The Marshal Is My Mate novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Fleet
The flagship stood in her dock at first light, a mile of black hull with her lamps lit.
Four thousand crew lined the gantries to watch the Marshal come aboard.
Lucan walked beside him up the long ramp, in the dark blue coat of a consort of the fleet.
Corin walked behind them with a case of papers and a blank, patient face.
Garrick had not spoken since the car.
He had said good morning, and he had held Lucan's hand across the seat, and then he had gone quiet.
Lucan knew the quiet by now.
He waited until they reached the landing under the bridge, where the crowd was thin.
"Say it," he said.
"Say what?"
"Whatever you've been chewing on since the gate."
Garrick stopped.
The wind from the dock ran through his black hair.
"Perrin is on the second transport," he said.
"I know."
"He volunteered the night after the retest. He asked for the fleet, and for this fleet. Do you know why?"
"To be near the one thing he's afraid he can't get back."
"To be near you," Garrick said.
Lucan looked at him.
"I watched you in the vault," Garrick said. "I watched your face when he knelt. You were tired, and you were kind. And I thought: he'll be here, and Lucan has six years with him, and a man doesn't throw that away in one morning."
"Garrick."
"You walked up to me to make him watch. If he watches and he's sorry, and he's falling apart in front of you..." His throat worked. "Then the thing is done. You've won. You don't need me anymore."
The wind snapped the flag above them.
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