Amanda awoke in her cabin to find Sirius sitting nearby. She was still wrapped up in his coat.

  As she struggled to sit up he reached out with his hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, you need to rest.”

  “What happened? With the dragon?” she managed to splutter out her question.

  Sirius smiled. He dropped his hands. Relief obvious in his posture. “It ran.”

  “It ran?” she repeated, not quite believing it, but she was here, alive, and on the ship, so it must be true.

  Sirius nodded. “You passed out. I was worried.”

  Amanda sat up and leaned forward. Every muscle in her body hurt as if she’d been running non-stop for hours. “I’ve never used that much magic before,” she admitted.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry for?”

  He shook his head. “That was my plan and you could’ve been hurt.”

  She gave a laugh which turned into a cough. As he reached for her again she held up a hand to show she was okay. “It worked didn’t it?” she replied.

  But she could see from his face that he was still worried.

  “Magic overuse can kill a person,” he replied solemnly.

  “But it didn’t,” she said feeling somewhat energized despite the physical tiredness. She’d never tested her limits like that before. He was right, magic overuse could kill a person, but it hadn’t. Her body had protected her, made her pass out before she’d used up too much. That was the best outcome and now that she knew it was the most likely one for her, there would be less risk in pushing things that far again.

  “You could have died,” he said seriously.

  She smiled. “But I didn’t.” And there was a rush to that, a feeling of complete euphoria.

  Evidently her mood was catching. After studying her for a couple seconds, Sirius finally smiled too.

  That was when her memories finally caught up with her, and the rest of the day came flooding back. Her smile fell. “Pinto… Miles…”

  Sirius nodded, a look of somberness returning to his own face.

  “What happened to Sam?” Amanda tried to get up then, half worried Morgan had killed him, half worried she hadn’t.

  Sirius tried to stop her. “Easy. Morgan killed him.”

  Amanda stopped trying to move. “And Abe?” she asked fearing the worst. He hadn’t been party to Sam’s actions had he?

  “I argued for his life. He’s a prisoner for the time being.”

  Amanda tried to process that. Twice now, she’d saved someone and it had backfired. This time it cost another life. Was it a mistake to save this third man? He’d been the one on the end of the line when Morgan had first brought them on board, the one who had looked most worried, and the one who had been the friendliest, but what if she was wrong? Still, she was grateful that Sirius had not just let him be killed too. Although how he had managed to get Morgan to agree to that she wasn’t sure.

  “How did you mange that?”

  “Morgan owed me, us. It was your fire that saved the ship.”

  “And my actions that cost Pinto his life,” she replied, hearing a choke in her own voice that she tried and failed to avoid.

  Sirius shook his head. “That was Sam’s doing.”

  She looked Sirius directly in the eyes and firmly told him, “I spared his life twice. I risked yours in the process. Whatever comes from that is my doing.”

  Sirius didn’t argue with her but she could sense his disagreement and practically hear his mind whirring, trying to think of something to say. But what was there to say? She was responsible for Pinto’s death, and that was that. Not that anything could be done about it now. The thought exhausted her.

  She lay back down and slept some more, while Sirius went to check on things elsewhere.

  When she finally got up, she noticed that his coat that she’d been wearing for a few hours now, had seemingly shrunk. In fact it had shrunk so much that it now fit her perfectly.

  She spun around in the room and then she took it off and put it back on again, certain it was some trick or a new coat. But it was the same one, with all the magic vials on the inside. Every inch that she could remember was just as it had been, only smaller.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  When Sirius returned to check on her, she brought it up with him.

  “Yeah, it does that,” he replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “It adapts to the wearer, although it takes a little bit of time.”

  “I can see why Morgan wants it,” Amanda remarked. She’d put her own clothes on underneath now but she still found some comfort in wearing it and she wondered if it didn’t have some calming empath magic sewn into it as well. But if it did, it was subtle, and Sirius didn’t seem any different from his usual self.

  She wore his coat to dinner but soon decided that would be the only time, for Morgan’s displeasure at her attire was blatant. Amanda might have assumed it was due to the other events if Morgan’s eyes hadn’t been so readily fixed on the coat. Neither of them spoke to the other and there was little conversation at dinner in general beyond hushed whispering. Abe was nowhere to be seen. Stinger served them beer in silence and Sirius didn’t even bat an eye when Amanda accepted a glass, nor at any of the several that followed. They raised a toast to Pinto but otherwise spoke little about him.

  Amanda drank until the world felt distant and everything that had happened felt like some far off dream, or a nightmare.

