“And what, Dusk preserve us, might that be?” I asked haughtily, hoping he could not see my growing nerves.
His smile widened, yet stopped well before it reached his eyes as he replied, “You’ll see.” He raised his cutlass high. “Finish this. We don’t need to trouble him.”
Before I could pull a spell, three female pirates rushed me, shoving me backwards into the captain’s cabin. I stumbled, then went sprawling onto the floor.
One of the women guffawed. “Gotta get you pretty for the captain,sorceress.”
My lip curled in distaste. Why was she saying it like that? Of course I was a sorceress, tried and tested and given my badge of office by the headmaster of Dewspell Academy herself.
“She’s right,” crooned another pirate, her dark hair in hypnotic, swaying braids decorated by gold and turquoise beads. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. “Can’t wear those traveling clothes.”
“I’m fine as I am, thank you,” I started to say, but the words slowed and garbled. What Iheardmyself say was, “Yes. Must be pretty.”
Must be pretty?I don’t think I’d ever said those words in my life. Just hearing them made me want to slap myself. I was the daughter of a shield-maiden, for the north’s sake!
In a daze, I reached for the pirate’s hand that was offered to me, standing woozily. “Is this your trunk?” one of them asked as she ushered me back inside the captain’s cabin.
Feeling half in a dream, I nodded. Somewhere in the back of my mind, where it did me no good, alarm bells rang.
With the three pirates assisting me, I pulled off my overdress and replaced it with the purple velvet gown I’d just worn to Princess Auravelle’s naming day, tugging the fitted sleeves up over my chemise and holding out my arms obediently while theattaching ribbons were tied. The pirates’ touch was surprisingly delicate and precise, as if they’d once been lady’s maids.
“Don’t you look nice,” one said.
“Must be polite for the captain,” the other said, “and very lady-like. Agreeable, too.”
The back of my mind, already filled with tolling bells, achieved another noise: my own voice, chiming,siren powers.I was in a siren’s thrall.
That’s not what I said, of course. Instead of pulling myself free, I murmured my agreement.
The pirates plopped me in a chair at the captain’s private table. One opened the cabin door and hollered, “Bring the wine!” while I just sat there, swaying with the sea.
Seconds or hours later, I opened my eyes as another rough, sleeveless male pirate set a crystal goblet in front of me. He poured the wine almost to the gold rim of the expensive drinking vessel, unbothered by the rocking of the ship. Distant hammering added to the ship’s tumult, and I had the idea the ship was being disassembled while I sat here.
The thought didn’t bother me at all.
I must’ve slumped over, because the next thing I knew the big man was hauling me off the floor and setting me back in my chair.
“Hmph,” was all he said to me. He stood back from the table, the goblet in his hand. He offered it to me.
“Drink,” he commanded.
I continued to glance between the goblet and his face. Slowly, his dark, kohl-lined eyes on me, he drank, then returned the goblet to me. I took it obediently, his big hands curled around mine. Mine must’ve been cold, for his felt as hot as fire.
“Are you going to make this difficult?” he asked, his voice low and almost melodic.
I shook my head. “No.”
“No what?” he prompted.
“No. Why would I?”Why should I?my addled mind echoed. I was perfectly happy here. Deliriously happy. I was safe, and comfortable, and had all I desired just being close to…
“Who are you?” I asked.
He regarded me for a long moment, as if convinced this was a trick. Like the captain, he had tattoos on his muscled arms, the ink fresh and dark as night on his brown skin. I began to notice other things about him, too. The melted chocolate of his eyes, the scar in his brow, big hands that plucked the crystal goblet from the table gently, the three earrings in each of his ears. I even noticed the color of the thread in his short beard.
It was blue.
No. This is Bluebeard! You know what happens to women taken by Bluebeard—
