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Chapter 9

I didn't die, of course. As the darkness of the ocean waves rushed up to meet me, the ship tilted drunkenly back toward port, and a powerful hand wrapped around my wrist and halted my descent. I looked up, and even in the dark of the storm, I could make out the familiar, comforting outline of Itsuo. I could even tell he had that smug little smirk on his face without seeing it, because he _always_had it.

He hefted me up and onto the deck, into his strong arms, and I leaned against him, panting and shaking. He stroked my hair and kissed my forehead. Even over the din of the rain and thunder, I heard him muttering, "You're okay. I've got you."

I tried not to think about what this meant, but it was hard not to. Itsuo would have to report me, surely. Even if he didn't, my plan to sneak into her quarters was shot. I had no idea when I would get an opportunity like this again. Gods, Nollie and I just couldn't catch a break.

Itsuo lifted my chin up to face him in the gloom, and he kissed me. It was a damn hard thing not to start crying, but the fact that he tasted so strongly of his intoxicating musk made it easier. He pushed his tongue into my mouth, exploring me slowly and patiently. His wide stance and strong feet held us in place against the rocking of the ship and I found myself wanting to pull him down to the deck, amidst the spray of the sea and the pelting rain and the deadly see-sawing of the Fang, and guide his cock into me.

Instead, he finally pulled off from our kiss and yelled into my ear, so I'd hear him over the storm, "Top right drawer of her desk! Look for a hidden compartment!" Another flash of light as he pressed something into my paw, which I gripped tightly, and he hurried back to the foredeck to continue helping with the rigging. I didn't dare open my paw and look at what he'd given me, but it was small, round, and smooth, whatever it was. I pocketed it and made my way toward the door to my mother's cabin on unsteady feet, praying no one else saw me.

As I reached her door, I glanced up to the helm and saw that once again Geist was lashed to the wheel by a coil of rope. One paw rested easily on a spoke as she yanked it back and forth, fighting the ocean. The other paw gripped a half-empty bottle of liquor, which she brought to her lips and pulled from even while the storm threatened to smash her ship against its torrential walls of water. Most importantly, though, she was staring ahead at the roiling waves and sheets of rain, not down at the door of her cabin almost directly below her. I stumbled over to it and yanked on the door. To my shock and relief, it wasn't locked. She was drunk, so I guess it made sense. I hurried inside and pulled the door shut behind me.

Once inside, I stared at the near-perfect gloom, waiting for the room to come into focus, but I was having trouble. Mainly, the storm kept flashing lightning, ruining any chance for my eyes to adjust. That was when I noticed my pocket was faintly glowing.

I pulled out the item Itsuo had given me, and a soft green lightspilled out into the room. Startled, I closed my fist around it and the light vanished. A glowstone! Son of a bitch. Where had Itsuo been hiding this little treasure?? I made a mental note to give him the best head I could manage when this was over.

I prayed no one sawthe sudden light under the door into the captain's quarters. Thankfully she had no windows facing the bow, just on the sides, but someone could still see into those. I stumbled through the dark, banging my shin against first the map table and then a bedpost as I drew the curtains over the port and starboard portholes. Once I was as reasonably sure no one could see into the cabin as I could be, I lifted the glowstone aloft and let it guide me to Geist's desk.

I felt the sway of the ship lessen slightly--the storm was abating. I didn't have much time. I opened the top right drawer of her desk and found a heavy leather-bound ledger. I pulled it out and dropped it on her desk with a loud thump, then ran my fingers along the inner edge of the drawer until I felt a small nubbin of ribbon. I gripped it and pulled, and the bottom of the drawer came away to reveal a shallow recess underneath. It contained a small stack of papers, typed out with a typewriter but signed at the bottom of each page. I placed them on the desk and began reading in the dim green light.

By the time I reached the final page, the door had opened and closed. I knew I should turn around, face the newcomer, but I couldn't stop reading. I was glued to the words before me. I didn't understand all the legalese, but I understood the gist by the end. I spoke to my mother without facing her.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

She didn't respond at first. I finally turned to see her stumble to the bed and drop down onto it. The empty liquor bottle fell from her limp paw and rolled under the bed. I heard it make a lonely patrol under there as the ocean swayed it back and forth. She stared at me with mournful, bloodshot eyes as she struggled to remain sitting upright. I'd never seen her this drunk before, which was saying something. When she finally spoke, her words melted in places so they were nearly unintelligible, but to her credit, she scowled and concentrated, forcing them to make sense again.

