Page 96 of Soulgazer

Faolan steps up onto the ship’s railing, dragging me with him, and it’s all I can do to catch hold of his shoulders before we fly over the edge. It’s only when we’re plummeting toward the water, then coming up the other side, that I realize he wrapped a rope around his other arm. Our feet hit the opposite deck, and I nearly fall to my arse—then shove at his chest instead, coughing on the scream that never had a chance to leave my throat.

“I can’t believe you—didn’t warn me!”

“You never would’ve done it if I had.” Faolan chucks me once under the chin, then turns to face Rian’s crew.

Our own land in soft thumps around me, tying off their ropes one by one. It’s an organized chaos I’d never gotten to witness, being trapped belowdecks during the attack by Maccus’s men. Tavin wears a blade crossed over his back, Brona a wicked dagger strapped to her calf. They flank Faolan without direction, and I understand now the true power of being one of the Wolf’s pack.

My face heats as I reach for a weapon—anyweapon—to join the others, but they’ve never offered one beyond Brona’s, and in truth I never asked. I catch the hilt of a knife on Faolan’s belt just as he steps out of reach.

Nessa immediately claps a hand on my arm, dragging it down to my side with a grimace. “Hold it. Rian won’t attack first. He owes Faolan too much.”

“Attackfirst?”

“Well…” She trails off as a shirtless man steps around the mast with a sullen expression made more dramatic by the scar hooking from his absent left eye down to the corner of his mouth. At his side, a woman manages to scowl down her nose at Faolan despite the fact that she barely reaches his waist in height. Her body is small, as though at some point it simply stopped growing, but the weapons slung across her back and the sleek muscles of her arms prove she’s a more formidable opponent than I could ever be.

It’s she who marches straight up to Faolan and prods him in the stomach. “You said we’d have until spring to pay up. So why the feck were you asking questions and—”

“Aoife.” The man—Captain Rian, I suppose—takes her by the shoulder and guides her back to his side before he turns a glower on Faolan. “I told you I’d have the shipment by the time the first ice melts, as we agreed. So why in shade’s realm did you feel the need to hunt me down?”

Faolan grins, lifting one shoulder. “I wouldn’t have bothered, if you hadn’t run.”

Rian’s eyes narrow. “I ran because I don’t need more bleedin’ trouble—not the sort you’re bringing in these days.” His gaze lands squarely on me. “Courting king’s fury for that, eh?”

My skin prickles, and I roll the wolf-hilt dagger slowly in myhand. But Faolan only laughs, warm and wild. It shouldn’t be so unnerving. “Careful saying nasty things about my wife, lad, or I might have to return the compliment.” He winks at the little woman, Aoife, who reaches for her weapon and finds Rian’s hand instead. “But we’re old friends, aren’t we? You won’t mind doing me a favor, considering the last three I’ve struck by you. Isn’t that right?”

A muscle ticks in Rian’s face as he looks from me to Faolan and takes a step back. “Depends on what the favor is.”

Aoife’s knuckles go white as she squeezes his hand. “Rian, no. We don’t need more trouble.”

“It doesn’t have to be trouble. Not if you’re willing to cooperate.” A corner of Faolan’s mouth twitches up. “Even if I don’t often make a habit of tracking down thieves.”

Rian’s eyes tighten. “I’ve never stolen from you.”

“No?” Faolan cocks his head. “Must’ve been a magpie, then, who swooped over our card table and made off with my ring.”

A shadow flits over Rian’s face, there and gone in a second. But it’s enough. Faolan leans against a rope, fingers flexing over its waxen strands. “You see, I’ve never been much bothered by thieves. If you’re careless enough to leave something unguarded, you can’t be too mad when it’s stolen away. How else do you think I got my lovely bride?”

My skin pricks as their eyes turn on me—until Faolan pulls his dagger free, blade seeming to cut straight through the lamplight. “But it just so happens the ring you stole is important to the Wolf Tamer, and so it’s important to me as well. You remember it.”

“I don’t—”

“Bone-carved.” Faolan flips his dagger, metal clinking against his own rings. “Blue stone at the center. Ugly thing, but you’re the one who suggested I add it to the pot during our gamble, and if memory serves,youwere the one who played the losing hand.”

Rian is as still as stone, face unreadable, though his hand must ache from Aoife’s grip. “Aye. I remember it well enough.”

Faolan stops his play, dagger still in his hand. “Where is it?”

Rian snorts, but beneath the scowl, his skin rapidly pales. “It was a shite piece of jewelry. Didn’t do anything special either. I only stole it out of spite—probably lost it shortly after. How d’you expect me to have kept track?”

Faolan’s smile is chilling, a far cry from the one I know, as he taps a finger against the rope.

“Right.”

With one hard jerk of his hand, he cuts through it. Wood groans—splinters—as the rope slackens and then spirals into the air. For a second, there is nothing. Then a sail comes tumbling from the dark, crashing onto the deck between our crew and the others.

“Nessa?” Faolan calls over his shoulder, never looking away from Rian. “How much would all these sails go for? The crew’s weaponry, food stores, whatever they have in the hull?”

Nessa’s grip eases off my arm as she smirks. It feels wrong as well—she’s not herself. None of us are. “Might be enough to cover their debts, but I dunno, Captain. We went to a damned lot of trouble to get that last bit of cargo around the Ring o’ Stars. Such a shame it went missing under Rian’s watch, aye?”

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