  Sirius didn’t mention their bet, not even once. Nor did he comment or even glance over when she poured herself yet another round. She’d lost count of what number this was. She kind of wished he would say something, reach over and remove the cup from her hands, for she felt unable to stop herself. That wasn’t fair she knew and her thoughts only added to her guilt. He seemed lost in his own thoughts and she wanted to comfort him but she knew not where his thoughts roamed and she couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t the cause of those too.

  If it hadn’t been for her, he’d still be on his ship, Pinto would still be alive, and the dragon… that gave her pause. If she hadn’t been here would they have survived the dragon? The beer had dulled her mind enough now that she settled into the easy answer that you just couldn’t know for sure what was going to happen. It numbed the pain a little but the weight of Pinto’s death remained over her like a shadow.

  Sirius didn’t drink a drop but he stayed in the galley until she did and he grabbed her and steadied her when she nearly tripped over removing her pants back in their room.

  Something hard and metallic fell onto the floor from her pants pocket.

  Sirius picked it up and handed it back to her. It was the ring he’d found back on the island. She’d forgotten she’d left it there.

  As he took a seat on their shared bed, she turned the ring over in her fingers. Even now she could feel the magic in it and still she could not pick what it was. Caught up in the impulsivity of drunkenness she started to push her magic into it to try to coax whatever this was out and into the open. But in the back of her mind a small voice stopped her. As she turned her hand over her eyes caught on the faint, mostly healed scar that had been the result of her last drunken foray into magic, when she’d shattered glass with too much strength. And so she stopped herself and moved to put the ring back into the pocket of her pants which now lay on the floor.

  Sirius’s voice interrupted her action. “Bring it here?” he said gently.

  She handed it over and then flopped back onto the bed. With one hand raised into the air she slurred, “No drunken magic.”

  She could just make out the edge of his mouth curve upward.

  “I’m not the one who’s drunk,” he replied as he studied the ring.

  She watched as he got up and moved over to their box of stuff. He rifled about inside until from somewhere he held up thin shoelace-like strip of leather. He slipped the ring onto it and then tied the ends so it became a necklace, which he handed back to her.

  “So you won’t lose it,” he said.

  She took it gratefully without moving from her spot lying horizontally on the bed. It was too comfy where she lay.

  “It’s too big for my fingers,” she said and she showed him by slipping the ring onto each finger in turn.

  He laughed. “It’s supposed to go around your neck.”

  “Oh, is that how it works?” she teased. She wanted to put it on but lifting her head felt decidedly difficult right now. Instead she studied it for a bit and then her gaze found him. He was so pretty. Dark hair like night, eyes like emerald stars, and arms that looked like they could snap a mast in two. And that smile, so serene. It was as if nothing could be too bad as long as he was there. The rest of the world felt far away in comparison.

  She might have just lain there looking at him all night if he hadn’t then lifted her up so she was lying the correct way on the bed. Gently he lay himself down next to her and pulled her up beside him. He placed the necklace over her head and then she laid down on his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat.

  Her mind drifted. A shadow in a watery doorway. A twisted neck. Pinto sinking down toward the ocean floor. A crate dropping into the water. Dragon fire coming right toward her.

  She jerked awake, unsure if or when she had fallen asleep.

  “Hey,” Sirius whispered comfortingly as he stroked her hair.

  She no longer felt as tired as she had a moment ago. She propped herself up on one elbow. Seeking distraction she asked, “What was in the crates?”

  His fingers continued to stroke her hair and shoulders and back even as he shifted his position slightly.

  “Books,” he answered.

  “Books?”

  He nodded, then added, “Books in one, wine in another, clothes and vials. Infusements I think. Even the clothes. I felt… something… I think. I’m not sure. You should have a look tomorrow. You’d know better than me.”

  “Spell books?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. They looked ordinary enough.”

  “But?”

  “But some of the content didn’t seem quite right. I opened one up on edible flowers and some of the information was wrong but in a way that made me think it had been done intentionally, like they were trying to say something else.”

  “Secret spell books?” Amanda pulled herself further upright, intrigued at the idea.

  He laughed. “I don’t know. We can have a look tomorrow. Morgan thinks it’s all useless, except for the wine. She was quite upset.”

  “You didn’t tell her?”

  He shook his head. “I wanted to be sure first.”

  She could sense he’d left something unsaid again and she took a random guess at what, “And so you could buy it off her at a low price?”

  He gave her a curious look and then shook his head again. “That would be stealing.”

  She laughed in surprise. “Oh, that’s stealing now is it?”

  “Morgan is the wrong person to be stealing from?”

  She opened her mouth to reply but he beat her to it.

  He added with a smile and a gentle sigh, “And so apparently are red-headed firestarters.”

  She grinned and then rested her head on his chest again, finding comfort in his closeness.