CHAPTER 41: [41] THREE-WAY SPLIT

"Six million," Alyssa repeated slowly. "For a map."

"Not just any map." Raven’s fingers drummed against the table. "This is a complete chart of the Elysian Sea, including safe passages, hidden coves, and resource deposits. The kind of information that usually costs lives to acquire."

"Who’s buying again?" Pierre asked.

"Captain Lydia Moreau of the Black Serpent Pirates. She’s been interested in this particular chart."

Pierre searched his memory. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Another character from the original story, probably. Someone who’d been important to Jack Steelheart’s journeyy.

Or someone I’ve never heard of because I’ve already changed too much.

"Six million Cori," Alyssa said again. "And what percentage of that do you think you deserve?"

Here it comes.

"Eighty percent," Raven said without hesitation. "I’m the one who stole it, I’m the one who set up the deal, and I’m the one who knows how to find Moreau."

"Eighty percent?" Alyssa’s voice went up an octave. "For what? Walking onto someone else’s ship and asking them to sail you somewhere?"

"For providing the cargo that’s going to make us all rich."

"Us?" Alyssa stood up, her hands flat on the table. "This is my ship. My fuel. My supplies. Without me, you’d still be rowing that pathetic little boat across the Dawn Sea hoping a sea tyrant doesn’t eat you for lunch."

"Without me, you’d be sitting in your daddy’s office getting lectured about proper behavior while he plans your arranged marriage to some inbred noble."

Pierre could see Alyssa’s temper flaring again, the color rising in her cheeks like a tide. Her fingers curled against the table’s surface, her nails scraping against the wood.

"I think," Alyssa said, her voice dangerously quiet, "that as the ship’s owner, I’m entitled to a transportation fee. Say, fifty percent of the total."

Raven laughed. Actually laughed.

"Fifty percent? Princess, you’re out of your mind."

"My ship, my rules."

"Your ship that you gave to Pierre yesterday, remember? Which makes him the Captain, not you."

Both women turned to look at Pierre expectantly.

This is exactly the kind of situation I was trying to avoid.

The protagonist of that trashy novel would have solved this with a cheesy speech about friendship. Probably while flexing his muscles and making both women swoon.

Pierre didn’t have that protagonist aura.

"How about this," he said slowly. "We’re going to split it three ways."

"Three ways?" The word shot from two mouths at once. Alyssa’s voice was sharp, a blade of indignation, as if her inheritance had just been donated to charity. Raven’s was flat, the weary disbelief of a professional watching an amateur blunder through her craft.

Pierre leaned back against the galley counter, crossing his arms. The burnt smell from Alyssa’s cooking disaster still hung in the air, mixing with the salt breeze coming through the open porthole. He could see the wheels turning behind both their eyes—Raven calculating numbers while Alyssa calculated insults.

"That’s two million each," Alyssa said slowly, like she was working through basic arithmetic. "You want me to accept two million Cori for providing transportation, supplies, and my ship?"

"Your ship that you gave away yesterday," Raven reminded her, though her tone lacked its usual bite. She was studying Pierre now. "But two million..." She trailed off, fingers drumming against the table. "That’s not exactly fair either."

Here we go.

Pierre had known this moment would come. Raven needed twenty-five million to free her sister—a number that had been burned into her mind for so long it might as well have been tattooed behind her eyelids. And if she thought Pierre was going to take an equal share when he had no pressing need for the money...

"Let’s break this down properly," Pierre said, pushing off from the counter. "Raven, you said you set up this deal. When exactly is this meeting supposed to happen?"

"There’s not a set time, but the deadline is a few days from now."

"And you’re sure she’ll have the money?"

Raven’s fingers stopped drumming. "Captain Lydia Moreau doesn’t make deals she can’t afford. They’ve got the funds."

"Black Serpent Pirates?" Alyssa leaned forward, her eyebrows drawing together. "I’ve heard that name. They’re the ones who took over Orellia Village, aren’t they?"

"Took over?" Raven’s mouth curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. "They liberated it from corrupt officials. Moreau’s actually improved things there."

"By turning a peaceful mining village into a pirate stronghold."

"By removing the boot from people’s necks."

Pierre held up a hand, cutting Alyssa off. He could already see the trajectory: a pointless ideological debate escalating until the kitchenware started flying.

"Focus. The point is, we need to get to Orellia, make the deal, and get out. That means we need to work together for at least the next three days."

"Three days," Alyssa repeated. She unclenched her fists, placing her palms flat on the table. She stared down at her own perfectly manicured nails as if they were foreign objects. "And after that?"

"We’ll figure it out."

Raven shifted in her seat, her leg brushing against the table’s edge. "What comes next for me is finding another five million Cori."

Alyssa’s head snapped up, her eyes searching Raven’s face.

"Five million? What do you need five million Cori for?"

"Personal business."

"That’s not an answer."

"It’s the only answer you’re getting."

"If we’re going to be crew," Alyssa said carefully, "don’t we have a right to know what kind of trouble we might be walking into?"

"We’re not crew," Raven replied flatly. "We’re temporary business partners. There’s a difference."

"Last I checked, we’re all on the same boat heading toward the same destination."

Pierre walked to the small porthole and stared out at the endless blue water. The morning sun caught the waves, turning them into a shifting pattern of light and shadow. Behind him, he could hear Alyssa’s breathing getting shorter, the way it did when she was working herself up to either an explosion or a breakdown.

"This is how it will be," he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Raven gets three-point-five million. Alyssa gets one-point-five. I get one."