Dug was silent. The scars across his face puckered from the way he narrowed his eyes at her. The knot in her stomach twisted as tight as his frown. She tried to ignore it. Ignore the hurt she was bringing on her friend. Leading him reluctantly back to his own people, and leading the aliens into the most sacred Bone sanctum at the same time.
Swagger, she reminded herself. Sell it. She ignored Dug and winked at Tisker, who took that as invitation to keep on the subject.
“Your drinking buddy—and don’t think I’m not coming back to your war with a drug cartel—was one of Onaya Bone’s torture priestesses?”
“And now she’s the high holy mother of them all.”
Truth told, Illiya was as shady as anyone you’d meet in Subrosa. Her motivations were always hidden behind a smile, decorum, and hospitality. She was a spider waiting at the edge of her web for a careless moth. But she did work by a code, however peculiar it might be. There were far worse characters that Talis still considered friends. And right now, Illiya was the gatekeeper between Talis and being done with this Yu’Nyun business. It was worth plucking at the strands of her web, by Talis’s account.
Tisker whistled. “I knew you had grit, Cap. Didn’t realize how coarse.”
She nodded at him. It was a compliment, however off-putting. She’d learned to take Tisker’s words for their meaning and not judge the poetry.
Sophie shifted uncomfortably. “I dunno. What if Onaya Bone gets mad?”
“And if the aliens are planning some treachery?” Dug added to the what-ifs tainting the air. “We know nothing about them.”
Talis bristled. She hadn’t expected everyone to love the idea, but thought flashing the unexpected fortune would soften them.
“They probably won’t even get past the priestesses,” she said. “We get paid either way. I made sure that was clearly printed in ink.”
They all stared at her. Dug’s eyes were dark pupils in dark purple irises. They sparkled with protests in the low light of the galley. She knew what arguments were waiting there, because she’d already fought them all in her own mind.
“Look, there’s nothing to worry about. Onaya Bone doesn’t have to be there. She can disconnect when she wants to. Deny the interview before it even starts, if she likes. We’re bringing the aliens to an address, and I’m making an introduction to an old friend. What happens after that isn’t even our problem. We’ll be flying in the other direction, set for life.”
She was doing all the arguing. Dug just stared back at her. It put her on the defensive, and she didn’t appreciate that it was in front of Sophie and Tisker.
“Besides,” she said, trying to manifest the confidence she needed. She was their captain, and the thing was a done deal. “Sophie’s never seen an Onaya Bone temple.”
Sophie put her hands up. “Oh no, you don’t. Don’t you put that on me, Captain! I’ll stay onboard the ship or restock in the port. I don’t need to take one step that puts me under the eye of the Bone goddess, thank you kindly.”
“Coward,” Talis teased, but it came out harsher than she meant. She looked to Tisker. “You got it in you to take on the grit of the desert with me?”
“I said it before, Cap.” He moved some of the food around on his plate. It seemed more for an excuse not to look at her than any interest in the meal. “You’ve got nerve enough for the rest of us. I’m sure you can manage.”
“Superstitious nest of inner-island xenophobic finery, you lot are.”
A thumb on the control panel and the alien crate shut again. Uncomfortably slow in the tense silence, and with a slight hissing of air. Talis stood from her chair and used the heel of one foot to shove the crate out from between her seat and the table. Though Dug had been able to heft it over one shoulder, she had to use all her strength to push it across the boards of the deck. And all her dignity not to grunt and fold under the effort when it was heavier than she expected.
She leaned over the table and starting spooning food onto her plate in quick angry motions. “Fine, be no more than tenants of my ship. Well, this ship is flying to Fall Island, and you all can wait on the docks of Talonpoint while I get my payday. Or you can get off here.”
Sophie’s eyes flickered with something, and Tisker’s lips parted in a question that he wrangled back before it could be asked. But Talis heard it loud and clear. Her temper flared, and she let it loose.
“Oh, yes, I haven’t forgotten. You’re owed back shares, and we’ll settle. You’ll get your fair cut of the sale of the ring, too, since you weren’t too coward to help in that. Sophie, you’ll get a bonus to cover the black eye and split lip you earned aboard The Serpent Rose. You’re all welcome to step off this deck at either end of this and go find yourself a captain who plays it safe, the way you like it.”
Her gut threatened to kick back, just smelling the food, but she piled her plate high, pocketed the utensils and cotton napkin, and stormed toward the galley door. She knew she’d hurt Sophie, but she felt sure her own wounds were deeper.
“Where do you propose to cross the border?”
Talis stopped stiffly but didn’t turn around. It was Dug’s deep voice, using a word like propose. But he’d moved it forward. It wasn’t a question of if anymore. The knot tightened. She already regretted her harsh words, the finality of what she’d said. It hung in the air like oil smoke. But her pride wouldn’t settle down. It ached, burned, left her wanting nothing more than to throw her fists
