19

  The Sanguine Siren was a fine ship, Sabina supposed, if somewhat ostentatious for her taste in ships. Which was minimal, since she'd never once been on a ship, but the Sanguine Siren gave her the impression of a captain who was trying too hard to look important when really she wasn't at all. Easily the most striking feature of the ship were its sails. They were red, entirely and without blemish. Specifically, since Sabina recognized the color quite well, they were scarlet, the color of nobility, of officers, of those just below the emperor himself in importance. It was also fiendishly expensive to dye cloth in that color, and the imperial princess struggled to imagine how much it would have cost to dye an entire sail. Two sails, since the smaller foresail was dyed as well.

  The rest of the ship looked more or less how Sabina expected a ship to look. The deck was wide and open save for the mast and riggings and appeared to be made of fine oak. A small building crouched at the back, where the sailors took turns working in teams on the roof to adjust the steering oars. From the size, Sabina estimated the ship could hold, in her educated opinion, a rather large amount of stuff. And on the back of the ship, where there should have been a swan for luck, there was instead a wooden sculpture of a siren, its fish tail painted scarlet and its naked leonine bust modeled after Captain Volusa Cornelia herself. It was indeed a fine ship, Sabina supposed, but she hated it. She hated the captain, she hated the ship, she hated the sails, and she really hated sea travel itself, apparently. The rocking never stopped.

  She did not, however, hate the crew. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she had to admit that Volusa knew how to pick men. The Sanguine Siren had sailors of every tribe of beast people she had ever encountered, and there were only ten of them. From the huge bull, horse, shark, and pair of bears to the lizard, two jackals, buck, and lion that were closer to her own size, every last sailor was both objectively attractive and seemingly allergic to wearing clothing that was in any way concealing. Nearly all of them, straight from the fluffiest bear to the most furless lizard, wore only short Aegyptian shendyts like Simend's own pleated skirt or shiny swimming briefs like what Edric wore under his tunic. Only Gleb, the young bear she'd seen speaking with Volusa in the harbor yesterday, and Marcos, a bull with geometric patterns tattooed across his entire right arm and leg and who acted as Volusa's officer, wore tunics while they were working on deck.

  The ship left early in the morning, but by afternoon, Sabina had to abandon her air of imperial aloofness. Dalibor watched her closely as she leaned against the left rail of the ship, taking deep breaths and staring out at the horizon. Edric looked out with her, while Simend leaned his back against the rail and inspected each sailor at work. "I can't tell if you're going to pop because you're seasick or because of the stud show behind us," Dalibor told her.

  "I don't know," she said. "I've never been on a boat before, but that is a lot of furry men without shirts."

  "I could definitely get used to this," Simend said, his tail wagging briskly. "It's a shame the trip to Alexandria's only four days." He glanced at Dalibor. "You going to join us in the shirtless brigade, handsome?"

  "Not a chance, you Sanguine pervert," Dalibor told him without removing his eyes from Sabina.

  Simend shrugged. "Had to ask. You holding up alright, Ed?"

  "I'll be fine," Edric said, also still wearing his tunic. "It's only four days out of the water. Plus, they have their own luminary, so they're not going to ask me to set favorable winds for them." He looked down at Sara. His gaze felt different than Dalibor's. To Sabina it felt less worried and more clinical, as if he were inspecting one of his patients. "Keep watching the horizon and feel the wind on your face. We can get you some bread and water if you want. Eating often helps too."

  "I'm doing alright," Sabina said. "It's just a lot right now."

  "You've really never been on a ship before?" Simend asked. He watched the ship's reptilian luminary climb the rigging to check the wind above the sails. "Balls. Or not, I guess. He's got something on under that shendyt."

  "I haven't," Sabina said. "Ferries a few times, but not full ships. My father didn't really let me go out much."

  "I suppose that's fair," Simend said, still watching the lizard up the mast. "And what a ship to take your first sea voyage on! I mean, look at those sails! We are sailing in style, friends. And speaking of style, you are going to introduce me to the captain at some point, right, Dalibor? I still only half believe you that it's really Volusa Cornelia."

  Simend, of course, had immediately recognized Volusa's name when Dalibor had mentioned her the previous night. She was the same Sanguine dancer that had so enraptured Malia's attention when Rasha had mentioned her during their fight back in Aquitania. "Is she really that big a deal?" Sabina asked.

