I don’t dare correct her. It means nothing to this bunch that I’ve spent my whole life with one foot in the sea. They’re so narrow that it makes me want to scream, but I just avert my gaze and shovel another bite of roast into my mouth.

“What’re you doing being a trainer on a vessel like that bucket, then?” Code chuckles. “You’re a friggin’ kid like the rest of us.”

I hesitate again. I don’t know how much to give him—I know every word is a weapon that could just as easily be turned against me. “Grew up doing it,” I finally say. The fact that this was my first solo mission can wait. It weakens me in their eyes, and I know I’m weak enough to start. I want them to underestimate me, but I won’t be a joke to them. And I don’t need Swift to have any less faith in me than she already does.

Code nods, satisfied. “You’re quieter than Lemon on a good day, ain’t you?”

In the blink of an eye, Lemon snatches her knife off her tray and turns it on Code, her lip trembling.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Varma yelps, lunging across the table and latching onto her wrist. “Lemon, look at me. Look at me. Code’s a worthless piece of shit—it doesn’t matter. Look at me.”

As he tries to calm the other lackey, Swift grabs me by the arm and hauls me off the bench. “It only gets worse from here,” she mutters into my ear.

I was only halfway done with my food. I make a mental note to pay more attention to eating and less attention to the company next time. Swift pulls me to the galley’s hatch and clambers out of it. I follow, regretting how easy it is to just go wherever she pulls my leash.

Once we’re out in the quiet of the hall, her brow furrows. “Captain didn’t specify where you’re supposed to sleep,” she muses.

Swift’s thought process is practically etched across her face. She knows I can’t be stowed in the crew quarters or anywhere else where someone could get to me. If there’s a chance the other lackeys might kill me just to sabotage her, she needs to put a locked door between me and them. But the last time she left me locked away in a closet by myself, I nearly got away with taking that pill. There’s no way she’ll risk me finding another way to off myself.

We arrive at the inevitable conclusion at the same time.

“You’re bunking with me,” Swift declares.

And I swear, there’s a part of her that almost enjoys it.