there is a man at the bar that has pretty blue eyes and a smile that lights up the room. he catches you staring and winks. you feign disinterest but you are wondering also what he would look like without the navy uniform ruining your view.

RESTRICT THE WANTON FLESH

he is picking glass out of your scalp with gentle hands. you ask him why a navy dog is helping a filthy rabble-rousing insurrectionist sympathizer like you. he laughs and he says; "Maybe I just like bad boys." the look he gives you makes you blush.

TRULY THERE IS NO QUICKER MEANS

you are letting him buy you a drink because you have always had a weakness for handsome men. on his fourth glass of whiskey he tells you he is starting to think you are right; about the empire, the navy, Morley, everything. he tells you he is on 'shore leave' because he refused to punish a morlish whaler that spat on his captain's boot. the bartender is cleaning his glass with a bloody rag.

BY WHICH A LIFE CAN BE UPHEAVED

"Sweet Valentín," he is calling you. "My firebrand." his navy uniform is burning in a corner of your bedroom.

AND SIFTED

he is slitting a navy sailor's throat and he is doing it without flinching. he helps you plant the bomb and when the warship explodes he kisses you. hot whale oil rains down on you but you hardly notice the searing welts it leaves.

THAN BY THE DEPREDATIONS

you are dancing with him in front of your burning ship. "My Valentín," he is whispering into your ear. siobhán has a knife in her back. "My darling Valentín."

OF UNCONTROLLED

his gentle hands are caressing you while you tug open his shirt. you tell him you love him. outside your window the spymaster's agent is putting a bullet in álvaro's head.

DESIRE

Prince Kallisarr, smiling coyly, reaching out:

WHAT AVAIL

sinéad is lying in two pieces on the cold metal docks of the naval base. she is telling you something with black eyes and whale's teeth. you can't hear her over the sound of his heartbeat pounding against your chest.

IS THE CONCOURSE

"No need for anger between us, Lord Bayle."

OF A PROSTITUTE

"As I've proven, I have an affinity for you."

THE ATTENTIONS

Lord Nathan Bayle, gasping:

OF A LOOSE COMPANION

"Oh, my. Kallisarr, your skin is so warm, it burns."

NOTHING

while you are lying in your bed with him a spark from the fire devouring your ship settles in his hair. he turns to ash in your arms.

AND WHAT OF THE FRUIT

douglas is screaming at you to run and then he is cut off by the agent's sword. his head hits the ground before his body does.

OF SUCH UNIONS

a fleet captain slits ana's throat. she meets your gaze and smiles one last time before she dies. her corpse is singing a whale's lament when a man in all black slams the pommel of his sword into your skull.

ONLY SORROW IS BORN

you are looking for him as you fall to the ground. the fleet captain blocks your view. rivers of blood run from her sword and she kneels down and says; "you pathetic fool." the agent joins her. you know what is coming. you look her in the eye and spit your severed tongue onto her boot.

ONLY MISERY

the interrogator is dragging him in and he is beaten and bloody but his pretty blue eyes glint with steel and you cannot be fooled. not anymore. ana's song is echoing in the old stone walls while you are hissing and spitting and trashing in your restraints. he laughs. "Their blood is on your hands, my sweet, stupid Valentín."

IS MULTIPLIED

he is stroking your cheek. you cannot help but lean into his touch — you loved him. ana grows louder. you ask, purplish light beginning to shine through cracks in the old stone; was any of it real? was it all lies?

WITHIN THESE THINGS

deafening whalesong drowns out his reply. the room bursts open and spreads out across an endless expanse of blue and lavender. you are pulled out of the chair by a hand — ice cold and clammy, like a drowned corpse — and when you look down you meet a pair of black, inhuman eyes, like chips of flint set into a dead man's sockets.

THE OUTSIDER DWELLS.