‘I can fit in,’ I said. ‘Seen enough ships and crews to be certain of that. You ain’t anything special, none of you. But even if I didn’t mesh, would it really matter? Put me in your bone room, and I’ll bring you all the loot and quoins you asked for. And it’s loot and quoins that puts the spur into us, ain’t it?’

‘She talks like Prozor one minute, like some high-educated prim and proper madam the next,’ said an over-muscled man with heavy earrings and a geometric tattoo on his forehead. ‘Don’t know what to make of that.’

‘You don’t know what to make of most things, Drozna,’ said the snide man. ‘Best stick to rigging.’

‘S’long as it keeps me away from you, Gathing, there’s not much I wouldn’t stick to.’

‘You say you’ve seen enough ships,’ Drozna – the muscled man – said. ‘Name some of ’em.’

‘The Harpy, under Zemys. That was the first. The White Widow, under Rinagar. The Murderess, under Rhinn. Then under Palquen, when Rhinn died at the Poisoned Eye. You want more?’

‘You looks awful green to have been on all them shipses,’ said Tindouf, the man with the pipe. ‘Awful green. T’aint proper for someone to be green, if they’ve been on so many shipses.’

‘Make your mind up,’ I said. ‘One minute you don’t like me because I’ve got the glowy in me, the next it’s because I don’t look old enough.’

‘She’s got your mark, Tindouf,’ said the lopsided woman.

‘Shuts yourself up, Strambli,’ the pipe man said.

‘You can check those ships,’ I said. ‘Speak to their captains. See what they made of me. They’ll tell you the same thing. They’ll never see a better Bone Reader.’

‘They’ll never see anything,’ Gathing said with a knowing smile. ‘Unless I’m mistaken, all those ships are gone now.’

‘Ships don’t last,’ I said, with an unconcerned shrug.

‘Still, awful handy if you didn’t want anyone checking up on your past.’ But now Gathing gave his own shrug. ‘I don’t care. If she can read a bone or two – and do it better than Grestad – which isn’t asking much – then I’ll share a hull with her.’

‘How’d you lose the hand?’ Surt asked.

‘I asked too many questions.’

Strambli laughed.

‘Well, I’ll say one thing for her,’ Drozna put in. ‘She’s going out of her way to win friends. There’s something shivery about her, no doubt. But – and I’ll only say this once – I agree with Gathing. If she can read, and read good, nothing else matters.’

Tindouf tapped at his pipe. ‘We could use some good intelligences.’