  "Are you kidding me?" Simend asked. "And you call yourself a Sanguine dancer. Yes, she's absolutely that big a deal. She's one of the only non-Homines who ever learned all eight dances, and she's absolutely the only one who did it before she even got promoted to centurion. I heard they were going to promote her, and she just laughed at them and quit. Can you imagine? Laughing in the face of the Legate of the Sanguine Song? And getting away with it?"

  Sabina could not. The man was the most joyless person she'd ever had the misfortune of meeting. She had no idea how he ended up in charge of the Sanguine Song, let alone became an accomplished dancer himself. She shuddered to think of him going through the dances without any clothes on, but Simend was still talking. "I mean, I don't buy the stories that say she's an incarnation of the Lady of Love herself, but she was unquestionably the best of all of us, and then she was gone. She'd already been gone for years before I joined the Legion, and they were still telling stories about her. I will not be on her ship and not meet her. If the gods are good, I'll get to dance with her too."

  "I will introduce you, Simend, yes," Dalibor assured the other jackal. He rubbed his eyes. "And if you want to dance with her, just ask. She's not shy. I remember how much of a struggle it was to get her to keep her clothes on when we were training together back on our last voyage. Her and Papa both."

  A lightning-blasted albatoad fell from the sky and landed between Edric and Dalibor. Edric yelped and jumped away, but Dalibor just frowned at the dead radiant beast, hand on his sword. Simend and Sabina looked up to see the Draigic luminary, still high atop the sail, looking back down at them. "Sorry!" the sailor called.

  "All good!" Simend called back. "It's nice to not have to do that ourselves for a change."

  The lizard pointed out to sea. "Just kick it overboard, if you would. Need to keep the deck clear," he shouted, and Dalibor complied. "Thank you!"

  "It's going to feel so odd having a peaceful sea voyage for a change," Edric said.

  Too soon, as it turned out. "Lady of Love, preserve me," Simend whispered, his eyes growing large.

  "What's wrong?" Edric asked, and the rest of them followed his gaze to see an entirely naked Volusa striding towards the largest open space on the deck. The sun glittered in every inch of her golden fur, from the tops of her rounded ears and across her flawless breasts, past her sculpted rear and down to the very tip of her tufted tail. Her Behi officer, still blessedly dressed, followed close behind her. Every sailor watched her pass. Gleb in particular was not even subtle about it.

  Sabina heard Dalibor sigh beside her. She couldn't look at him since she too was enraptured by the lioness. Everything about her was perfect, and Sabina hated her for it. "Seriously, Volusa?" Dalibor called.

  "This is my ship, snaggletooth, and you are guests here," Volusa called back. She began to go through her stretches. "I no longer answer to you, so I will train where, when, and how I see fit."

  "Back to work, swab," Marcos said, clouting Gleb on the head with his tattooed arm. "The captain exercising is not an excuse for you to take a break." The bear flailed momentarily as if he'd forgotten what he was doing, then went back to frantically scrubbing the planks of the deck, his gaze riveted to his work.

  Sabina glanced at Dalibor, but the jackal just rolled his eyes and turned his back to the dancer, staring instead out at the horizon himself. That was good. She appreciated his disinterest. She instead glared at Edric, who was ogling the lioness with his toothy maw agape, until he snapped his mouth shut and looked down at Sabina in a panic. Once she was sure she had his attention, she snorted and turned away, joining Dalibor in a study of the sea. Edric's tail thrashed the deck, but he said nothing.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Simend said things though. "Love's tits," he sighed. "Do you see the way she moves?" Sabina did not, but she could hear the lioness's padded feet tapping and springing against the wood of the deck, hear the slight whistling of the air when the lioness spun or flipped quickly enough. "Love's tits," Simend whispered again and again until Sabina was certain the jackal wasn't even listening to himself.

  Eventually, after far longer than Sabina cared to listen to Simend for, Volusa finished her dances. After a quick cooldown, she joined the four of them at the rail. "Not going to watch, snaggletooth?" she asked.

  Dalibor turned to face her, and Sabina followed suit. She refused to look below the lioness's shoulders, which just ended up with her scowling right into Volusa's face. "I've seen you train more than enough for one lifetime, Volusa," Dalibor said with a sigh. "And I'd consider it a personal favor if you got dressed before we had a conversation."

  "I'll take it into consideration," the captain said. She glanced mildly at Sabina, seeming to ignore the scowl the princess was giving her. She then eyed Simend. "I think your friend is broken."

  She wasn't wrong. Simend was staring at the lioness with his eyes wide, his mouth open, and his hands gripping his tail. "There's a lot wrong with Simend," Edric agreed. "Don't you worry about him though."

