Will looked instinctively at Violet. She had a tumble of dark curls in a boy’s cut, her brown skin scattered with a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. In boy’s trousers, jacket and waistcoat, she was dressed similarly to him, although her clothes were of far better quality.
The two of you … Will didn’t know what had forged this uneasy association between her and Justice. The last thing he remembered was attempting to take a step with his arm around Violet’s shoulders, and feeling weakness wash over him. Before that, Justice had been fighting against Simon’s men, while Violet had been fighting for them. Now Violet was hanging back near the shuttered windows looking tense, while Justice had come forward past the room’s only chair and table, his attention all on Will.
‘Then tell me,’ Will said.
‘Here’s what I know,’ said Justice. ‘Simon was searching for a boy and his mother. For seventeen years, he bent his whole attention to finding them. He watched the roads, the lodging houses, and the ports in this country, on the continent, and beyond, to the farthest reaches of his trade empire. And for seventeen years, the boy’s mother evaded him, always staying one step ahead. Until nine months ago, when Simon found and killed them both.’
Justice leaned forward, fixing Will with his gaze.
‘Then last night as I watched Simon’s ship from a hidden vantage, I saw his Lion shouting orders in the rain, while men holding flaming torches brought a prisoner on board under cover of darkness. I thought that prisoner was my shieldmate, Marcus, but it wasn’t. It was someone else.’
Will’s breathing was shallow. ‘I don’t know what any of that has to do with me.’
‘Don’t you?’ said Justice.
And Will thought of months of hiding, and before that years of fear in his mother’s eyes.
‘Though I can’t summon the Blade, I have fought many dark and dangerous things,’ said Justice. ‘And Simon is the most dangerous of them all. If he has turned his eye to you, then you will not escape him by hiding.’
Violet broke in, shattering the moment. ‘This isn’t possible. Simon’s a trader. You’re talking about him like he’s … Simon’s ruthless, but so is every man on the docks. He doesn’t kill women and children.’
‘Do you really think all of this concerns the simple dealings of trade?’ said Justice. ‘You’ve seen the brand on the wrists of Simon’s men. You’ve seen the unnatural strength of the one Simon calls his Lion.’
‘Lion – you mean,’ Violet said, ‘you mean that boy. The boy you were fighting.’
‘The boy who took you both captive,’ said Justice.
You both? Will’s eyes jerked helplessly to Violet, whose flush darkened – guiltily. Violet wasn’t a captive. Violet had gathered up that boy Lion in her arms and pulled him from the sinking ship.
Justice doesn’t know. The realisation hit him fully. Violet worked for Simon, and Justice didn’t know. Justice had brought her here believing she was Simon’s captive.
It made sudden sense of their strange alliance. In a rush, Will understood the nervy tension in Violet, as well as Justice’s calm trust in her – the way he turned his back to her as though she was no threat. In the dark chaos of the hold, he must not have seen who had knocked him out.
Justice had no way of knowing that Violet had left him floating facedown and unconscious, ignoring him to instead save Simon’s Lion.
Will remembered waiting alone and exhausted, the black water swirling at his chest. He had sheathed the nightmare sword, but he had had no way off the ship, chained to one of its heavy beams. He had thought it was over. He had thought that all his running had led him to a dark dead end that would seal him up with water.
He had looked up to see Violet’s face on the stairs. She had waded forward and put her hands on his chains. And he had woken up here, when he had not expected to wake up at all.
‘That’s right,’ said Will, without hesitating, ‘the boy who took us both captive.’ He deliberately didn’t look at Violet, his eyes on Justice.
‘Simon’s creature,’ said Justice, with distaste. ‘Sworn to serve him, as a Lion always will. It’s in his blood.’ Will felt rather than saw Violet react to those words.
‘You know,’ said Will. ‘Don’t you? You know what connects all these’ – marvels, he might have said, using Justice’s word, or he might have used his own, horrors—’ all these strange and unnatural things.’