As Vladim moved to turn the locks, I heard Genya whisper. "You definitely owe me a kiss after all this, Don't think I won't hold you to it."
I laughed lightly. "We'll see."
"There is no seeing, you will, if I have to be the one to do it then so be...
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IVAN APPEARED A FEW MINUTES LATER AND began yanking me back across the main deck. "Slow down," I protested, but he just gave another jerk on my sleeve. I lost my footing and pitched forward. My knees banged painfully on the deck, and I barely had time to put up my shackled palms to break my fall.
I winced as a splinter dug into my flesh, "Move," Ivan ordered. I struggled to my knees. He nudged me with the toe of his boot, and my knee slipped out from beneath me, sending me back down to the deck with a loud thud. "I said move."
Then a large hand scooped me up and gently set me on my feet. When I turned, I was surprised to see the giant and dark-haired girl. "Are you alright?" she asked. "This is none of your concern," Ivan said angrily.
"She's Sturmhond's prisoner," replied the girl. "She should be treated accordingly." Sturmhond. The name was familiar. Was this his ship, then? And his crew? There's been talk of him aboard the Verrhader.
He was a Ravkan privateer and a smuggler, infamous for breaking the Fjerdan blockade and for the fortune he'd made capturing enemy ships. But he wasn't flying the double eagle flag.
"She's the Darkling's prisoner," said Ivan, "and a traitor."
"Maybe on land," the girl shot back. Ivan grabbled something in Shu that I didn't understand. The giant just laughed, "You speak Shu like a tourist," he said.
"And we don't take orders from you in any language," the girl added. Ivan smirked. "Don't you?" His hands twitched, and the girl grabbed at her chest, buckling to one knee.
Before I could blink, the giant had a wickedly curved blade in his hands and was lunging at Ivan. Lazily, Ivan flicked his other hand out, and the giant grimaced. Still, he kept coming.
"Leave them alone," I protested, tugging helplessly at my irons. I could summon up some water with my wrists bound, but I had no way to focus it. Ivan ignored me. His hands tightened into a fist. The giant stopped in his tracks, and the sword fell from his fingers.
Sweat broke out on his brow as Ivan squeezed the life from his heart. "Let's not get out of line, ye, zho," Ivan chided. "You're killing him!" I said, panicking now.
I rammed my shoulder into Ivan's side, trying to knock him down. At that moment, a loud double click sounded. Ivan froze, his smirk evaporating. Behind him stood a tall boy around my age, maybe a few years old older— ruddy hair, a broken nose. The too-clever fox.
He had a cocked pistol in his hand, the barrel pressed against Ivan's neck. "I'm a gracious host, bloodletter. But every house has rules." Host. So this must be Sturmhond. He looked too young to be a captain of anything.
