Theodora’s face sharpened to a point.

“Shut your mouth,” she said.

And then she lunged.

Chapter 6 — The Rail

Her palm caught my shoulder hard enough to knock the breath out of me.

My heel skidded on a cleat, and for one sickening second there was no deck under me — only the cold rail biting into my palm and the black water chopping below the stern.

Someone gasped.

Someone else said my name, suddenly, as if they had just remembered I was a person.