Chapter 82: Book 1: Chapter 28 (Part 2 of 2)

The rest of the voyage was uneventful. A few critters in the lake decided to come and have a look at us but were deterred from bothering us. A benefit of the spyglass in my inventory was that when I was onboard, we not only knew the location of water-borne threats, but the ship’s hull exuded a mild repellent aura to those drawn to our presence.

The aura wouldn’t work on anything strong enough to give us any actual trouble but did prevent us from being bothered by lower grade mobs which would have slowed us down. Not great for grinding, but time was of the essence right now. I could turn the aura off in the future to draw the XP in.

I’d kept Anastasia company in Navigation and fielded various questions from our passengers. We still had one of Luca’s goons in the Brig and Regina asked for permission to interrogate him for information on Luca Gattosi. I didn’t see any reason to deny such a reasonable request but did insist on being present.

Raven led the questioning, and we didn’t learn anything new, but it was amusing to watch the prisoner wet himself from her righteous fury.

Raven didn’t exactly warm up to me during the trip, but she did at least stop referring to me as that ‘slaving pirate scum’ and settled on ‘degenerate wastrel’ which I thought was progress.

We sailed down the Saginaw River and Regina talked me into a quick pitstop in Bay City as we passed through to allow Governor Reynolds to locate the mayor and use his class’s ability on him, so he accepted Tricky Dicky as Sovereign of Michigan State. That didn’t take long and soon enough they were offloading their people onto a quay in Saginaw.

I slipped away during the organised chaos and returned to my quarters.

Trisha and Shana were still inside. They had cleaned both themselves and the room and were now fully clothed much to my unsurprised disappointment.

“Torin!” Shana yelped as soon as I closed the door. “This silly fool wants to leave and follow after the Governor. I’ve been trying to convince her for the last hour she should stay with us. Tell her she has to stay,” the dark-haired elf woman demanded and then blushed as I glared at her for her impertinence.

There was a brief look of concern in Trisha’s eyes which I assuaged immediately.

“I’m not going to make you stay Trisha,” I assured her and sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. “I mean, I could, but I won’t,” I followed up with a cheeky grin.

“I’m sorry, Shana,” Trisha said with genuine regret. “Today has been extraordinary, it really has, but being a real reporter is what I’ve always dreamed of, and this is my chance to be there and witness the birth of a new nation. To be the one to document it all. I can’t give that up, even for the most mind-blowing sex of my life.”

“But…” Shana started.

“Shana, she has made her decision and we are going to respect it,” I interrupted her firmly. “If Trisha changes her mind she knows where to find us.”

“Thank you, Torin. For the offer, the sex, and the lift,” Trisha said gratefully and moved in and pressed her lips to mine.

She got up from the edge of the bed, but I clamped my hand around her waist and tugged her gently so that she fell into my lap.

“I’m not quite done, Miss Belmont,” I breathed into her ear. “This is a corsair’s vessel, and we aren’t renowned for keeping our word. I will respect your decision to follow your dream but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let you go, at least, not in the way you imagined.”

I held Trisha tight, but not roughly, stroking her intimately. Shana grinned and intuited what I was up to. She slipped in beside us and stroked Trisha’s thigh from the other side and nuzzled her throat with soft kisses.

Trisha moaned softly with heat. “Oh, you are the devil incarnate,” she whimpered. “What are you going to do?”

I didn’t answer with words. I summoned the Corsair’s Canon vellum parchment. The terms I set out for Trisha Belmont was a lifetime contract as an officer of my crew. The Canon even gave her a title, she would be our official spymaster. With my arms around her, I unfurled the vellum so she could read it.

“Now, my sexy little siren,” I whispered as I nibbled on her earlobe. “Once you press your thumb on the Canon, I am going to let you accompany the Governor’s party. I want you to watch them keenly and report everything they get up to, back to me. Then, when the time is right, I’m going to call you back, to us, where you belong. We both get what we want, doesn’t that sound nice?” I crooned.

Trisha couldn’t help but whimper and nod her agreement. Lost in a swirl of lust and a fair bit of influence from my social stats she extended a shaking thumb and pressed it to the vellum contract sealing her fate.

I turned her head and said, “Welcome to the crew.” Then kissed her plump lips deeply.

I tapped Shana on the shoulder, and she withdrew. I lifted Trisha out of my lap and stood us all up.

“Unfortunately, we only have a few more minutes before they finish debarking, so we are going to have to cut the pleasurable goodbye’s short,” I announced and walked over to the door, opening it up and gesturing for the ladies to precede me.

