Chapter 36: [36] Barely Looked
One moment, Raven was beside him. The next, she was a physical barrier between Pierre and Alyssa, a blur that ended with her hand resting on the hilt of her concealed dagger.
"Are you insane? No. We’re criminals, not a rescue service for disgraced nobility."
Alyssa’s green eyes didn’t even acknowledge Raven’s presence. They stayed locked on Pierre.
"You want to sail the Great Sea?" Alyssa stepped around Raven like she was a piece of furniture. The fabric of her expensive clothes rustled softly as she moved closer to Pierre. "Your rowboat won’t last a day past the Dawn Sea’s edge. The storms alone would tear it apart. The currents would swallow you whole before you even realized what was happening."
The air around Raven seemed to crackle, her stillness more dangerous than any movement.
"My father gave me a ship for my eighteenth birthday. A military-grade sloop. The fastest vessel in the Dawn Sea. It’s called The Crimson Sparrow."
I know that ship.
"It’s fully supplied and waiting at our private dock."Alyssa’s chin lifted. The sun caught her blonde hair, a deceptive golden halo that warred with the smug, appraising glint in her eyes.
"Navigation charts. Military-grade weapons. Enough provisions for months. Medical supplies, emergency equipment, everything a crew would need. It’s yours... if I go with you."
Raven let out a short, ugly bark of a laugh, devoid of all humor. "Right. And what’s to stop you from turning us in the moment we’re aboard? Or leading us straight into a Navy trap? Your father is Commodore Hardy of the Dawn Sea Naval Base. Why should we trust the daughter of the man who just tried to kill us?"