Page 27 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

Theron. Perfect for someone like him. The name sounded arrogant and rude.

Theron didn’t draw his sword. Not yet. His eyes swept the three of them, the way a man looks at something mildly inconvenient.

“Last warning,” Theron said.

The broad one lunged.

What happened next was almost too fast to follow. Theron drew and put his blade through the first man’s sword arm before the lunge completed. The man crashed into a table, blood spreading dark through his sleeve.

The second came from the left and caught an elbow to the jaw that sat him down hard, splitting his lip against the floor. The third hesitated.

One second was all it took.

Theron pressed the tip of his sword beneath the third man’s chin. “Don’t be a fool. I killed your captain, and your comrades are dead. You have a choice. Either die by my hands, or take this blessed chance and tell your crew you killed him to take his place.” He jerked his chin toward the stairs. “Now go and get his sword.”

The man dashed up the stairs without a word. The bartender rose above the counter, but the customers remained still.

“We should go.” Jina’s fingers tightened around mine.

“Jina is right,” Ranis urged, his hand at my elbow.

My feet wouldn’t move.

Theron sheathed his sword and settled the coat back over his shoulders as if the whole thing had been an annoyance.

I had seen Agusto use a whip my whole life and never once seen anyone fight back. Theron had just taken apart three armed men like it cost him nothing. I didn’t know whether to be grateful or afraid.

“I told you not to look back,” he said without turning around, adjusting his hat.

He hadn’t checked. His back had been to me the entire time. There was no mirror, no reflection in the grimy tavern, nothing that could have told him I was still standing by the back door.

Jina tugged my hand. “Sis.”

I followed her out into the cold, my mind still on the man now falling into step behind us.

“You don’t listen well, do you?” Fingers closed around my wrist and spun me to face him. “I got you out. Now hand the dagger over.”

“No. You’re taking us far away from here first.”

His eyes caught the daylight, that pale blue brightening with a spark of amusement. “Do you know how to ride a horse?” he asked.

“I do.” Ranis raised a hand and hunched his shoulders when Theron’s sharp gaze swung to him.

“Who says you’re coming?” Theron snapped.

“I say.” I stepped beside Ranis. “He’s been good to us. We’re a package.”

“That wasn’t our deal.” Theron scrubbed his face. “That’s one more mouth to feed.” He glanced back toward the tavern, unease moving across his expression. “Fine. Follow me.”

Theron took us around the building to the barn. The smell of hay and animal warmth hit me as the door swung open, the same smell I had woken to that morning. Two horses waited inside, one brown, one black. The black one turned its head toward me the same way it had before, ears forward, breath clouding the cold air.

“You take the brown one and ride with the girl,” Theron said to Ranis. He turned to me. “You ride with me.”

I looked at the black horse. “I’m not getting on that thing.”

Theron huffed out a breath. “Not a good time to be stubborn, woman. Stay and face the local law when someone reports the disturbance or get on the horse. Either way, I still get the dagger. Choose fast.”

“Fine,” I said.