"Shidda had no... no... Had no choice." She swallowed, looked at me again with a pain that broke my heart. My anger at her was dead, at least for the moment. She was insane, mad with paranoia, but at least I understood now why she'd fought me so hard on the treasury vessel issue. "I din' wanna. Made me. I was scared to godoo priz'n. Fought so hard to b'free. They wanneda take it." She dropped her face into her paws and sobbed.

I turned back to the stack of papers.

REPUBLIC OF HEPHASIA

LEGAL RELEASE OF

Adrianna Geist

ON THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS:

The papers went on to list the details of said conditions, which basically amounted to thus: Adrianna Geist was to supply the Republic with a minimum of twenty slaves each year, stolen from Autocracy ships, to fill out the ranks of prisoners in the work camps throughout the Republic. The papers went on to list how many slaves had to be supplied to which camps, and their locations. And sure enough, The Pit was right down near the bottom. Six slaves per year.

"I hate it," she sobbed. "I hate me. I wish they'd killed me."

I sat down next to her and put my arm around her. The moment I did, she wrapped herself up in me and buried her face in my soaking-wet fur, letting it muffle the sound of her wailing sobs. I couldn't hate her anymore, I realized. No matter how much I wanted to. No matter how badly I wanted to be angry enough to hurt her after all she'd done to us, I couldn't. Not now.

"How did this happen?" I finally asked, when she'd cried herself to silence.

Apparently, it had sobered her up some, because she didn't need to choose her words quite so carefully now. "Mebbe three months after I took c'ntrol of the Sea Fang," she said, sniffling. She pulled away from me and sat up a little, but kept herself firmly in my grasp. The vulnerability of the motion frightened me--I'd never seen her this open before. The hardness and the cold outer shell, and the cruel smirk, those had wavered before, but never fallen. Never showed her like this, exposed like a nerve.

"Were caught hittin' a merchant vessel comin' outta Ret... Edder... Edderrak's Folly. Marines took cannons to'r starboard an' crippled us in jus' two broadsides." She stared into the middle distance, lost in the memory. Funny enough, she didn't look haunted by it--she looked exhilarated. Mom was a fighter through and through. Whether the cruelty and the callousness were facades or not, the joy she took in a scrap clearly wasn't. She stayed that way for a few minutes, and I thought maybe she'd given up on telling the story, or passed out sitting up. But eventually she spoke again, a little less slurred than before.

"They hauled us to port. Gave me an ultimatum. I could hang with my crew for my crimes, or work for 'em. Prison labor bringin' supplies for the Republic military was too slow, needed more bodies, but nobody wanted to volunteer to work saltpeter and sulfur mines next to hard criminals for no pay. So they needed more criminals. But people were already all restless under the wartime restrictions. Signing stricter laws to send more people to prison? Woulda caused riots. So, they steal some slaves from the Autocracy. They blackmail a lotta pirates this way, turns out. Only now, I'm a 'privateer,' I guess. Ha. Ha ha." She giggled for almost a minute, but it was quiet and sad, no mirth in it whatsoever. "Crew refused, to a man. Old-school pirates, all of 'em. Codes of tradition'n all that. I... didn't have that. I just didn't wanna die. I said yes."

I stared at my lap for a long while, fidgeting a little against her. I felt uncomfortable, but I didn't want to move my arm. I was worried she'd clam up again if I broke physical contact. It was actually a relief to finally begin to understand who my mother really was, and I wanted more. Despite the ugly truth the tale revealed about the world I lived in, I needed to hear it. I needed to have a mother, and maybe this would make it happen.

She rested her head on my shoulder, ears pressing against the back of my neck. One of them twitched softly, sending a little shiver down my spine from the way it tickled. It... caused reactions that I wasn't proud of. I mean, despite everything she'd done, she was still a beautiful woman. Roughened edges from years at sea, maybe, but she really did look like an older version of Nola, and obviously I had strong feelings about her. I swallowed and tried to refocus on her story. "What happened then?" I prodded.

