She grinned up at me as if sensing the words I didn’t say out loud. “She really is.” She patted my leg, then moved to the side of the chair and way too close to look at the back of my head. “You’ve got a small bump but no bleeding. Does it hurt?”
“Only when I touch it.”
“Then don’t touch it.”
I snorted. “Yeah, thanks.”
She let out a small chuckle. “Tell me what happened?”
I sighed. “Reaper pushed me against the mast, and my head banged against it.”
She hummed and tsked as she turned around and started going through the many jars she had lined up on the shelves. “That boy. He’s something else.”
I snorted. Reaper sure was something else. He was a scary man whose presence alone took up a whole room.
“How’d he get his name?” My mouth asked the question before I could even comprehend what I was thinking. I’d wanted to ask before, but no one was really talking to me—except to hurl insults—so I hadn’t.
“Reaper?”
“Uh… yeah.”
She hummed. “When he first came aboardThe Black Wraithyears ago, the ship made a pit stop at the Wicklam Keys. The cap’n wanted the spoils from another ship, but the ship was bigger and had a larger crew than ours, so the idea was vetoed.There was no way we’d get out of a fight like that alive. But Reaper didn’t see it that way. He wanted to show the cap’n exactly what he’s capable of. So one night, after everyone was asleep, Reaper snuck over to the other ship and killed every single person on it. He slit their throats, so none of them even woke up until the very end. He killed them all in their sleep, then brought his prize back to theWraith, to Viper.
“Reaper has always been very good at his job. Before he even came aboardThe Black Wraith, he’d already created a bit of a reputation. After that night, people said you’d never see him coming until he reaped your soul.”
My eyebrows rose. For some reason, that story just didn’t… feel like Reaper.
Killing a whole ship full of people in their sleep? That sounded like stabbing someone in the back, and that didn’t seem right to me.
Yeah, the guy was a jerk, but I swore I could see something else in his eyes. In those pretty, dark brown eyes.
Or maybe… maybe I was just looking for something to hold on to because I thought the man was sexy. Maybe I was looking for a way to appease the guilt I felt for the attraction I had for him.
Because how in all of hellfire could I possibly find someone who’d murder that many people sexy? How?
It wasn’t right. I couldn’t like the guy.
Not when… not when he was so evil.
The guilt on his face when my head hit the mast flashed through my mind’s eye, and I couldn’t help but ask myself,is Reaper actually evil?
After Stitches finished applying her salve to my cheeks and arms, she handed over the jar and said, “Apply it every morning and afternoon until you run out, then come see me again. We’ll see if you need more or if you’ve built up a tolerance, m’kay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She smacked my arm with a grin. “Don’t call me that. It makes me sound old.”
I let out a small laugh and walked out of her tiny room. “Thanks, Stitches.”
“You’re welcome. Come see me if you need anything, Ghost.” When I looked back at her, she caught my eye. “Even if you just need a friend.”
That made my eyes want to well up with tears, but there was no way in hellfire I was letting any fall. “Thanks.”
With a nod, she went back to mixing something in a bowl, and I headed for the ladder. I had a lot to get done today before I could get some rest. I still needed to finish the main deck, clean the washroom, and polish the railings on the quarterdeck, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Reaper added something else to my list before the day was over.
Hopefully I’d be done before sunset, unlike yesterday when I didn’t finish all my tasks until well into the hours of night.
One thing was for sure on this ship, I sure as hellfire was kept busy.
