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‘A hae said and left the cabin

She was still staring at the door when he returned with a cloth hammock

‘You expect me to sleep on that?’ she deh her, her body tensing even as her n that they were at least halfway to a truce When he was done she came to inspect his work

‘Edge, I shall fall out!’

‘You won’t It is harder to fall than it looks Try it’

She eyed the dun-coloured fabric and he touched the tip of her nose

‘You look like I’ve soaked it in bilge water Come now, don’t be a coward’

It was a blatant provocation, but it hit its mark She placed her hands on the hammock

‘Glaring at it won’t help, Sam You need to turn around andwell, sit on it’

She indulged in another futile glare, but did as she was told For a ht she flailed back, her feet shooting upwards She squeaked and grabbed at the cloth, sure the next thing she would see would be the ceiling as she hit the floor, but Edge steadied it

‘Very gracefully done,’ he said, his face suspiciously blank ‘Noing your feet up, but this tiet them inside’

She was te down, but she also wanted to conquer this absurd contraption After all every fool on board kne to sleep in one; she refused to admit defeat

She swung one leg up and then the other, absurdly aware of her skirts riding up This ti side to side, it wobbled back and forth like a horse trying to buck

‘You can’t sit upright in it once your legs are up Lie back,’ Edge said He sounded underwater

‘If you laugh at e’

‘Not much you can do to me from there, Princess Just lie back’

She lay back, her dress bunched under her bottoled them free and clasped the sides

‘I feel like a rumbled