I glanced down at my hands, half fearing and half hoping to see them haze with a ghisten glow, but Tane did not show herself.
“Lirr’s connection with his ghisting, Hoten, was accidental,” Demery went on. “But they took it in their head that we should all become like them. Thus, here on these shores, twenty years ago, Lirr murdered us all with shards of ghisten wood. We intend to stop him before he does the same to you, our crews, and many others besides.”
“He has a hundred people locked in his hold,” I put in soberly. “Waiting to be… merged with the ghistings in the Wold and the other wrecked ships.”
Demery nodded. “I’m not surprised. Many of his own crew will meet the same fate—whether they want to or not. As a Magni, his sway over them is strong.”
Samuel surveyed the other occupants of the room for a stretch of long, stunned silence. Then he said, “I see. Will your ghistings aid our cause?”
“Yes, yes they will.” Widderow suddenly grinned. On her shoulder the ghisten crow cawed with a voice only I, and the other ghiseau, could hear, and pecked at the old woman’s carnelian hair pin. Its spectral flesh went right through the substance, and it cocked its head in consternation.
Demery said, “So, this is our plan. Mary and Anne will wait, in the heart of the Wold. Lirr will struggle to find you, with the presence of so many ghistings, but this will also conceal us from his sight. We’ll station ourselves around the perimeter, until Lirr and his people are within our noose. Then, Mary, you’ll run for the shore we met you on today. Draw Lirr’s folk with you. We’ll pick them off along the way—he has many ghiseau, but even they can be slowed—and when the rest of them reach the beach…”
Behind him, Harpy selected a mask from her array and flicked it out to reveal the face of a hungry, sly fox.
On the other side of the fire, Grant shifted, looking into his mug with a face that looked a touch too pale. I furrowed my brows at him, but Demery’s next words distracted me.
“Harpy’s guns will be waiting to blast them to pieces. So take shelter quickly, Ms. Firth. You’d survive a belly full of shrapnel, but I’d obviously prefer you didn’t have to. The same applies to Lirr—the blast will not kill him, but once he’s wounded, we can dispose of both him and Hoten.”
“This ‘Hoten’ can die?” Samuel clarified. He trailed a finger across the outline of the book, in his pocket. “I was not aware ghistings could be killed.”
Olsa was the one who replied. “That’s part of the reason why Lirr must be stopped. Only when a ghisting is bound to a mortal body does it become mortal. Lirr thinks he’s bringing freedom to ghistings. Instead, he brings them death. We must catch Lirr when Hoten is manifesting outside his body, then we kill him, and they will both fade.”
Over the next hour, the finer details of the pirates’ plot were laid out. Widderow left to oversee the arming of the crew. Grant departed in Athe’s shadow, expression distracted and eyes distant as the two of them went to organize the Wold’s defenses. Olsa murmured something in Samuel’s ear that I didn’t catch, then she, too, left. My mother followed her.
Finally, I was left with Samuel Rosser, Captain Demery and Harpy, who paced back and forth across the stern windows, still wearing the face of a fox, skirts swishing about her hips.
Samuel seemed more conscious of my presence than the ghisting’s, but kept his focus respectfully on Demery as he said, “Captain, I’d like your permission to visit my brother before I head ashore.”
“Benedict is here?” I asked. I’d gathered Demery had prisoners aboard, but not Samuel’s twin. “Why?”
“He and his captain intended to take Hart and kill Demery and his crew, so they are currently locked in the hold,” Samuel told me. “But, Benedict only does what is in his best interest. He has no real loyalty, nothing by way of conscience—save what I can convince him of. If I can persuade him to turn against Ellas, he would be a powerful ally. He is a Magni.”
Demery measured the younger man’s gaze across the table. Harpy, still pacing before the windows, cocked her vulpine head and scrutinized the pirate hunter.
I’d a sense the two were communicating, but heard nothing at all.
“Fine,” Demery decided. He took up his jacket from the back of a chair and made for the door. Harpy darted after him, vanishing into his frame in one graceful, barefooted leap and a ripple of ethereal skirts. Demery did not flinch. “Speak to him and report back to me before you go ashore. I’ll be on deck.”
The door closed, then Samuel and I were alone in Demery’s cabin. Silence bloomed between us, punctuated with the crew preparing for conflict—clatters, shouts, thuds, rolls and the tramping of feet.
“I’ve much to say,” Samuel finally began. “But little idea how to say it, and even less time to say it in.”
I felt my gaze soften. “Me too. But I can say… I am sorry I took your coat, and your coin.”
His smile was wry. “I had nearly forgotten about that.”
“Oh.” I nearly smiled back. “Then don’t let me remind you.”
Samuel’s grin deepened before a weight returned to his eyes. “I cannot apologize enough for my part in Kaspin’s auction. I had no desire to be there… but that is no excuse. I was there, and I understand if you resent me for that.”
I looked at him more closely. I remembered the way he’d looked at the auction, how uncomfortable and sour he’d been. I knew he hadn’t wanted to be there, but I appreciated the apology all the same.
“And for the way I pushed you to join Hart, in Tithe,” the man continued. “I had no idea the pressures upon you, or other… factors, at play.”
“You did what you thought was right,” I conceded. “Perhaps you were right. If I’d gone with you, perhaps matters would have been simpler. Perhaps I’d have been safer. Or not.”
“I am glad you did not come.” Samuel shoved his hands deep into his pockets, and I saw the movement of his fingers as he worried something there. The coin? “My former captain, Slader… He could not have been trusted, not with you. I was wrong.”
There was genuine regret in his tone, along with a protective edge that warmed me, overturning memories of Benedict’s words and Samuel’s rumored past.
“Then for these things we’re forgiven, you and I,” I summarized, settling my shoulders. I glanced at the door of my own cabin, closed in the far wall, and felt a sudden urge to be alone. My thoughts and feelings were a tangle, not least of them due to my role in tonight’s events.
But the thought of Samuel’s pending visit to Benedict, and all that they might say, tempted me.
“You should go see to your brother,” I reminded him. “I need to prepare.”
Samuel nodded, though I didn’t miss the flicker of disappointment in his eyes. “Of course. I will see you when this is over, Ms. Firth. And I hope we can start afresh.”
I let myself smile at that. He returned the expression and moved to the door, opening it and stepping into the passageway.
“Farewell, Ms. Firth,” he said, lingering.