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Quint, I love you.

I am absolutely certain that he meant for me to use them to impress dignitaries in Ostriary, or possibly to gift them right to King Galen Redstone himself, but right now, I don’t care. I seize the brandy, tug the cork free, then drink right from the bottle.

Lord, Tessa.

I plug the bottle and go for the door again. Rocco has put the cards away, and he’s standing at attention in the dimmer hallway.

I tug a trunk in front of the door to prop it open, then gesture to the little table and chairs that are bolted to the floor. “Come in. Sit.”

He takes in the bottle in my hand, then steps across the threshold. He’s tall enough that he has to duck through the door a bit. “We can wait for dawn, Your Highness. If you’d rather.”

“I wouldn’t.” There aren’t any glasses in my quarters, but there are four wooden cups stacked in a little sleeve that’s also bolted to the table. I set two on the table and pour, then drop into a chair.

Rocco assesses this, then eases into the chair across from me. “TheDawn Chaseris well outfitted,” he says. “The king had guards search the ship when Captain Blakemore first made his claim, and his logs seem to be in order. There are enough provisions on board for a crew of this size. The sailors seem competent, if a bit rough around the edges. Most of them seem quick and sharp. They’re loyal to their captain.”

“Do you trust him?”

“No.”

My eyebrows go up, and Rocco shrugs. “He kept our numbers low. It seems reasonable, but the ship is easily large enough to carry a dozen more people. The lowest decks are mostly empty. As it stands, if it came to a fight, we are outnumbered two to one. More so, if you consider that Miss Cade may not be fit to fight. To say nothing of the rebel.” He grimaces. “Who knows which sidehe’dfight for, if it came down to it.”

“Whatever side ended with me at the bottom of the ocean.” I pick up my cup and drain it in one swallow. “What else?”

“This supposedly isn’t a gunship, but there are cannons tethered on the middle deck. We questioned Captain Blakemore, and—”

“Cannons!”

“Yes. A dozen. It’s been explained that the cannons have been with the ship since his father first sailed from Kandala, and it would be costly to remove them, so they’ve been tethered in the stern.”

“Could that be true?”

“Yes.” He pushes his cup toward me. “It could also be a lie, Your Highness.”

“I poured that for you.”

“I know.”

There’s a part of me that wishes I hadn’t touched the first one—and another part that wants to drain the whole bottle. “So we’re on a ship that’snota gunship, butcould bea gunship if the need arises.”

“Yes.” Rocco sits back in his chair. “Do you have anything to write with? I’ll show you how it’s laid out.”

I check beneath the bottles of liquor and find a box of fountain pens and a new leather folio with a stack of crisp parchment.

Rocco sketches quickly. “They’ve given us the rooms at the stern, saying they’re the better quarters because they’re larger and provide a smoother ride. Thatcouldbe true—or it could be that we’ve got a short corridor and it would be easy to confine us, if the need arose. It gives us a bit of an advantage, too: a single man can guard the hallway. Short of a frontal assault, there’s no real way to take a guard unawares. But to get above or belowdecks—toescape—we’d need to head for the center of the ship. Aside from the captain and his first officer, the crew quarters are at the bow, with full access to everything: the galley, the gun decks, the hold.”

“Where’s the captain?”

I expect Rocco to make another mark on his drawing, but hepoints at the ceiling. “Captain Blakemore and Lieutenant Tagas have sleeping quarters directly above us, along with his stateroom.”

I glance up at the heavy beams and wonder how soundproof they are. I take a breath, studying his diagram. “Where are the cannons?”

“One deck below.” He makes another line. “The firing bays are latched closed, and the cannons are tethered here.” Another mark. “And here.”

“Do they have an armory?”

“Yes. Double locked. But the guards who searched the ship reported that it was fully stocked.”

“With what?”