She shook her head against my shoulder. "They hanged. All of 'em. R'public refitted the ship, squibbed it. I took on a new crew of low-lifes, an' thus began my career stealing slaves." She sniffled. "Ugly work. I killed a lotta men. Tried to ease my conscience by saying, 'They were slave-traders, Addie, an' good riddance,' but it din' help much. I mean, so was I."

I recalled a name Nola had mentioned before. I had trouble recalling it most days, and the thought made me queasy. "And Tofa?"

Geist took a shuddering breath. "Tofa was jussa girl, no older'n I was. She lost her kitten on 'er slave ship, on the voyage east, an' I was abouda pop. Figured, couldn't hurt havin' a nursemaid, someone to take care of my babies while I captained. She was good, too. Loved you two like you were her own. An' then..." I felt her swallow through my fur, followed by a soft belch that would have been comical if not for the frightened wheeze hidden under the noise. "Then your daddy found me.

"He musta commandeered a ship, or stole it. He gave chase for a month, mebbe more. We ran outta supplies. Fin'ly hadda face 'im in battle. He din' have no cannons on that thing, or we'd-a been screwed all over 'gin. But I knew what he could do in a fight, seen 'im use his Sight b'fore. I sent my crew on his ship to fight 'im off, an'--hic--ordered one of 'em to make for their anchor. Weigh it while ev'r'body else was p... peroc... preoccupied, sabotage it. They did, but what I din' tell 'em was..." She faltered then, quietly shaking with fresh, silent sobs. I suspected I knew what was coming, but I had to ask it anyway.

"What didn't you tell them?" After a moment's hesitation, I added, "Mom?"

She looked up at me with blearygreen eyes and I saw the guilt eating her soul, and I knew my suspicions were correct, even without her confirming them a second later. "Soon as th'anchor weighed on Father's ship, I sailed away. None of 'em were a match for Father, but they kept him at it long enough to sabotage th'anchor an' stick 'im in place while I ran like a fuggin' coward. Only two people stayed on th'ship. Tofa, and one o' the swabbies. He been too afraid to join the fight. Hid in the bilges. When I foun'im, I thought 'bout putting a bullet in his brain, but..." She shrugged miserably. "I was jus' much a coward as he was. We made a deal. Neither would tell what the other done. He been by my side ever since. Never had a more loyal first mate, never will."

I'd seen Itsuo in action. The idea of him cowering in fear of anything was completely alien to me. Had he really changed so much over the years? I shook my head. "Is he really that terrifying?" I didn't have to say who, she knew immediately.

"Yes," she whispered. "I knew he'd keep huntin' me--well. Huntin'you. So I went to Reggie an' his stupid Pit, an' I told 'im if he din' take Tofa an' my babies, an' hide 'em--hide you--I'd tell the world he was buyin' slaves to pad 'is numbers at the Pit. I didn't tell him there was no way I could do that, seein' how the Republic would hunt me down an' kill me for breakin' my con... condinish... m'release. He had no idea th'other prisons were doin' the same thing--none of 'em did, I bet. Thought you'd be safe out there in th'dezzert." She sniffled again, nuzzling my chest, soaking her tears with the cotton of my shirt. The motion felt nicer than I was comfortable with.

"Public dun' even know 'bout the Pit, the Republic keeps it off th'books. It's worse'n most of the labor camps 'cause of the fumes in th'Maw. They eat through prisoners like candy. I never thought for a second he'd put you in there to work. I... I'm sorry." She slumped against me again, clearly exhausted.

"Why didn't you come see us?" I asked quietly. I tried my damnedest not to sound like a hurt child, but I failed. I mean, I was a hurt child, so I guess I had a right.

"Shame," she said plainly. "I was ashamed I'd pawned my kids off on somebody else t'be their problem. I told m'self it was 'cause word might get back somehow, back to Father, that I been askin' after people at the Pit, might go there lookin' fer you. An' that was true, I guess, but it wun' the reason. Reason is that I'm a fuckin' coward."

