❛the ends justify the means.❜
( part two of deadwater kings )
The board is set and Shabina chose her side. The better world she dreamed of is finally within her grasp, but she struggles when the path to victory seems to be paved in blood. The long...
"To be able to breathe, feel the pain of others. To serve pain."
— Fleur Jaeggy
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This new place felt more graveyard than sanctuary, but Shabina couldn't complain. Her fleet wreathed the waters around the island. Her wives were all safe. There were enough empty rooms that even the combined bodies of her people, new refugees, and the sprawling militia didn't feel cramped.
That last one bothered her the most.
This had been a thriving trade center in a neutral area between Yelena and Wilson. A major island capable of sustaining a million people.
If they hadn't fled, they were killed. There were still bloodstains on the street.
The orchestrator of that massacre sat across the table from Shabina, soaking a biscuit in her tea. Her ginger hair curled over freckled cheekbones, crow's feet belying her age. Her name was Teak, and if Shabina were a hypocrite, she'd call her a zealot.
"Could I take a look at that?" Teak asked. Shabina nodded and handed over the coded report in her hands. It was just an all is well message from one of the lesser islands toward the north.
The new headquarters was an airy, arched building with sandy walls. They sat in a second floor hallway, near an open window overlooking a square of dirt that the guards had claimed as their ring. Shabina unfolded another letter from her stack of papers, her eyes pointed at a word without reading it. Even with the familiar din of Kiara wiping the floor with the new recruits, she couldn't focus enough to make sense of the words.
Guards were stationed at nearly every corner of every building. Even without turning her head, Shabina had three in her immediate vicinity. Only one of them was hers. The rest belonged -- body and soul -- to Teak. And Teak followed Shabina.
Though it turned her stomach, it was necessary to keep close.
Shabina finally folded the letter again and stuck it back in the pile, resolving to foist them on Zeke when she got the chance.
"How'd you learn to read this?" Teak asked, squinting at the page.
The actual code was a mix of multiple languages from across linguistic families. They'd changed it to include a simple cipher recently, and it gave her headaches. She gave a tight smile. "Lots of practice."
Teak huffed and nibbled on her biscuit. She'd been working on the same one all morning. "Don't think I could convince any of my guys to write down what they see, let alone in code."
"The spies each have their own code," Shabina said. "So, if you want to read it, you must know who it's from."
Something in her tone must have slipped, because Teak put her soggy pastry on its plate with a hum and downcast eyes.
