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so perhaps you would be so kind as to enlighten me?”
    â€œThat I won’t.”
    Impasse. Rue could order her to tell. But if pushed, Aggie was likely to chuck in the towel and storm off the ship, leaving Rue in a real lurch with no one supervising engineering at all.
    That was the difficulty. Rue needed Aggie’s skills more than Aggie needed Rue’s respect. It put Rue in a chronically uncomfortable position.
    â€œAt least tell me if it is likely to explode or what have you.”
    Aggie raised one red eyebrow at her. “Isn’t everything on this ship likely to explode?”
    Rue bent to look under the blanket at the casement. It was difficult to tell anything in the flickering shadows of a single boiler’s firebox.
    Aggie interposed herself, crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned against the blanket, pinning it down.
    Rue inhaled the musty scent of oil and soot. All in all, this was looking to be an extremely frustratingly evening.
Molasses over vinegar
,
she reminded herself. This had been her tactic with Aggie from the beginning. The nicer she was, the more annoyed Aggie became. It was a minor sort of revenge, but it was all Rue had to fall back on.
    â€œVery well, Miss Phinkerlington. But now I know of its existence, so you might as well carry on under more well-lit circumstances. Go to bed. There is no point ruining your eyesight over one of Quesnel’s little toys.”
    Aggie began to sputter. Either out of disgust at the concern or out of the insult to Quesnel’s inventing abilities.
    Rue was already moving away.
    â€œQuesnel,” she muttered as she closed the hatch to engineering, “has a very great deal of explaining to do.”
    â€œWhat was that?” Primrose was coming down the main stairs.
    â€œOnly talking to myself.”
    Prim was flushed.
    â€œSomething wrong up top?”
    â€œOnly that Miss Sekhmet… she is” – Primrose paused, looking for the right words – “awfully playful when she is a lioness.”
    â€œPresenting you with her belly, was she?”
    Prim looked down at her hands. “I simply” – she lowered her voice to a whisper – “can’t get over the fact that she is, you know, naked.”
    â€œShe’s a cat.”
    â€œYes, but she’s also
not
a cat.”
    Rue, being able to change shape herself, had an odd relationship with nudity. Some might even have called it Ancient Greek in its inclinations. Dama certainly did, regularly shaking his head at the goings-on of his neighbours. “Like a less oily gymnasium. One’s imagination runs positively
rampant.
”
    â€œThe werewolf uncles never seem to bother you.”
    Primrose frowned. “They’re men.”
    Rue didn’t follow that reasoning at all. “Well, I’m sorry Tasherit has offended.”
    Prim blinked wide dark eyes, afraid she had brought Rue’s ire down on the werelioness. “Oh no, it’s not that. It’s only…” She lost her train of thought. “Oh dear, I’m rather discombobulated.”
    â€œYes, seems to happen to you quite a bit around Tasherit. Why is that?”
    â€œShe’s so very foreign and…” Words failed Prim again.
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œCatty.”
    â€œMmm. If you say so. Perhaps some tea? Shall we ring?”
    Primrose grasped at the suggestion. “What a good idea. It has been a very trying night.”
    â€œTruth from the mouths of children,” agreed Rue with feeling.
    They turned towards the stateroom where they might ring for tea, when a most extraordinary noise coming from the squeak deck diverted their attention.
    â€œWhat on earth?” said Primrose.
    Rue was already running.
    It was the sound of a lioness, shrieking.
    Six men had boarded
The
Spotted Custard
by means of grappling hooks. Four were already on deck; two of these were firing at Tasherit – understandable given that fact that the