" Sirius asked, not completely convinced he'd heard her correctly.

  She hiccuped and then attempted to sit up straighter. She turned to meet his gaze and a little more clearly she said, "I ran into Sirena. See." She tilted her head back and pointed toward a thin red line on her neck. The unmistakable mark of a fresh knife wound.

  Sirius felt his entire insides turn white hot with a flash of rage. It stilled him and stole his breath. "She hurt you?" He managed to get out. He could hear the anger in his own voice. It scared him and he reminded himself to be calm. Things were better dealt with when calm. And Amanda was fine, physically at least. The rage within him surged again and he resisted every urge to flee the bar to go and hunt down the woman who had hurt the one he loved.

  "Just a warning." Amanda sighed. In a quiet hush she slurred, "She knows about the blood. She said if we don’t give her the pegasus back and compensation for Michael’s death…” She paused there as if suddenly realising what that statement meant, before continuing again. “She’ll tell others that we’re shipping blood.”

  Sirius considered that while Amanda sculled the rest of her beer and then raised her hand to flag the barman for another.

  Sirius grabbed her arm and tugged it down then shook his head at the approaching barman. Dropping some coins on the counter that should cover whatever she’d had, he quickly pulled her from the bar.

  She followed him out with no complaint. “How long ago was this?” he asked her.

  But in her drunken state she couldn’t give him a clear answer.

  “Where did you see her?”

  Amanda thought about it and then replied, “Just inside the warehouse district. I thought I’d take a short walk through out of curiosity. I wanted to see what other stuff people were moving around. It seemed like she was hiding from someone.”

  Sirius nodded. “Probably the local authorities.”

  “She’s a shapeshifter,” Amanda told him.

  Sirius nodded again. That was useful info to know. “I think it’s time we got out of Scarlett.”

  “Out of Scarlett?” Amanda gave him a surprised look and nearly stumbled over her own feet.

  Sirius put one hand on her waist to stop her falling and then guided her back in the direction of the ship.

  “Won’t the authorities chase us if they think we are shipping blood?” she asked.

  “They might but we should have enough of a head start that we can offload it before they catch up with us.”

  “But what about next time you come through?”

  “They won’t care if they don’t catch us with it. All we have to do is play it safe for a few visits. The real risk isn’t the authorities, it’s the pirates. Anyone else she tells,” Sirius explained. “And they have the potential to chase us even if we don’t have any on board.”

  “Shouldn’t we try to stop her then?”

  “I suppose we could kill her,” Sirius replied, not meaning a word of it. He was pretty sure Sirena had already told people about the blood anyway, regardless of what they did. She would do it out of retribution. He was pretty convinced of the sort of woman she was now.

  His statement sobered up Amanda though who stopped dead and then stared at him for awhile.

  He stared back and watched her shoulders relax as she reaslied that he wasn’t serious. Then her expression grew puzzled. “I’m pretty sure Shiv killed Michael.”

  “That’s likely.” Sirius gave her a nudge to get her moving again. If Sirena was hiding from the authorities like he suspected then she wouldn’t have told them about the blood directly but it would only be a matter of time before word got around.

  “Sometimes he scares me a little,” Amanda admitted as they walked.

  “Just be glad he’s on our side.”

  “Is he though?” She sounded unsure.

  Sirius couldn’t really blame her. Shiv was old school and ruthless but he wasn’t without reason and he wasn’t mad or blood-thirsty like some men. Shiv was a man who liked simple pleasures and predictability. In a way, Sirius was sure Amanda scared Shiv a little too. She was like an uncontrollable wildfire. He could never be exactly sure what she was going to do. He hated to admit that in a way, that too was something he liked about her. It wasn’t something he’d expected. He’d grown up with unpredictability, had hated it, but this was different, almost like spending your whole life only seeing a coin from one side only to find it had another face entirely.

  He paused and turned to face her, figuring it was worth taking a moment to reassure her on this. It would do no good if he had to constantly mediate between them. He nodded. “He puts the crew first and right now if we want to put the crew first we need to get out of Scarlett.”