Caledonia swallowed hard. She wasn’t bound, and Gloriana hadn’t pulled her weapon. In fact, she’d gone to some trouble to avoid looking like she was driving a prisoner through town. It all occurred to Caledonia at once, and she felt ridiculous for not seeing it sooner. But whatever Gloriana wanted from her, it wasn’t going to be good.

“I’m not who you think I am,” Caledonia said.

It was the invitation Gloriana had been waiting for. She leaned in, lips curving faintly toward a smile. “You’ve missed a spot,” she said, raising a thumb and smearing it along the top of Caledonia’s cheekbone. It came away blackened with grease. “Curious. It’s the same spot you missed yesterday.”

The woman was so close, Caledonia could smell the salt of her sweat and the honeyed perfume of Silt underneath. “Not so curious when you work on a ship.”

Gloriana wasn’t deterred. “Or it’s covering something you don’t want anyone to see.”

Caledonia held herself rigid, preparing to meet aggression with aggression as she’d seen Sledge do, but Gloriana’s next words changed everything.

“I know who you are.” Gloriana’s voice had become a whisper. “And I know you’ve come for your crew.” When she paused Caledonia saw a flash of uncertainty surface in her eyes before she added, “I want to help.”

Caledonia hadn’t given her a second thought since their meeting yesterday afternoon, but she considered her now: several years Caledonia’s senior, fully under the influence of Silt, and in a position of relative power as Harbor Master Lyall’s right hand. She was a Bullet. She was a stranger. And she knew enough about Caledonia to end everything right here and now.

But she hadn’t.

Run, said her mother.

Trust, Pisces’s voice said.

She knew Pisces was right. She had to trust them to change or nothing ever would. But trust was just another word for risk. When she trusted, she risked more than her own life. She risked the lives of all who trusted her.

Aware that her next move could cost them everything, she asked, “Why?”

Gloriana stepped away, leaning her back against the door. “Because I’m leaving with or without your help. And I’d like to hurt them when I go, and because I’ve never seen anyone stand up to them the way you have.”

“And what do you want in return?”

The question startled a smile onto Gloriana’s face. For a brief second, she was so much more than a Bullet. “A ride out of here.”

“Nothing more than that?”

“Drop me in the first friendly harbor we find.”