I sighed. “So that’s a no.”
“I’ve had nine wives,” Jax answered with a grin. “And countless paramours in countless ports. What do you think?”
I rolled my eyes. “I think you’re exaggerating.”
“Isthatwhat you think of me, pet? A narcissistanda liar?”
“A pirate and a thief,” I corrected.
He stepped towards me again, bending to lean closer to my face. “I steal hearts on occasion,” he murmured, eyes dancing. “You’d best guard yours.”
I shoved him in the chest. Hard.
“Best lay off that rum.”
“In rum, truth,” he said, mocking me by staggering backwards overly far.
“That’s wine,” I retorted.
“Is it? I’ll be sure to find you a glass while we’re on Starfall.” He walked backwards as he departed, ducking to avoid the rigging without even looking. “Maybe then we’ll learn what actually goes on in that little red head of yours.”
I made a mental note never to drink in front of him. The last thing this situation needed was for him or the crew to know the horror that was my inner workings.
Like the fact that I was starting to care what Jax thought aboutme.
Chapter nine
Sofie
ImademyselfscarceasVigilancenearedBlue Moon,reluctant to acquaint myself with more pirates. I regretted more than ever that Jax had taken my books. As if I’d tear out a page and use it to send a message! The thought of it sent me into a cold sweat.
So I lay in my makeshift bed, trying to sleep, constantly interrupted by raucous laughter as a gang plank extended between the two ships.
About an hour later, the door to the captain’s cabin burst open.
“Wife, this is Oasis,” Jax announced, his silhouette blurry in the doorway. I squinted into the light, silently reviewing a list of additional curses I could toss at him for waking me. “Oasis, this is wife number nine. We call her Sofie just to personalize things.”
“Shouldn’t name them,” Oasis chided. “You’ll just get attached.”
A wave of rum followed them into the cabin. Oh, good.Moredrinking. This time in the middle of the day!
“Ah, but it’s safe to grow fond of this one. She went to fancy magic school and knows everything.” Jax took a swig from a flask in his hand just before settling in at the little dining table. “Or at least she thinks she does.”
“So this is the bride who’ll finally save our hides?” a woman dressed like his twin asked. Even the tattoos on her arms reminded me of the ones Jax had, almost mirroring them in places. She yanked the flask out of Jax’s hand. “Really hope you’re right about this, Jackson.”
Jackson?
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “What did you just call him?”
Oasis guffawed. “Haven’t you heard? He’s descended from Jack the Great, thief extraordinaire. The very Jack who found a magic plant that transported him to another realm.”
Ah, the fairy tale. Jax, for his part, looked abashed.
“I had an active imagination when I was younger,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “My mother told me the tale…”
“And he told it to the rest of us juvenile rabble, and never lived it down.” Oasis flashed her teeth at him, one of which was gold. “‘Course, Jackson isn’t hisrealname.”
Jax’s eyes went wide. “Oasis—”
