When I finally manage to swing myself onto a deck on the ship’s lower levels, I can’t help but pause. I’ve never walked these halls without Swift escorting me. Theoretically, there are several people on this ship who want me dead, and now’s their perfect chance. I can hear the thunder of celebrating pirates from all the way down here. No one’s concerned about the captive Reckoner trainer, and no one would notice if she disappeared.

But I’ve got business to deal with, so I start off toward the mess, leaving a trail of water in my wake.

I burst into the middle of the celebrations without anyone noticing. The entire crew seems to have packed themselves into the mess hall. There’s food flying, stringers injecting, and a thrumming beat blasting from speakers as the pirates relish their victory. When they took down the Nereid, the feast was reserved. But this was such a vicious fight that they can’t help but go a little wild. I didn’t even realize I was starving, but the sight of the fresh food laid out has me salivating within seconds. The air is thick with sweat and the bitter scent of stringlets, which the pirates pass around like candy.

I spot Swift tucked away in a darkened corner with a girl on her lap and Code slumped next to her, nursing a bottle. He perks up when he sees me, one eyebrow arching. “Hey, Swift, your wife’s here,” he says as I approach, his words scarcely audible over the din. “And she don’t look too pleased.”

Swift startles. Her arms slide from around the girl’s waist and she almost stands, then seems to think better of it. “How the hell’d you get here?” she asks.

“Took the long way ’round.”

Her eyes are rimmed with red, and a stringlet needle dangles from her elbow. The girl pushes out of her lap and disappears back into the crowd, leaving Swift looking rumpled and flustered. “You’re lucky,” she slurs. “You could have been killed coming up here.”

It’s taking everything I’ve got to keep myself from punching her again. “You want to talk lucky? Your worthless ass is lucky that I got the damn beast on this ship before it took off, that I had the sense to take care of the thing that both our lives depend on after you locked me on the trainer deck.”

“Can’t hear you,” she mouths. “Too loud.”