Chapter 11
“OY!” SOMEONE called on the quayside. The sound was loud in the fog that so often blanketed the harbour.
Zaina jumped. There he was. That was sure to be Nayek and she wasn’t ready for this. No, not at all. She didn’t have the information he wanted. None of the noble families had responded to her letters yet and her new plan—to observe boats—had not been successful either.
She straightened from where she had been, bolting shut the panel that gave access to the back end of an engine’s boiler, a little trap door with a narrow ladder that led into a room full of gears and pistons. The engine was idling, drowning out all but the loudest sounds from the quay.
Zaina walked to the ship’s railing, mentally preparing for the excuses that she had figured out over the last few days. I’v
