Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
It doesn’t help that he’s handsome. He doesn’t have the refined blue blood of Aerik which shows in his smooth skin and stiff posturing, but what the captain has is both rugged and shadowy. Enigmatic. His jaw is sharp under his beard, chin strong, his nose distinctive but doesn’t overpower his face. Lips that are full and expressive. His low dark brows give a brooding quality to his dusky blue eyes, yet even though he looks dangerous—even though he is dangerous—there’s always a twinkle to them. Though it speaks more to his wickedness than to his frivolity.
The most mysterious thing about him is the lack of scarring he has on his face. He doesn’t have the weathered sea face of a sailor, or the marks and blemishes of someone who has no doubt been involved with many skirmishes. The pirates I’ve heard stories about all have missing eyes covered with eye patches and scars running down their faces or missing limbs. His crew all seem very intact and rather fresh-looking.
Because they’re monsters, I hear Daphne’s voice in my head. All of them.
And yet I was a monster once too.
“And how are we this morning, your ladyship?” the captain says as he strides over to me.
“This morning?” I exclaim.
A corner of his lips curls into a crooked smile. “You mean you don’t know how long you slept for?”
I blink. The last thing I remember was sitting back down in the corner of the cage after I threw the water at him. I must have fallen asleep but I didn’t think I’d slept that long.
“And you haven’t even touched your food,” he says, eyeing the bag. “Well, if you don’t mind, I might have to take the rum back. I thought it would help you with the pain, emotional and, well, otherwise,” he nods at me, alluding to the brand, “but…”
He crouches down and reaches through the bars for the bag, sifting through it for the bottle, and before I know what’s happening I’m launching forward, my finger splayed out and I dig my nails into his forearm, deep enough to draw blood.
He yelps and withdraws his arm, holding it to his chest.
“Aye, alright, Princess, you can keep the rum.”
“You deserve that and more,” I tell him.
The truth is, I acted out of a much older instinct. It was as if I had claws again. My fingernails are short and stubby and only did minor damage, but still I’m surprised that I was able to even break the skin.
I almost apologize.
Almost.
I swallow it down instead.
“I’m merely claiming what’s mine,” I add.
His brows raise, wrinkling his forehead. “Me? Or the rum?”
“The rum,” I say coldly.
“It’s all yours then,” he says, gesturing to it. “My apologies for even thinking otherwise.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “So are you saying that I was asleep all night here in the corner of this cage and you were in your bed over there?”
Another hint of a smile. “Aye,” he says.
“And I’m to believe you just stayed there and didn’t…”
“Come over here and pester you? No. You were knackered, Princess, but I don’t doubt you would have awakened and plunged your little claws into me had I even the thought of touching you. Which I didn’t.”
I mull over that for a moment. I believe him. I was tired but I’m also so on edge that my instincts would have woke me had he come near me at all. At the very least, I would have heard the cage open.
I guess I had been through so much that I slept like the dead.
And he’s still watching me, that intense look in his eyes ever-present.
“Need an escort to the privy?”
“I don’t need an escort,” I retort. But the moment he mentions the toilet, I realize I really have to use it. I know most sailors use the “head” at the front of the ship, which affords them no privacy at all, but on the royal ship, Aerik and I and some of the servants had private toilets to use. I’m hoping this ship isn’t that much different.
Regardless, I’m not going to do my business in a bucket with him here. I may have lost a lot of pride, but I still have some.
“But you’ll have an escort nonetheless,” he says. “I’ll stay outside the door and keep you on a leash. Just in case you decide to go out the window. Just remember we are very far from land and I’ve seen you in the water. You’re not very good at swimming.”
He has no idea how much that last sentence irks me.
He goes to the table in the middle of the room where a spool of rope is and notices the knocked over crystal. He stoops down to pick it up and gives me a curious look. I don’t say anything.