The Charnel Prince - J. Gregory Keyes [136]
Despite her brave words, she had to work hard to keep from crying when they sheared it off, with everyone in the room whooping and laughing as if they were watching a troupe perform its antics. She kept the tears in, though, and resisted the temptation to rub the stubble that remained on her scalp.
“There,” she said, got up from her chair, and nearly bolted outside. There she did tear up a bit, not so much from the loss of her hair as from the humiliation.
She heard footsteps behind her.
“Leave me alone,” she said without turning.
“I just thought you might want this.”
She looked back, a little surprised to find that it was Malconio. He was holding one of the black scarves the women of the village wore. She stared at it for a moment.
“You know,” he said, “you could have asked me for the money. I’ll have to sell off some goods here anyway to get the ship repaired. Cazio’s too proud, but you could have asked.”
She shook her head. “I can’t ask you for anything, Captain. Some of your men died because of me, and your ship was wrecked. I owe you too much already.”
“That’s true, in its way,” Malconio said. “But sailors die and ships are wrecked. There is such a thing as fate, and it’s a waste of time to wish you hadn’t done something. Better to learn from your mistakes and move on. I don’t hold any grudge against you, Anne. I took you as a passenger because my brother asked me to, and despite what I said earlier, I do have some idea what to expect from my brother and his—situations.
“Do you know how hard it must have been for him to come to me? But he did, which tells me something about you. That you dragged him away from the Tero Mefio says even more. The Cazio I knew never did much for anyone but himself. If he’s improved, how can I let him show me up?”
Anne managed a little smile at that. “You do love him, don’t you?”
Malconio smiled. “He’s my brother.”
He proffered the scarf, and she took it. “Thank you,” she said. “One day I will be able to repay you.”
“The only payment I ask is that you watch out for my little brother,” Malconio said.
“I’ll do my best.”
Malconio smiled, but the smile quickly vanished as he lifted his head and his eyes focused behind her. “There they are,” he sighed. “I should have known they wouldn’t sink.”
Anne followed his gaze. There, where sea and sky met, she saw sails.
“Oh, no,” she whispered.
“They aren’t coming this way,” Malconio said after a moment. “They’re probably looking for a deeper port—she’s missing a mast, you see?”
Anne didn’t, but she nodded. Malconio was right, though—the ship wasn’t sailing toward land, but parallel to it.
“If they see your ship—,” she began, but Malconio shook his head.
“It’s not likely at that range, not with the Della Puchia in dry-dock and without masts. But even if she did, she couldn’t come in—not through those reefs we passed. Her keel’s too deep.” He turned to Anne. “Still, I would go if I were you, and quickly. If they have seen the Puchia, they’ll send men back over land as soon as they find a harbor with deeper water. You could have all the time in the world, but on the other hand, you might have only a day.”
“What if they do come here?” Anne asked. “They’ll kill you.”
“No,” Malconio said. “I’m not fated to die on land. Get the others and make a start. You’ve still got a few bells before sundown.”
Cazio found his brother with his ship.
Malconio scowled when he saw him. “Are you still here? Didn’t Anne tell you we saw the ship?”
“Yes,” Cazio said. “I just—” He fumbled off, suddenly unsure what he wanted to say.
“Good-byes are bad luck,” Malconio grumbled. “Implies that you don’t expect to see each other again. And I’m sure to see you again, right, little brother?”
Cazio felt something bitter suck in his lungs. “I’m sorry about your ship,” he said.
“Well, we’ll talk about that again when you’ve made your fortune,” Malconio said. “Meanwhile, you let me worry about it. It is my ship, after all.”
“You’re making fun of me,” Cazio said.
“No,” Malconio replied. “No, I’m not. You have a destiny, fratrillo, I can feel it in my