“Is it?” Pine turned his attention from Triple to Sledge. His stance was aggressive yet tempered. When it came to Sledge, he made sure his posture showed deference even as he inched toward a challenge. Keeping his voice low, he said, “Don’t you think we should be asking why she took a shot at Lir? Alone?”

“We all have reasons to want to go after a Fiveson,” Sledge answered meaningfully. “I’m content to let her keep hers if that is her wish.”

“We can’t afford to let her! Tides only know how many of Lir’s clip saw her face.” Pine cast a dark look toward Caledonia. “She’s a marked girl, and she’s been here long enough.”

Caledonia couldn’t disagree with him, and even as she felt her position growing more precarious by the second, she had to admit that if their positions were reversed, she’d make the same argument.

“They think she’s dead,” Triple stated.

Pine clenched his fists and his jaw in the same frustrated motion. “They searched for her and didn’t find her. What makes you think they won’t come back and try again?”

“For one girl?” Triple asked, disbelief in the press of her lips. “This is Lir we’re talking about. He—”

“Holds a grudge,” Pine finished.

A pause settled among the four of them. Triple’s brow was furrowed in doubt, Pine remained expectant, and Sledge was folded into an internal deliberation. Caledonia kept her face stony. These were not her friends, and it was dangerous to forget that. This was where she should have been all along: in turbulent, unfamiliar waters.

“Keeping her here puts us at risk,” Pine pressed, holding Caledonia’s gaze.

That was the crux of his argument and one Sledge was likely to respond to. And while Caledonia had no intention of staying here any longer than necessary, she needed their support for a little while longer.

“You’re already at risk,” Caledonia answered smoothly. “You’re already marked. Or are you going to tell me that thirty-two Bullets escaped without attracting attention?” Caledonia drove the point of her argument forward like a dagger. “I don’t think you did. I think you had to do something incredible to get everyone out, and they’ve been looking for you ever since.”

The rigid bend of Pine’s mouth told her she’d hit very close to home.

“What exactly did you do? Mutiny? Steal a ship? How did so many of you just disappear?”

She could see the irritation expanding in Pine’s chest. He was still a formidable figure, taller than her with hawkish features and smoky-brown eyes. The muscles in his arms flexed as he tightened his fists, wrestling with the desire to set her right. Caledonia hoped he would. At least then she’d know something more about these Blades than their habits.