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But he wants to be better. He wants todobetter. In the candyshop, he could have executed that man right there, but he didn’t. He had him arrested and taken to the Hold.

Though I don’t know what he did with him after that.

“I’ve upset you,” Rian says.

“No.” But maybe he has. “Corrick was trying to maintain order.” My voice is rough. “The sectors—the consuls—” I break off with a frustrated sound. “You don’t know what it was like. Everyone had a different idea of what wasright.”

“Sometimes what’srightisn’t debatable, or a matter of opinion. Clearlyyoudidn’t think what they were doing was right.”

He doesn’t say it like a question. He says it like he knows. He says it like heagrees.

“No,” I say, and my voice is so quiet it’s nearly pulled away with the wind. “I didn’t.”

“It’s hard to take from people who feel like they have nothing to lose,” he says. “I saw what happened during the war in Ostriary.”

That’s right. He survived a war. We merely postponed a revolution.

“We aren’t far from war in Kandala,” I say.

“I know,” he says. “I’m hoping we can prevent that.”

We.He’s talking about the Ostrian court allying with Kandala, trading steel for Moonflower petals.

But for a flicker of time, with his eyes so close, it sounds like he’s talking aboutus. Rian and me.

The wind steals my breath, and the ship dips and tilts, and my fingers tighten on the ropes. I close my eyes and swallow.

Rian rests his fingers over mine, his grip warm and secure. “Easy,” he says. “You won’t fall.”

“Oi, Captain!” a woman’s voice calls from below, and my eyes snap open.

Another man yells, “Is she stuck? Or do you reckon he tied her up there?”

Someone else laughs.

Rian smiles. “My crew is awake.”

I flush, realizing just how closely we were suspended together. “I suppose we should get down.”

He nods, but he makes no move to descend. “I’m usually the first one on deck, Miss Cade.” He pauses. “If you’d like to help me check the rigging tomorrow.”

I take a deep breath and look into his eyes. “Of course, Captain Blakemore. I’m happy to help.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Corrick

When I wake for the second time, light streams through the window over my bed. I can’t see the sun from the porthole, but the sky is bright, the shore so distant it could be an illusion. Waves glisten in the sunlight, the ship rocking along. I rub at my eyes and hope that my middle-of-the-night conversation with Rocco was all a dream, that I’ve slept straight through.

But it wasn’t.

How long was my brother suspicious of me?

Only these last few months.

Months. And Harristan never said a word.

I shouldn’t be so upset about it. Honestly, he should have been suspicious of me foryears.