Chapter Two

By nightfall Thomas drifted through Brinemarch in a stupor. The dark alley gave way to a blisshouse. The Velvet Current’s maroon lanterns glowed against the cobbles, perfumed smoke curling from its open windows. Topless women laughed at crude jokes, pressuring drunk men to be drunker. The smell of lust and sin mixed with perfume and smoke. Tonight, however, Thomas couldn’t muster a half agreeable smile as he pushed through the crowd. He climbed the narrow stairwell, heart heavy, and pushed open Nadine’s door.

The sound of wood-striking-wood came from inside. A crack in the door frame revealed Nadine’s shocked, breathless face. Her patron continued his pillaging, either unaware or unbothered by Thomas’ intrusion.

Thomas’s chest tightened. Heat rose in his face. He knew she was a courtesan and he also knew they were not exclusive. Still, jealousy lanced through him like a blade. He pulled away, retreating down the hall, his own shame twisting in his stomach.

The night air was damp when he reached the street. He was half swallowed by shadow when Nadine’s voice cut through. “Thomas!”

He stopped. She rushed from the doorway, dress pulled hastily around her, hair tumbling across her shoulders. He caught her in his arms, breathless. Even disheveled she was striking, the lantern light turning her skin golden. The green of her eyes pulling him in. “I’m sorry. I thought you were already gone.” Her voice held truth, but also practicality.

Thomas’s reply was thin. “They didn’t take me.”Moon Gem

Nadine’s face hardened. “You can’t take no for an answer. Someone is going to come looking for it, and your only safety is the open ocean. Are they still docked?”

Thomas shook his head. “No. They’re in the harbor now.”

She held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded. She mulled over a thought. “I have an idea. Come with me.”

They slipped into a narrow alley where a shallow canal trickled along broken cobbles. Nadine took his hand and led him to a dinghy tied beneath the overhang.

“It was supposed to be for me, if I needed to get away,” she explained. “But we can’t let this chance slip. You hold literal magic in your pocket, do whatever it takes to leave while you still can!”

Thomas’s throat tightened. He pulled her close, kissing her, a final reprieve before the water claimed him. Her lush lips were always a welcomed touch and the calm in chaos. The world seemed to still whenever she kissed him, as if fate itself waited on their choice.

He stepped back, staring at the dark current. “Thank you, Nadine. For everything.”

She steadied the dinghy as he climbed in. “This is your destiny, Thomas. Our destiny. Return to me successful.” Her eyes showed a glint of hesitation, of vulnerability.

She shoved the boat free.

The current tugged immediately, pushing him toward the open harbor. The stench of fish and rot filled his lungs and the oars felt foreign in his hands. One poor angle risked tilting him into the black water.

Her words echoed in his head. Were they business partners, or something more? Their partnership had proved profitable. He had always assumed their romance was one of practicality, but leaving her now felt different. Did she also feel this yearn? He had no time to know. His future waited, its lanterns glowing faintly in the distance.

He adjusted the Moon Gem deeper into his boot, tightening it against his toes. It burned, alive, as if urging him on. He rowed haphazardly but with purpose.

“Thomas the shunned” would become “Thomas the pirate”, or he would die trying.

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