Page 17 of Drift: Willa & Koy
He met my eyes in a silent agreement.
“If Emilia dies and her contracts die with her, every merchant and trader in the Narrows will be tearing each other apart for a seat at that table. And it won’t just affect them. The guild, the Trade Council, it would disrupt every facet of our trade, our ports, our copper, everything.”
“We don’t know that she isn’t making arrangements.”
“Maybe she is. Maybe she isn’t.”
“We don’t even know if it’s true, Willa.” His voice rose. “You’re putting a lot of stock into a rumor you heard at a tavern from a drunk deckhand.”
He was right. But I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d had last night, like I was holding my breath. Like I was carrying a secret that wasn’t mine.
“I think we should tell West. Just let him know that—”
“No,” Koy answered, cutting me off. “No way.”
“Why not?”
“Because that is the exact opposite of staying impartial in trade business. You can’t just tip off theMarigoldevery time we have valuable information.”
“That’s not what I mean. I just think we should let him know,” I pressed. “Just in case. He could go there, make sure that nothing’s going on.”
“It’s none of our business.”
“How can you say that?” I gaped at him. “If this is true, it could affectallof us.”
“Traders and merchants rise and fall. That’s how things go. This is no different.”
“It is and you know it,” I said. “Imagine if someone from the Unnamed Sea found out before our own Trade Council. We can’t just keep this to ourselves.”
“Yes, we can. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Koy.”
“How are we supposed to run like a real port if we’re passing on rumors from trading ships and getting mixed up in their affairs? There’s supposed to be a separation between us and them. You know that.”
“I also know that’s not how ports really work. They break those rules all the time.”
“It’s howwework. How weagreedto work. Those ports have the luxury of ships needing them. They have villages and cities and resources. We haven’t earned the right to break the rules yet. This is the first of many times we’ll be in this position. We’ll have ships from the Narrows and the Unnamed Sea docked side by side every single day. You think we won’t hear things?”
I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to think.
“You keeping saying you want to make your own way, Willa? Then do it.”
I glared at him. “That is what I’m doing. I’m here. I left everything, gave all of my copper to be here.”
“And now you want to run to West the moment you feel like you need to.”
“That’s not what I’m doing! I’m not running to anyone!” I was shouting now, and I didn’t care who out on the docks could hear me.
“Have you broken from him or not?”
I stared at him.Brokenwasn’t the right word. I’d never be broken from my brother. But the real question Koy was asking me was what I was choosing. West and theMarigoldand my life before, or Jeval and the port and my new life here. With him.
“I have.” I breathed. “You know I have.”
“Then you know you can’t send a message to West.”
I grit my teeth, eyes pinned to the floor as heat licked my face. Koy was the only one seeing this clearly. It wasn’t clean or simple, but the bottom line was that there were consequences we could both face if I inserted myself into an unfolding crisis of this magnitude. We had to be impartial. And Koy wasn’t wrong about the fact that it could all be a lie. I could be making all of this into something it wasn’t.