(262 words.)
She found the book across the room in a corner, lying haphazardly on its spine with the pages spilling open. The whole ship was admittedly a disaster right now, but she'd been pretty careful with the books, and she didn't remember dropping this one there. It looked suspiciously like it had been thrown.
She crouched down to pick it up, then turned to face Daud, who was pretending to sleep on the cot. She flipped the book over in her hands so the flaking gold of the words The Knife of Dunwall was clearly visible and raised an eyebrow. "Not a fan, I take it?"
Daud opened one eye, then shook his head with a snort. "I can't believe you own a copy of that," he muttered.
"I was curious how it made me look," Billie said with a shrug. "If it makes you feel better, I didn't spend any money on it."
"If you wasted your talents stealing it, I'm even more disappointed." He sat up slowly, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Load of nonsense."
Billie laughed, opening the book and flipping through the pages. "I don't know, they got a couple things pretty right. I think someone might have given an interview." She glanced back at him over the edge of the cover, smiling. "My bets are on Rinaldo. Never could keep his mouth shut."
Daud ran a hand over his face, shaking his head again, and shot her an unamused look through his fingers. "The next time you leave," he warned, "I'm dropping that into the sea."