  "Then I will not," Volusa said. "Are you enjoying your time aboard my ship so far?"

  "We are, though I have to admit that this seems pretty high profile for you," Dalibor said. "Captaining your own ship. And a pirate ship at that. Aren't you worried your family's going to come for you?"

  Volusa laughed, and Sabina noted that, unlike before at the harbor, Volusa's laugh was not beautiful. "Let them come," the lioness growled. Then she smirked. "Or let them try. But I'm very confident that the only people coming tonight are myself and this sailor right here." She cocked a thumb at a nearby buck whose sudden surprise quickly shifted to obvious glee.

  Dalibor sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know why I'm still surprised when you say things like that," he muttered.

  "Well here's something else that might surprise you," Volusa said. She leveled a finger at Sabina. "You and I need to talk, girl."

  "Volusa…" Dalibor growled, and Sabina was surprised by how much like a threat the word sounded.

  "I remember, Dalya," Volusa said, putting an odd stress on the jackal's name. The captain fixed Sabina with her chilling blue eyes, and the princess's breath caught in her chest. "And I'll be kind, but she and I need to talk. I'll send Marcos once I'm ready for you, Sara." And with that, Volusa spun and sauntered back across the ship to her cabin, every eye on deck watching her and Marcos every step of their way.

  As soon as Volusa and Marcos had closed the door to the cabin, Simend dropped his tail, grabbed the chest of Edric's tunic, and pulled himself as close to the shark's face as he could get. "Ed, I need you to slap me," he said. "Something's wrong with me. I think I'm in love with that woman."

  "That's odd," Edric said, trying to lean back away from the jackal. "You normally don't fall for women."

  "I know!" Simend replied. He sounded as if he were beginning to panic. He let go of Edric and turned to gape at Volusa's cabin. "She must have done something to me! But Love's tits, did you see the way she moved?"

  "You asked us that already," Sabina noted. "Several times, in fact. And I thought you were going to ask her to dance with you."

  "Oh, balls, I forgot!" Simend cursed. "I swear, she did something to me. I've never frozen like that before. Son of the Sun preserve me, I would do anything that woman asked."

  "At least this'll get you off my back finally," Dalibor said.

  "Oh, I will ride your back any day, handsome," Simend said without turning away from the cabin. Dalibor's fur bushed out from head to tail. "But did you see the way she moved? Love's tits!"

  "Okay, that's enough," said Edric. He drew back his augmented arm and slapped Simend right across his muzzle.

  Simend fell to the deck and began to roll around screaming, hands clasped to his muzzle. "Ow! Gods, Edric! Ow! Not my nose!"

  The jackal continued his hysterics while Marcos came back out of the cabin and approached the group of them. "The captain is dressed and will see you," the bull said to Sabina with a warm, Hispanian accent. Then he looked down at Simend. "What's his problem now?"

  "He thought he'd fallen in love with the captain and wanted me to slap him," Edric said.

  Marcos snorted. "Thinks he's fallen for the captain, does he?" he asked. "You're trying to solve that problem all wrong." The bull took a wide stance near Simend's head and kicked the jackal lightly on the shoulder.

  "Now wh—! Oh, hello." Simend calmed down instantly when he rolled onto his back and looked straight up Marcos's tunic. The bull looked down at the jackal, his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face. Sabina giggled, and Dalibor just groaned. "Do you have to shave your fur in those tattoo patterns every day?" Simend asked, staring at the bull's inner thighs.

  "No," Marcos said. "I normally find someone to trim them whenever we're in port."

  Simend tilted his head slightly to get a better angle. "How far up do they go?"

  "I know a private spot in the hold if you'd like to touch them up for me," Marcos told him.

  Simend sprang to his feet. "Thanks for your help, Ed," he said. "I'm over Volusa now."

  "Whatever works, I guess," Edric said.

  "Come with me, Sara," Marcos said. "The captain's waiting. And it sounds like I need to get ready to give your friend a deeper, more thorough tour after dinner."

  Sabina walked with Marcos towards the cabin, listening to her companions talking behind her. "Do you think we can make this trip last longer if we take out their luminary?" Simend was asking.

  "I think that's a really poor life choice," Dalibor replied, sounding defeated.

  "I also think he can hear you," Edric added.

  "Sure can!" the lizard shouted from above, and that was the last Sabina heard before the door closed behind her.