I suppose I should have been angry, but honestly it just felt so relieving to know the truth that I hugged her. She stiffened under my arm, but she didn't pull away. Eventually, one paw rested softly on the small of my back. "I don' deserve this," she whimpered.

"No," I agreed softly, "but I need to give it to you."

"Okay."

We stayed like that for a while. I don't know how long. At least a few minutes. I didn't want to let up. I hated the series of events that had turned my mother into an emotional shell of an Anthro, but I sure didn't hate her anymore. I understood her, and that made hating her too difficult. And frankly, I was tired of hating her. It was fucking exhausting. I liked having a mom I could hug, even if it never happened again.

"I should get back to my quarters," I finally muttered.

"Don't," Mom whispered. "Please. Just... just a little longer?"

I didn't expect that much sentiment out of her even now, and it caught me off-guard. "O-okay."

"Lie down wi' me? 'm tired."

Somewhere in the back of my head, an alarm bell rang, but against my better judgment, I ignored it. "Sure," I said, lying down on the bed. Gods, it was ridiculously soft compared to the straw mattress Nola and I had. It felt like our bed in the suite back at the Spike. I swore then and there that I'd own a bed this comfortable some day. Mom nestled herself against me and wrapped my left arm around her like a blanket. Her snout was against my chest, but even from here I could smell the rum on her breath. It smelled sweet.

"'m not good at th'whole encouragin' thing," she murmured, ears occasionally flicking against my shoulder, "but 'm proud of you an' Nola. I been hard on you, but you don' give an inch. I don' give you two enough credit for that. I ain't keeping you on the ship to punish you. I hope you know that."

I turned my head away from her, a bitter taste in my mouth. I couldn't reply--what was there to say to that?

"My beautiful babies," she murmured, paw clutching my shirt. "Grew up so strong. So beautiful. I... I unnerstan' why you're attracted to each other."

I swallowed hard, mouth suddenly dry. Gods, please don't let her be saying what I thought she was saying...

"Am I beautiful, Leon?" She didn't look at me as she said it, but her paw had stopped clutching my shirt, instead resting gently against my belly and rubbing me slowly through the thin layer of fabric. It was... having effects.

I should have lied, or at least not answered. But I couldn't. I was too honest for my own damn good. "Yes," I whispered hoarsely.

Mom's paw slid down to the rope belt holding up my pants, then past it, one finger gently tracing a circle on my upper pelvis. Do not get a boner, Leon. Do not do not do not do goddammit there it goes.

She clearly noticed. "Glad you think so," she murmured. "You're a better son than I am a mom. I wanna be better. Mebbe I can... make it up to you?" Gods, it was so corny, but damned if it wasn't working. I felt myself stiffen, my erection creeping up my pelvis toward her touching fingers, until the tip prodded at her finger through the rough fabric of my pants. I closed my eyes and tried to get my racing heart under control.

"Mmh," Mom whispered. The sound was so charged with need that my cock twitched against her fingertip. "Good boy," she murmured, the words slurring together slightly. "Good son." Her fingers brushed the head of my cock through my pants, and I squeezed her shoulder with my paw, maybe a little harder than I meant to, but if it bothered her, she didn't show it. She just kept tracing her fingers up and down the length.

I'd had copious amounts of sex with my sister, but this felt like something else entirely. Whatever it was, gods damn it all if it didn't feel good. I should have run screaming out of her cabin. Instead, I nuzzled my lips against her ears. She took it as encouragement and began untying the knot holding my rope belt cinched. "Lessee what I made," she mumbled. The inherent filthiness of the statement sent my heart racing. At least now I knew where Nola and I got our urges from.

Mom worked open my pants and tugged them down. I lifted my butt to let her, and her paw immediately wrapped around my member and stroked it. "Not bad," she muttered. "Not real big, not real small. Feels nice."

"Thanks," I said, not sure how else to respond.

She turned her droopy, bloodshot eyes to me. "Can... can you call me 'mom' again?" she murmured, staring pleadingly at me.

The fact that she was asking that question with her paw wrapped around my dick nearly broke me. "Y-yeah," I panted. "Yeah, Mom."

