Forging Ties (Ties, Book 3) | ✓

Chapter 15

Hamish lay in bed and held the egg up above himself with both hands. "What if it's a human baby? Or, well, not a human baby exactly, but something like it. I've been joking, but that would be... a lot."

Duran leant his face against Hamish's shoulder and watched the egg sparkle in the light given off by his magelight. "Are you reconsidering your choices?"

"Well, no," Hamish said. "If it is something like that, and it would have died without someone to keep it warm or take care of it properly when it hatched, I don't regret taking it. I couldn't. Sure would complicate things, though."

"There's always adoption," Slone pointed out.

Hamish laughed. "Good point. I'll just give it to Simon and Danya. They're good at adopting children."

There was a rattling at the window and Duran looked up to see Skye's face pressed against the glass. He got up to open it.

Hamish sat up in bed as Skye climbed in to perch on the windowsill. "Did you bring my sweet potato back?"

"No, I threw it into the ocean," Skye said before turning his attention back to Duran. "Can I borrow your knife?"

"My... knife," Duran repeated. "Why?"

Duran had expected Skye to either ignore the question entirely or answer in a way that raised more questions than it answered, so he was surprised when Skye drew a deep breath in and actually gave a cogent response. "A girl followed that man you were talking to earlier back to his ship and then I heard her scream. I want to go and check on her, but I need a weapon just in case."

The entire tone in the room had instantly shifted. Hamish got up and grabbed his shirt. "I'll lend you a knife, but we're going with you."

"Oh, okay," Skye said. "I'm sorry I threw your sweet potato in the ocean."

"Are you sorry you stole it?" Hamish asked as he sat on the edge of the bed to put his boots on.

"No."

"Fair enough. I would have given it to you if you'd asked, you know."

"It was too hard to eat. Give me something better."

Hamish let out a quiet laugh. "Okay. Once we make sure this girl is okay, we'll get you some food."

They finished getting dressed, except for Slone who left his shirt and shoes off. Skye then dropped down from the window onto the street below, landing silently, and left the rest of them to take the stairs. He was waiting for them outside, lurking in the shadows. They followed as he led the way down to the docks.

As they walked, Hamish had given Skye a knife, and Skye practised making stabbing and slashing motions with it. While he clearly had the potential to be dangerous with it, it remained to be seen if that danger would be directed solely at Declan.

They reached the ship that Skye had led them to, and there was a ramp placed down from the side of the ship, making it easy to board. The four of them had just made it onto the ship when Declan climbed up from below deck.

"Oh!" Declan exclaimed upon seeing them. "Duran, this is a surprise. When I invited you to come and fix the sails, I didn't expect you to bring all of your friends with you."

Skye had already begun to wander towards the gap in the deck that led below, but Declan stepped in his path.

"I'm not here about that, I'm afraid," Duran said. "Skye said you brought a girl on board and he heard her scream."

"Skye?" Declan asked.

Duran nodded at Skye.

"Oh," Declan said as he shot an unimpressed glance in Skye's direction. "Well, I suppose that did happen. I brought a homeless girl back here to give her some clothes and she made a bit of noise when she tripped on the stairs, but that was all. Let's be honest, Skye, she was hardly screaming her head off, now was she?"