Page 31 of The Worst of Them

“Maybe she’s his whore,” Thea said, her lips too thin to hide her ugly teeth. “And that’s why she creeps out of the crew’s quarters every night.”

Cecily’s cheeks flamed. No one but Morgyn had dared to insult her so boldly in prison. The other women had always resorted to cowardly whispers behind her back, too scared to say those offenses directly to her face. Their newfound bravery would not bode well for her, but she grinned anyway. “Wouldn’t that be fun. He’s practically a prince. Morgyn, weren’t you a princess once? Or twice?”

Morgyn once again ignored Cecily’s jibe. “I doubt he’d object if you slithered into his bed. You’re so pretty, after all.”

Susan frowned, looking unsure. “Slither,” she said, and her deficiency of wit came with a welcome lack of cruelty. She looked to Morgyn for affirmation and was ignored.

Cecily, too, disregarded Susan. In the back of her mind, the front door of her little home flew wide open, inviting her to remember a place and time when she’d never known what it was to ache for another person’s death.

In her ignorance of Cecily’s past, Morgyn truly thought she was safe. She assumed she only risked a flesh wound or a broken bone, but certainly not death. She didn’t think Cecily could—or would—carry through.

And why should she think that? Cecily hadn’t killed anyone in prison. She probably could have, but the only person she’d truly wanted to do away with was Morgyn, and only her desire to not be a murderer had stayed her hand.

But Morgyn wanted Cecily to try, because if she was successful, Cecily would lose everything.

A week was too long. There would be no peace, no forgetting the debts between them or settling this in any way other than blood. It was getting old and it needed to end—without Cecily losing her money or her life.

Her fingers tightened on the needle, and she almost blurted the one thing that might make them all fear her enough to leave her alone. Without thinking, without a plan—impulsive, as always, with no regard for herself or her peace beyond if this very moment when she just wanted Morgyn and her henchwomen afraid enough to leave her the hell alone⁠—

Bold things for you all to say to a murderer. What lucky girls that you’re still alive.

Her mouth opened, the words forming on her tongue and by God it would feel so good to make them afraid⁠—

But then Hester’s voice interrupted.

“Leave her be, Morgyn,” she said as she came to stand beside the trio. “Please.”

Cecily’s words shuttered to a halt so abruptly that she coughed.

Morgyn threw her arm over Hester’s shoulders. “Oh, we were only teasing.”

“We were only teasing,” Cecily agreed in the same airy tone, though her mind reeled with what she’d nearly done. She would have blurted her most cherished secret, her hidden sin that would never stop haunting her.

After a day of agonizing over this very thing, she couldn’t help but wonder what in the actual hell was wrong with her mind that it was so easily blinded.

Hester shot her a disapproving look. To the others she said, “Leave her be.”

Morgyn tapped Hester’s chin. “Alright, but only for you.” She smirked at Cecily, then reached out to tap her chin too. “It’s always such a pleasure, sweet little Ces.”

Cecily didn’t answer as the three moved off, resisting the urge to scrape the skin off her face where Morgyn’s finger had been.

Hester rounded on her. “You’ll make it worse for yourself if you fight with them.”

She lifted her brows. “We weren’t fighting,” she said, though her voice trembled, still shaken by what she’d been so close to revealing. She reached for casual, cutting humor as though that might steel her. “We were having a wonderful time. Later we’ll braid each other’s hair⁠—”

“You can have something good here.” Hester’s voice came as harsh as she’d ever heard it. “Stop fighting it and try to have a life you can love.”

Balking, Cecily said, “I’m not going to stay here. There’s better⁠—”

“Better!” Hester braced her hands on her hips. “This is the best many of us will get, and probably the best you’ll ever get. At some point, you’ve got to accept what you’ve been given and live. Fighting with the others won’t help you.”

Cecily’s breath left her all at once. The two hadn’t spoken much beyond brief greetings each morning and at supper, and being scolded certainly wasn’t her ideal reunion. “I didn’t ask her to come over here.” She didn’t bother adding that Morgyn had been testing her. Making herself a victim would impress no one on this ship, least of all herself.

“You never would,” Hester said, but it wasn’t barbed—like she understood that Morgyn was a beast, despite their rapport. “But a little kindness wouldn’t kill you. None of us has been spared hardship.”

Kindness absolutely would kill her, but she wouldn’t fight about it with Hester.

“Just be less prickly,” Hester said with a sigh.