She drew herself up to my face, pressing her lips to mine. Her tongue pushed its way into my mouth and probed eagerly. I could taste the booze on her breath. It was sweet, but not particularly pleasant. I ignored it--a small inconvenience next to making out with my own mother. She stroked me a little faster, still licking all over inside my mouth. I moaned into her maw and lifted her shirt up with my one paw. Mom pulled back and pushed herself up to a sitting position. "No," she said, "lemme geddit." She fumbled with her shirt for a few moments before finally extricating herself from it, her perky breasts each nestled deliciously in a cup of a red satin bra. I would never have imagined a woman like Adrianna Geist wearing something so feminine, but I wasn't going to complain, either. She followed my gaze and smirked. "On or off?"

"On," I whispered hoarsely. "Gods, please leave it on."

She liked that answer, grinning ear to ear as she fumbled with her pants. I was delighted to learn, as she yanked them down, that she had matching panties. My cock throbbed with aching need at the sight of her. I couldn't believe this gorgeous Lepid had birthed any_kittens, let alone twins. She was lean and firm, muscles in her abdomen and arms rippling gently with each movement. I wondered what on her _wasn't hard. She guided my paw to her chest, and I squeezed her left breast eagerly. "Never fed you two," she whispered mournfully. "Never gave you milk. Lemme feed you now."

She clambered over me, her breasts hovering inches above my face, and I leaned my snout forward to kiss the top of each of them. She pulled one out of its cup, and I wasted no time wrapping my lips around her thick, puffy nipple. I sucked hard, chewing with my teeth. She moaned lustily with each pinch of my teeth against her nipple. "Harder baby," she moaned. "Suck it all out." There was nothing to suck out, of course--she hadn't produced milk in sixteen years--but that didn't stop me from trying. I sucked harder, and she hissed with pain, gently stroking my hair. "Fuck, that's good." So Mom liked it rough too. Guess Nola had more in common with our mother than she might like.

I reached up my paw and pulled her other breast free, kneading one roughly while I worked my teeth over the other one, biting and sucking hard. I knew I was leaving angry red and purple bruises all over under her fur, and it made me so hard it hurt. The whole time, Mom moaned and growled and gripped my hair, pushing me against her tits. I started squeaking. "My boy likes?" She knew the answer already, obviously, but I nodded enthusiastically. She finally pulled her chest away from me. "I wanna taste my baby," she growled. "Lie back."

I did as she commanded, and she turned around, pushing her tightly-toned butt in my face as she bent her head down to my crotch. I watched her ass cheeks bob up and down, the thin string of red satin doing little to hide her puffy labia, as her mouth slid onto my dick. I moaned at the warm heat, the gentle brushing of her teeth against the shaft of my cock, and her probing tongue licking all over every inch. She pulled off, stroking roughly, as she turned back to me and mumbled, "How'm I doing, baby?"

"G-good," I panted, grasping her ass cheeks and squeezing. Holy shit, they were firm. "I love you, Mom."

I didn't mean it. I didn't hate her anymore, but that wasn't the same as loving her. I didn't know if I'd ever get to _that_point, but I wanted her to feel okay with what was happening. I didn't know whether she was or not--just because she'd instigated didn't mean she was comfortable--and if not, maybe this would put her at ease.

When she looked back at me, there was a tinge of sadness in her eyes that told me she knew it wasn't true, but she didn't stop. Instead, she said, "Show Mommy how much you love her," and pushed her ass into my face. I mean, who was I to argue? I pulled those cute satin panties down with my paw and buried my snout in her ass crack.

I ran my tongue from her clit, through her vaginal folds, all the way up to the top of her ass crack, then back down and to the top again. She whimpered as she refilled her mouth with my dick, moaning arounditand sending pleasant tingles up my pelvis. Her tongue lashed furiously against my glans as I pushed my own tongue against her anus. Her fur tasted like sea spray and sweat, and I licked every inch of her crack clean while she dripped saliva down my shaft. I knew I was close, and I couldn't wait to fill my mother's muzzle with my load.

