The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke Page B

scowled at her, then jumped up and pushed out of the house before I said something I’d regret. With a jolt, I wondered if she would tell the Hariris that she saw me, but then I remembered she’d always hated the Hariris more than other pirates. Maybe she’d just tell Mama.
    Still, it was a reminder that I wasn’t in the north anymore – I was back in the parts of the world where the Hariri clan had plenty of eyes, and no doubt they’d still be looking for me, even if I’d mostly forgotten about them over the last few months, seeing as how I had bigger problems on my mind. I’d have to come up with some excuse for not dawdling in port. Threaten to feed some Empire man to the manticore. I felt sorry enough for her as it was, having to eat fish bones and sea birds again.
    Naji stood at the side of the road, pulling his hair over his scar, the clothes lying in a pile at his feet.
    “You’re getting ’em all dusty!” I shouted.
    “Who cares?” Naji asked. “They’re just going to rot once we make sail.”
    I picked up the clothes and shoved them at him. He yanked them away from me, his hair hanging in curls across his face.
    “Why did you bring me here?” he asked.
    “To get you clothes.”
    “You knew she would–” His face twisted up with anger. “You knew she would say something. You wanted her to.”
    I looked away from him, cheeks burning.
    “Why?” The question was sharp and painful a knife. It cut into me and I knew I deserved it. “Why did you do it?”
    “You should change,” I muttered. “Before we go back into town.”
    He glared at me.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t think… I didn’t do it on purpose.” I still couldn’t look at him. “And your face doesn’t look like a half-roasted pig anyway.”
    Silence. The wind blew in from the ocean, stirring up sand and dust.
    “You have no idea what it’s like,” Naji said.

 
    CHAPTER SIX
    Marjani had already set up at the Starshot drinkhouse, claiming a table in the back, away from the singer warbling some old Confederation tunes. I threaded through the crowd, Naji behind me in his captain’s outfit. It suited him, I thought, especially the brocade coat. Before he’d covered up his face – with a scarf I nicked for him off one of the carts outside – he’d been so handsome my chest hurt to look at him.
    When she saw us, Marjani folded her arms over her chest.
    “Take it off,” she said.
    “No,” I told her, before Naji could say anything.
    She flicked her eyes over to me.
    “It makes him look more formidable,” I said.
    “I’m not leaving my face uncovered,” Naji said.
    Marjani sighed. “No one’s going to say anything–”
    “Yes,” Naji said. “They will.”
    I stepped in between the two of them and said, “We should probably do this fast. Manticore’s gonna get hungry out on that boat. Don’t know how long she’ll be able to avoid temptation.”
    Marjani sighed. “Yes, I’d thought of that myself. You stay here and get the drunks. I’ll go out in the street and look for the desperates.”
    And then she was out the door.
    It didn’t take long for word to circulate that the Pirate Namir yi Nadir was in port and that he was signing up men for his new crew. Probably helped that an Empire warship flying pirate colors was waiting out in the docks, but mostly it was the fact that pirates can’t keep their mouths shut for longer than five minutes. It occurred to me that leaving port early probably wasn’t gonna be good enough – I needed to keep my face covered, too, before some Hariri ally or wannabe-ally or plain ol’ asshole who wanted to kick up a fight spotted me and kidnapped me back to Lisirra.
    All that time on the Isles of the Sky, with no company but Naji and the manticore, had left me soft. Not wary enough, like the Mist woman had said.
    So I snuck out back and slipped down the street till I came to a shop selling scarves and jewelry. I bought a pair of scarves and covered my face the way Naji did and