“Oh, this feels strange,” Trisha remarked and stumbled a little, unsteady on her feet. “This has happened so fast, I’m really not sure what to make of it all.”

“That will settle in a few minutes,” Shana assured her.

“Torin,” Trisha addressed me as I helped her up the stairwell. “I’m not sure how useful I will be as a spy. I had planned to observe them from afar, given Raven Reynold’s intense dislike of me.”

“Don’t worry, I think I have that handled,” I answered over my shoulder a moment later as I called a halt to our train by my cabin on the upper floor.

I dipped my head in and saw that Regina and Parker, one of the lawyers, had just finished packing up their paperwork and were almost ready to leave.

“Ah, Regina,” I announced myself brightly. “I hoped I would catch you before you departed.”

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Regina finished stowing the packed boxes into her inventory and regarded me coolly. Something in my tone must have alerted her that I was up to mischief.

“It shall need to be quick,” she said distractedly. “Richard and Raven have already left the ship and knowing them, they won’t think to wait. I don’t want to string out our entourage unnecessarily as some linger for us.”

“Of course, I understand,” I replied. “Well, as it happens, I’ve come up with a way for you to clear that favour you owe me.”

“Already?” Regina reacted in surprise.

“You remember Miss Belmont,” I said, and walked fully into the room with Trisha’s hand in mine.

“So, that’s what you were up to,” Regina huffed. “I had assumed you were knocking boots with Miss Colton.”

“Oh, I was there too. It was my idea,” Shana called out brazenly from the corridor.

That caught Regina off-guard, but she recovered swiftly. “What has Miss Belmont to do with your favour, Torin?”

“Well, my favour would be for you to embed Trisha in your entourage as a neutral observer, so she can make a record of these historic events for posterity’s sake,” I told her.

Regina just looked at me, expressionless.

“Come on, Regina, this is not an unreasonable request in exchange for what I’ve done for you?” I argued.

“You will not have to endure the fallout from my daughter when she finds out. She’ll be on the warpath when she discovers you brought her along, which will pale in comparison to the grief I’ll get from her if we embed the siren with us,” Regina countered.

“That isn’t a no,” I pointed out.

Trisha had watched the exchange with hope warring in her eyes.

“Alright, but only if you can give me a rational explanation as to what you are getting out of this?” Regina demanded.

I had prepared what to say for this already. With Raven in mind, though she was not here, I had something that was true, yet also not the genuine reason.

“Honestly, I like her and would rather have her stay with me but witnessing defining moments and reporting on them is her dream. So, I’m going to help make that happen,” then I turned and addressed the next bit to Trisha. “Although I’m also hoping if I make this happen, you’ll figure out where you belong and come running back to me and Shana.”

Turning back to Regina I finished. “I’m not gonna lie, knowing it will wind your daughter up something chronic might be an extra satisfying factor.”

Trisha smiled prettily and Regina grunted with amusement.

“Barely convincing,” Regina remarked. “But we do have a deal and I can’t see what harm, apart from Raven’s distress, this will do. Our ledger is clear, do you understand?”

“Understood,” I replied.

Regina and Parker walked past us and out into the upper deck gangway. “You have three minutes, Miss Belmont,” she called out behind her.

Trisha squealed with glee the second Regina and Parker were out of earshot. She jumped into my arms and kissed me soundly. “Thank you, Torin. I can’t believe you managed to get me an all-access pass.”

I held her to me. “Don’t forget who you truly belong with, though,” I warned her, only half-seriously.

She nodded gravely in response. “I won’t. How am I supposed to send my reports to you?”

“Hmmm,” I hummed as I mulled it over. “Use Lansing’s market. If it doesn’t have one already it should soon. You could even drop a hint to the Reynolds family that it might be a good idea. You can put your reports in a box and choose to list them for purchase by the Stormblade Harbour market only. We’ll buy them and they’ll be transferred to us.”

“Okay, I best be going. I wouldn’t want them to leave me behind,” Trisha enthused in a mixture of excitement and reluctance.

We accompanied her out onto the deck and watched as she descended down onto the quay. Parker was waiting for her and escorted her into the city at the end of their procession.

“What now?” Jackson, who had joined us on the deck, asked.

“Now, we hit up the Ionia correctional facilities and see what ‘human resources’ we have available to us. We will stop back home along the way, just to make sure everything is in order.”

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