She seemed to sense it was coming, maybe by the throb of my dick in her mouth, because she wrapped her lips around the head of my dick and stroked me hard, tongue writhing against the tip. I groaned directly into her rectum as I pushed my tongue inside her. I slipped two fingers into the hot, sopping wet folds of my mother's pussy and slid them around. As her stroking and licking built me up to a crescendo, I pumped my fingers frantically, savoring the taste of her inner rectum whileI unleashed my first load of cum into her mouth. She moaned so loudly and lustily, no one on deck could have any doubts as to what was happening in here. Nor could Nola, I realized, who was one thin wooden wall away from us. Far from killing the mood, it made me cum harder into Mom's inviting snout. She swallowed loudly, not letting a single drop of her son's seed escape her lips. As I released one last spurt into her maw, legs quivering from the ecstasy of it, I pushed a third finger into her pussy and wriggled them. She bucked against my fingers, licking the last strings of jizz off my dick as she moaned. Oh gods, please forgive me, Nola, but I couldn't helpmyself...

Mom finally pulled away from my paw. She turned around, grabbed it, and sucked each of my fingers clean of her juices. "You like how I taste?" she growled. I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just nodded dully. "Mmh, not tired out yet, are you?" I shook my head, and she grinned. "Good." She sat down at a slight angle so she could pull off her panties, then tugged my pants down my legs. She stopped at my ankles, where my cloth-wrapped feet kept the pants from coming off, and frowned quizzically before giving up on them. "Whatever. Jus' need your cock anyway."

She crawled up my body before kneeling over my dick, which had already gone soft. She sat down on it, letting it slide in between her pussy lips, and soaked it in her hot moisture as she slid back and forth on it. She hardly began before I started stiffening again. Mom stroked my hair roughly and laced her paws behind my neck, using me as leverage to push and pull herself along my thickening cock. "Are you ready, Leon?" she whispered, panting lustily. "You ready to fuck your mama?"

Gods, I couldn't even respond with words, it was so lewd. I just shoved my paw into my crotch and guided my dick into my mother. The second I slid into those warm, dripping folds, I knew I wasn't going to last long, didn't matter I'd just came once already. I was squeaking almost frantically now. "Gods, yes," Mom snarled, gyrating hard on me, paws pressed against the wall as she stared hungrily into my eyes.

"M-Mom," I whimpered. "Gonna c...uhhhn..."

"Yes," she moaned, "cum in the hole you came out of!"

That was it. I began squirting inside her. But no matter how hard I squeezed with my paw to try and ease her gyrating hips, Mom wouldn't slow down. She just thrust against me as her cervix was coated with shot after shot of her own son's seed. She wailed, her vaginal walls contracting with her orgasm, and squirted her pussy juice all over my stomach. And even then, she didn't stop gyrating, even whenher legs quivered and her voice gave out, even aftershe collapsed against me, tongue lolling out of her mouth and lapping frantically against my neck, clenching pussy having already milked every drop of jism from my dick into her eager cunt, even still she rode me. My dick never softened--she wouldn't let it.

"Mom," I gasped, "Mom--please--"

Nobody was home anymore. The booze and the orgasm had eradicated coherent thought in Mom's head, and despite every other inch of her body lying limply against her dear son, her hips kept pumping up and down on my dick. "Cuh..." she drooled, licking her own saliva out of my neck fur as she tried to speak words. "Cuhhm... cum in meh... more..."

Fuck. Well, okay. Didn't want to disappoint my own mother.

I gripped her ass cheek with my paw, pushing my dick up to meet her gyrations, licking the inside of her drooped open mouth. She didn't seem like she was there, for the most part, but her tongue occasionally lifted up to meet mine. I lapped eagerly at the spit in her mouth as if I hoped for a contact buzz if I drank enough of it, and basked in the sensation of my erection sliding in and out of the cum-soaked depths of my mother's pussy.

I lasted significantly longer this time, eventually rolling over and holding myself aloft one-pawed while I fucked Mom in missionary. She lay sprawled out, gurgling with mindless ecstasy while I thrust into her with all the force I could manage, smacking her head against theheadboardrepeatedly. I didn't care, and she was too out of it to mind. I wasn't really thinking about safety precautions anyway. I just wanted to fill my mom over and over. Maybe I could knock her up too. The thought of impregnating Momdrove me over the edge, and I felt my balls tighten as I emptied another load into her. This orgasm was a little easier to take, since I was able to push deep inside and stay there, letting my cock twitch and quiver in its hot, wet sheath.

