*Raphael*
I like the way my title and name, Beta Raphael Rafe, now rolls off the tongue. Although Captain Rafe is equally as gratifying.
I have been down to the docks to check on my ship and crew, and all seems well there. I have hired a couple of extra thugs to keep watch. I wish Stephan hadn't blurted out that I have been to sea. I doubt that the Swine… the name with which I christened my uncle the first time a cat-o-nine had cut into my back… has the wherewithal or intelligence to consider that I have a ship and come looking for it, but I'm not above being prepared.
Now, I stride into Tristan's office and quirk up a corner of my mouth at the sight of my brother at his desk, looming over a mountain of ledgers. Tristan had been such a sniveling puppy as a boy… he favored our mother to
