Page 27 of Unrivaled
Storming through the place to find the real captain would’ve been fun.Except I didn’t quite trust my own judgement.After all, wouldn’t that sort of thing just complicate the situation?
“Come,my lady,” the big man said, waving his hand toward a table with less scars than the big arm ushering me along.“Sit with us.”
Us.Would a captain say “us”?I went, the faces a blur around me, forcing myself to focus on the man before me.
Brian pulled out my chair.I took it, too focused on the list on the table held down by an empty bottle to do more than murmur thanks.Isolde stood behind me to my right, and I heard the soft chime of Chay’s sword belt, the creak of his boot leather, as he settled on the other side of me.
“I’ve discussed your proposal with Lady Audrey,” Brian said.“My lady, are we in agreement?We’ll offer the Siren’s Ally the listed goods, in exchange for equal crates of wheat?”
Wheat was heavy, but small.You didn’t trade wheat in crates; you traded it in bags.But, sure enough, Brian had added that clause down there.
He was trying to protect our interests, but the people getting swindled were the wheat growers.I sat there, my eyes not seeing the words in front of me.The sound of dozens of people standing by quietly was like splinters under my fingernails.They were watching me, their eyes crawling over me, judging me.
A slight cough and a small movement came from the right.The alleged captain glanced over, his hand stroking the stubble on his big jaw.
I took the moment to catch Brian’s gaze.He smiled at me pleasantly and pushed his eyeglasses up his nose.
That wheat was going to rot if no one bought it; the small country mills couldn’t manage what surplus there ought to be.Those people could make the decision to trade or not, depending on whether they needed the goods we were offering.
But that was assuming the survivors had someone amongst them who had the knowledge to navigate these trades and that these pirates were going to play fair.Two assumptions I didn’t want to make.
If I altered this trade in any fashion, it’d reveal Brian to be the schemer he absolutely was and make future dealings with both the pirates and Brian more complicated.
“And I’m to give you license to trade,” I said, pushing the paper away to halt the hypnotic pull of the letters.“Why?”
“We’re good, honest traders,” the big man said, spreading his weathered hands in a gesture of innocence.“Whynot?”
There were so many reasons why I shouldn’t give these people easy access to my docks, my seal, and my markets—not the least of which involved the other people at the table who had the monopoly on gravy, who still held that tureen even now.
“What’s your name, Captain?”I asked him, thinking of the contract I’d need to write.
He hesitated.It was brief, but it was there.“Uthman,” he said, throwing one big, meaty arm over the back of the chair.Between the vest and the man’s muscles, the worn fabric of his shirt strained.
“Captain Uthman has been aboard the Siren’s Ally his whole life,” Brian offered to me.“They renamed it when he took the helm.She was the Bitten Coin, before.”
Took the helm.The phrase made that distrust at the back of my skull itch.
“How many years are we considering making this license?”I asked Brian, wishing I’d thought to check that later.A three-year term was considered brief, but, given the war in the South, it was possible my father’s brief returns home would leave it unchallenged.
“We want a decade,” Uthman said, before Brian could.“We’re doin’ you a favor, my lady.Ask your man, here.He knows.”
“The best trades do everyone favors,” I cut in, before Brian could smooth over the pirate’s social roughness.“A ten-year license from me isn’t really a ten-year license.”It wasn’t fair to lie to them.Especially if they didn’t wrong me.
Because one day, they’d come into port and my father’s men would be here, wanting their pound of flesh.
Uthman straightened, his face darkening.
“The plague brought change,” I explained to the big man.“The power I have is temporary.My signature may be worthless next year.I won’t lie to you and your crew.”And if we re-wrote the contracts…the wheat would be by the bag.Some of the buzzing settled.The air came more easily when I drew in a breath.“What Icanpromise is that while La’Angi is in my hands, you’ll be treated like a free trader, and the Siren’s Ally will be given the respect that they’ve given the people of La’Angi.”
Uthman’s eyes flickered to the side.
“We can make coin,” he repeated slowly, “like a proper trading ship, but we can’t have a license?”
“Oh, you can have a license,” I countered.“But I need you to understand the value of that license is…changeable.”I’m running an elaborate hoax, you see.“Upon the Duke’s return, everything I’ve approved is void.”
There was movement off to the side.This time I did swing my gaze around.Immediately that smirk drew me in; the pirate from the ship, the one I’d expected to see, was here.They were so close I could make out the light brown flecks in their eyes, protected between two burly men, mugs of cider before the trio.
My pirate lost their smirk, but those eyes still glittered brightly.Long fingers drummed against the side of their tankard as they considered me.They didn’t look down.There was no attempt to hide.