I rolled over and curled up next to her. She hadn't moved, still staring vapidly at the ceiling as cum poured from her gaping pussy onto her sheets. Exhausted, I licked her cheek and closed my eyes. Soon I'd have to face Nola and explain what happened. But, not now.

Now I could rest.

* * *

I woke up long before Geist did. She lay snoring in a puddle of sweat and our cum, but I couldn't handle the stickiness of it. I rolled away from her, pulled on my clothes, and moved toward the door. I paused to look back at her, naked and messy. I guess to see how I felt about what had just happened. Unsurprisingly, it was a mixed bag. I'd enjoyed myself immensely, but I also knew I shouldn't have done it. Explaining this to Nollie wouldn't be easy, either. It had been fun, and I felt closer to her now, but I knew in a purely academic sense that this was a wildly unhealthy way to strengthen your bond with your mother. I still liked it.

My gaze drifted to the desk, and I moved over to it to put the papers back in their hidden compartment. I shuffled them neatly into a stack and slid them back in, pushing the false drawer bottom into place until it clicked. Then I grabbed the ledger, but before I put it back, I opened it and read curiously. I didn't think pirates needed ledgers. I guess it couldn't hurt to keep track of all the booty you'd pilfered over the years, plus trying to figure out which slaves to send where--

My mouth quickly dried up. This wasn't that kind of ledger.

Inside, Geist had taken meticulous notes on the sailing routes of dozens of Autocracy ships, from merchant vessels to fishing boats to scows to slave ships. All in neat columns showing the ship's name, the captain (if known), the type of vessel, its load-out (including jollies, gigs, cargo space, number of masts, and whether or not it had cannons), its common cargo, and its routes during the different months.

I read excitedly for several minutes, occasionally peering over at my mother to see if she'd stirred. She hadn't, so I kept reading. While I read, I found myself making mental notes. Then, when I'd formulated my thoughts precisely, I grabbed a feather pen from the desk, unstoppered her inkwell, and dipped the pen inside, carefully making minor adjustments to one of the entries; time had worn away the ink significantly, but a few minutes' work revitalized it--with a few important alterations.

If this worked, I was putting Mom in a lot of danger. But as much as I enjoyed our tryst, the cold, ugly truth was that she still had us imprisoned on the Sea Fang and we needed to escape. I could only hope she'd forgive me one day.

I slipped out of her cabin, keeping my eyes planted on the deck boards and not looking at the crew that I just knew were staring at me. I didn't look up until I pushed past Annabelle and into my cabin. I finally looked up whenI ducked through the doorway, latching it shut behind me. Nola sat at the desk with Kiba bouncing on her knee. The little kitten squealed and giggled, paws in the air in my direction. Val slept soundly in his crib-crate. I dropped to one knee in front of Nola. She stared at me, hurt plain on her face.

"I know," I whispered hoarsely, "I'm sorry. I... I have no excuse. But there's so much we need to discuss. I know why Geist only hits slave ships. I know why our mother is the way she is. I--"

Nola shook her head and cut me off. "Stop. Please." I scooped Kiba off her leg and held her close, kissing her forehead. She giggled and squirmed against me, babbling happily as she smacked her paw repeatedly into my cheek. I smiled and pretended to try to eat her little fist, which she seemed to think was the pinnacle of comedy.

I finally turned back to my sister. "I... I know. But there were reasons she did what she did. And it doesn't make it okay! I'm not saying that. But if you'd just talk to her, maybe you'd see why she did it. Nollie, she... she's been through a lot. Way more than we ever knew."

Nola didn't look at me. She bent over and picked up Val, clutching his quietly stirring body against her like a drowning woman to a piece of driftwood. She gently ran a finger under his chin and stroked the soft, fuzzy fur there, eyes watering. I didn't know what to do.

"I love you," I said.

Nola glared irritably at me, but finally said,"I love you too."

"Oh!" I said, remembering what had excited me in the first place. "Fuck. I damn near forgot." I grinned feverishly as I leaned in close to her and whispered, "I have a plan. We're getting off the Sea Fang."