Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 55551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“Okay, when you put it that way, it feels like I’m just a very terrible person.”
“I thought you celebrated being a very terrible person.”
“I celebrate being a pirate captain. Well, a pirate. Well, I mean, being a free person. But not terrible. It’s relative, you know? What’s terrible for a common person is practically required for a pirate. You can’t blame me for that.”
“I’m not blaming you for anything. I’m saying you broke the trust of one of my oldest, kindest, wisest servants, and he is now blaming himself for not seeing what you obviously were at the outset.”
“I know. I knew when I was doing it. He’s too nice a guy. I’ll apologize.”
“Good girl,” Thorn says.
Sona is not hard to find, because the house in its entirety is Sona’s domain. I locate him in the dining room, rearranging the silver in its many silver drawers. This place is refined. It’s wild, but it’s also clearly the result of many generations of refinement. Thorn is clearly not the first of his line or his kind.
I clear my throat, though I know that’s probably not actually necessary. Sona knows I’m here. I saw him twitch with slight irritation the moment I entered the room.
“Major-Domo Sona,” I say, attempting formality.
“Yes, human?”
“My name is Captain Sullivan O’Shannassay,” I say. “I should have introduced myself properly earlier. I would have, except for the fact that I was trying to escape. So…”
“Captain O’Shannassay,” he says, with an unmistakeable cool distance in his tone. This man is not a fan. “And what are you the captain of?”
“Well, I did have a ship. The Mare. I’ve been temporarily separated from it.”
“How?”
“A sort of… a little… well, there was the merest hint of mutiny, and I thought it might be best if I went ahead and gave my crew a little extra space for a while. I’m still legally the captain, though. It’s my name on the papers. I pay the insurance.”
“Is that what a pirate captain does? Pays insurance?”
“Sure. A captain does a lot of things. It’s not all theft and swashbucklery. There’s a lot of admin. To be honest, I’m very glad for the break.”
“To be honest? Are you capable of such a thing?”
Sassy. He’s very, very sassy. I suppose I can’t exactly take offense.
“I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble yesterday. I felt rather guilty about taking advantage of you that way.”
“You cannot help it. You are a human and a pirate, which means much of what you say will be a lie of some kind.”
“See, this sort of sounds like understanding, but it feels like judgement, you know?”
Sona gives me a look that suggests I am indeed being judged.
“I’m going to stay, anyway,” I tell him. “So I hope we can get over this little misunderstanding.”
“Wonderful, a human with a loose connection to the truth and hardly any understanding of the workings on the world will have free rein in the home of the alpha of the territory,” Sona says dryly. “I can see no way whatsoever in which this will inevitably be a terrible disaster.”
“Really? I can see quite a few ways this could be a terrible disaster.”
The answer to sarcasm is being deeply literal, I’ve always found.
“Indeed. If you will forgive me, I need to attend to my duties. I understand you have none, being nothing more than a general entertainment piece for the alpha.”
“I think I’m a little more than a general entertainment piece,” I say. “I’m trying to apologize here. I hope you know I’ve suffered a great deal as a result of my actions yesterday, and there’s a very significant chance that I won’t do it again.”
Sona gives me an unimpressed look. “I knew the moment I saw you that you were trouble. I endeavored to rid the city of you, but unfortunately for us all, Alpha Thorn appears to be attached to you. Every alpha has his downfall, and it is usually a matter of poor taste.”
“So, apology not so much accepted then, I take it.”
“Your apology is received with thanks,” he says. Well, that’s what his words say, but his tone tells me to fuck right off, and I suppose I can’t blame him.
9 CAPTIVITY
Thorn
We experience a few days of peace. I am beginning to believe that Suli understands and even enjoys her place with me, but I am not stupid. I do not trust her completely, so I have made arrangements to keep her safely contained when I cannot be physically with her.
“Why do you have that expression on your face?” She asks the question with sleepy suspicion as she lies naked in my bed, dripping with my seed and flushed from her recent orgasm. It is almost impossible for me not to fuck her every time we are reunited from even the shortest separation.
“I have something for you. Something you may eventually be spared, but something, for now, I think you need.”