  Volusa's cabin was small. It had to be, of course. There was not a lot of space on the ship. It held a pair of wardrobes against the left wall, a luxurious four-poster bed at the back, and a sizeable table to the right. Volusa herself was sitting at the table, watching Sabina in the dim light of the lanterns. The captain's pupils gleamed a spectral green in the dark, which was even more eerie when surrounded by her cerulean, human irises. She did not wear the twined scarlet ribbons that Sabina had seen in the harbor yesterday, opting instead for a long silk robe that belted at the waist. Still dyed scarlet, of course. She sipped from a heavy, golden goblet before addressing the newcomers. "Thank you, Marcos," she said. "We two will be fine on our own from here."

  "Aye, Captain," Marcos said, and he closed the door behind him.

  "Sit, Princess," Volusa said, gesturing to one of the high-backed chairs. An empty goblet sat on the table before it.

  Sabina took neither the chair nor the cup. "Dalibor told you who I am?" she asked. How could he? She had trusted him!

  "He told me everything, just like I asked," Volusa responded. She twirled her goblet but did not take her shining eyes off of Sabina. "You needed passage to Aegyptus, and he bought it with stories."

  "It wasn't his story to give," Sabina said.

  "Perhaps," Volusa admitted. "And I know that makes you nervous, Princess, because you think he trusts me more than he trusts you." Sabina clenched her fists but did not answer. How did this beast know so much about her? How could she see through her so easily? Volusa continued. "I called you in here today to make two things very clear to you, since it is obvious we have gotten off on the wrong foot. First off, I don't want your boyfriend. Either of them."

  Sabina frowned at Volusa. "What do you mean 'either?'" she asked.

  Volusa chuckled. "Oh, you poor thing," she said. "Second, I bear no love for your father, which Dalibor knew quite well. You and your secret both are safe in my care, Sara. Not even Marcos will learn who you are."

  Sabina hesitated. This felt like a trap. Or maybe she wanted it to be a trap, she wasn't certain. "Say I want to believe you," she said. "Explain to me why I should trust that you hate the emperor when you use the Cornelii family name."

  Volusa laughed and slapped the table. "I take it my relatives haven't changed then," she said.

  "Excuse me? Your relatives?" Sabina asked. "I'll believe you hate my father long before I believe a lioness is a Cornelia."

  "I am an unwanted child, Sara," Volusa replied. "I am a scandal, swept away and conveniently forgotten. My mother tried to have me killed as an infant, but a servant whisked me to safety and raised me as his own."

  Sabina gaped at the lioness. Could she really be one of the Cornelii? She looked too old to be one of Secunda's or Mettia's children though, which would mean… "Sexta Cornelia slept with a lion?"

  "She absolutely did," Volusa said with a broad grin. "Some thirty-odd years ago. I'm surprised they've managed to keep it secret all this time. It seems like something their servants would talk about."

  "That dreadful old hag has a Kinin daughter?" Sabina yelled. "She hates animals! She even kicks her family's cats! How could she…?" She clapped her hands to her mouth. She wanted to hate Volusa, she really did, but in that moment she saw the lioness for what she was, and the captain was just like her. Another little girl of noble birth who was chewed up and spat out by the Empire. Unlike Sabina, though, her upbringing could not have been remotely comfortable. Yet now here she was after she'd had time and opportunity to pick herself up and embrace her freedom from her family. She was an accomplished Sanguine dancer who captained her own ship, which she filled with hand-picked and handsome men. Sabina wanted to hate Volusa, but even more than that, she wanted to be Volusa. "Can I ask another question?"

  "What would you like to know?" Volusa asked.

  "How can you afford so much scarlet dye?" Sabina asked. "And where do you find so much silk? That's two full silk outfits I've seen you in now, and I know full well we haven't been able to get silk in the Ring since the Fall of the Star angered the Caspian Ocean."

  "Theft and piracy," Volusa said. She took a sip of her wine. "And gifts. Men like to give me gifts, even knowing they won't convince me to stay. Besides, I have to keep up appearances, you know. I am the Sanguine Siren my ship is named after."

  "You're really a pirate then?"

  "I am indeed, and it is marvelous. We were on our way to Aegyptus even before Dalibor asked me to take you there. I have a buyer for several of the pieces currently in my hold."

  "What sorts of things?"

  "Many things I won't share for professional reasons," Volusa said. "But we do have quite a bit of wine. Would you like a taste?" Volusa grinned again and produced the bottle.

  Sabina gaped at it. "Is that a Cornelian red?"

  "It tastes so much better after you plunder it from their own ships," said Captain Cornelia. She filled Sabina's goblet and refilled her own before raising it high. "To freedom from our families, Princess."

  Sabina smiled. "I'll drink to that," she said. And they did.