“What’s got that frown on your face, Captain?” From the playful tone in her throaty voice, she has some idea. “Cat got your tongue?”
“I would like my dagger back.”
Evelyn smiles even wider. “What dagger?”
“The one you lifted off me earlier today. If you want to get along here, stealing from your crewmates isn’t the way to go about it.” I move to the small tray that was left a few minutes before she arrived and carry it to the table. “You seem to think this is a game. It’s anything but.”
“And you seem to think I’m nothing more than a treacherous thief. Be careful there, Captain. Keep that up and you’re going to hurt my feelings.” Every time she says “Captain,” it feels like she reaches across the table and strokes one of those pink-tipped nails down my chest. She’s doing it on purpose. She has to be.
Except … what if she’s not? What if I’m misreading things entirely?
I haven’t had much interaction with witches over the years, and none like her. But even I know that in most realms witches are the descendants of a human who had children with a paranormal person. Humans are not inherently magical on their own, but they are a great conductor for magical energy in their progeny. It’s entirely possible one of Evelyn’s ancestors had a child with some flavor of paranormal person that draws people in naturally. A succubus, or a siren … except it’s unlikely to be the latter, when they’re all but extinct in every realm.
Thank the gods for that. I’ve seen the damage one can do when their song is unleashed. My skin heats at the memory. Best they not be left to wander about, spreading their … chaos … wherever they go.
Either way, if Evelyn is exuding this attraction naturally without intention, then I’m a bastard and a half for even engaging with it. I uncover the food and push her plate toward her. “Tell me about yourself.”
“Here’s a pro tip for free.” She peers at the food as if trying to divine what it is. It seems simple enough to me, if heavy on the fish, but maybe they don’t have the same varieties where she’s from. Evelyn looks up at me through her eyelashes. “When you’re mining for information, it helps to coax it out instead of demand. With that tone, I’m liable to think this is an interrogation instead of a conversation.”
She’s right, but I can’t help it. I’m uncomfortable and off-balance—and I’m hardly the most charming person at the best of times. “Answer the question, Evelyn.”
“If you insist.” She picks up a fork and pokes experimentally at the fish before shrugging and taking a bite. Her green eyes go wide. “Oh. This is really good.”
“We have several brownies in the kitchen. They take great pride in turning out fare that is far too good for those of us in the crew. We’ve learned not to question it—or to wander into the kitchen without invitation.”
“Brownies? How does one of them end up in Threshold, let alone several?”
Something uncomfortable squirms through me. “A family unit was forced through a portal by the owner of their house. We fished them out of the sea much the same as we did with you.”
Evelyn goes still. For once, there’s no amusement on her pretty face. She frowns. “You don’t see a problem with that at all? I suppose I’m to blame for jumping through a portal without getting all the information about its destination first. I’ll own that. But surely even you can see the lack of justice where they’re concerned? It wasn’t their choice, foolish or otherwise, that brought them here.”
The squirming inside me grows in strength. I swallow and do my best not to let the sensation present as an outward fidget. I took no pleasure in their vows, but I would have taken even less in their deaths. “The law is the law. Like I told you earlier, intent matters less than the fact they ended up here.”
“Fascinating. You’re like a windup toy. Question the laws and that’s your only response.”
“In a world that touches on every realm in existence, surely you can understand how important it is to have rules. Without the C?n Annwn, it would be anarchy. Monsters would slip from realm to realm, hunting those who are ill-equipped to deal with them and killing indiscriminately.” I give up on trying to be still and drag a hand through my hair. “Things are the way they are for a reason.”
“Why are the C?n Annwn the ones who get to make the rules?”
I’m temporary distracted by her popping an olive into her mouth and chewing slowly. I shake my head roughly, trying to focus. “What do you mean?”
“I would think the question is self-explanatory. There was a time in my realm when the myths about the C?n Annwn didn’t exist, which would suggest there was a time when they didn’t. Or at least when they kept to whatever realm spawned them. Who set them up as the protectors of Threshold? This system benefits someone. I’d like to know who.”
“It benefits the people of Threshold,” I say through gritted teeth. “Even with us doing our jobs to the best of our ability, there are people we can’t save. Without the laws in place, even more would die in horrific ways. Our origins matter less than what we accomplish in the present time.”
“Yikes.” She makes a show of shuddering. “Maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s not. Either way, it’s not very pirate-y, anti-authority, anti-capitalist of you to be sailing around, scooping up refugees, and giving them a bullshit bargain where there’s only one option because the other outcome is death. Come on.”
She takes a few more bites while I sputter.
“Listen, I’m not from around here, but at least ask some questions, man. You’re in a cage just like the rest of us. Don’t you want to know the boundaries?”
“Did you not hear me when I said we save lives?”
“I heard you.” She sips her wine and makes an appreciative noise that I’m too frustrated to, well, appreciate. “I still don’t think it outweighs the lives you’ve ruined by forcibly recruiting them to your cause.”
I have been one of the C?n Annwn for twenty years. Ever since I woke up, thirteen years old, soaked and half dead on the deck of a ship. This ship, in fact. I never did regain my memories of my life before that point, but Ezra, the former captain of the Crimson Hag, brought me under his wing like I was his own son. He took as little joy in following the laws of the C?n Annwn as I do, but he never faltered.
I won’t falter now.
“I told you what would happen if you broke your vows. That same fate awaits anyone who does. The Council may keep a loose grip on most of our captains at this time, but that’s only because they are still fulfilling the role set out for them in Threshold. If a captain went against that? If I went against that? Not only would they make an example of me, but they would do the same with my entire crew. It’s not just a single life that hangs in the balance of these decisions, Evelyn. I have to think of my people.”
“Sure.” She shrugs. “Like I said, I understand you not breaking these laws if the consequences are so dire. But I’m curious by nature, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing to question why things are the way they are. It’s the first thing my grandmother taught me.”