With a flick of her hair, she straightens, lips pursed in a thin line. Running her hands around the waist of the trousers clinging to her hips, she continues to look for weapons, going so far as to run her fingers over her inner thigh. The movement is mechanical, muscle memory, but I drag my eyes from her figure, as distracting as it is—she’s a wet dog, and it would pay to remind myself of that.
She palms under her arm, along her breast, and I smirk as her frustration really sets in. “Oh and you won’t need that one either.
This time, she looks at me. Deep brown eyes, alight with a burning flame, stare straight into my soul. So I stare back.
“You searched me?” she rasps, her voice like barnaclesscraping on rock.
I shake my head. “Correction, Tavi searched you. Trust me, she’s more gentle than I would have been.”
Her hand flies to her delicate neck, and I catch the marking on her wrist. I saw it earlier when I saved her from her watery grave, but seeing it again turns my stomach sour. An intricate serpent, wrapping around the circumference of her wrist. Brackish green ink etched into her sun-kissed skin.
The Vipers are the bane of my existence. Scum of the sea. Just the thought of them makes my body flush with the need for violence, and now I have one of their crew here in the hold of my ship.
How the tides have turned.
“Where is my necklace? Did she take that too?” Her voice is filled with venom.
Of course she’d notice the necklace is gone the moment she wakes. It’s likely the most precious thing she’s ever stolen. It baffles me . . . her carrying a water elemental’s necklace around like a trinket. A thing so sacred can only be gifted from the ocean’s guardians, never taken. And every sea-born knows a pirate would take the opportunity to hunt an elemental, they wouldn’t befriend them.
Stolen, then. That has to be it. But what unsettles me more is this—the ocean hasn’t claimed it back. The moment she slipped beneath the waves, the sea should’ve stripped it from her.
Perhaps I’d interfered too quickly. Either way, it’s safe now. And it’s no longer her concern.
I take a few steps towards the cell. She takes a few back. Leaning my forearms onto the iron bars, I arch a brow. “No, but you won’t need jewelry where you’re going.”
Her brows draw together in a pained knot, the space between them furrowed deep enough to hold everything she isn’t saying. Then it’s gone. The deep scowl returns, one corner of her lip turning up in disgust, but for some reason, my attention catches on a freckle over her right eyebrow, it’s slightly larger than the rest that dust her cheeks. “You know, for a pirate, you’re quite clumsy. Can’t even seem to stay aboard your own ship.”
She scowls at me even harder.
I push off the bars, shoving my hands into my slate-coloured trousers. My fingers brush the delicate, smooth bone carving hiding there. A nautilus shell, no larger than a green grape, strung on a thin loop of worn brown leather.
I’m not certain why I didn’t put the necklace with the rest of her things. There are no thieves on my crew, so it would have been safe, but it’s safer still where I can ensure she won’t find a way to steal it from the sea a second time.
She takes a few steps towards me, asserting her gaze. “Why did you save me?”
Her question stalls me for just a moment, but I lean into the silence, a loud reminder that it was I who held all the power in the room. With little effort, my shoulders lift and fall.
“I’m a curious guy. Have a lot of questions. So we’re going to have a long chat. And when we’re done, I’ll make sure there’s one less Viper scum ravaging theseas, and one more name to add to my list of accomplishments,” I say, my voice dripping with triumph.
She doesn’t waver. “If you plan to kill me, you may as well do it now.”
“Oh, no. None depraved enough to join with the Vipers deserves a death that easy.”
Who knows, maybe I’ll take her to the far side of the continent, where she’ll trade her blood-soaked dagger for a pickaxe. She’d spend her days underground, never see the sun or water again. Killing her would be simpler, but not nearly as rewarding. Viper Pirates don’t deserve the mercy of death.
Poison cloaked in laughter bubbles from her rose bud lips, her dark brown eyes dragging down to the bone blade I carry at my side. They linger there for a moment before she flicks them back up to meet me and steps closer to the bars. “I understand that your limp seaweed stands a tad taller at the thought of capturing a big bad pirate. But you don’tvolunteerto sail with the Vipers. You survive them. So an overinflated ego will do little to move me.”
“A sea snake with a sense of humour. Quaint.” My legs move without thought. I’ve never done well with being idle for too long. Leather soles squeak under the weight of each step as I pace back and forth once again. “Tell me, how does someoneaccidentallyfind themselves on the most vicious crew on this side of the Adamaris?”
The tips of my pointed ears twitch as I eagerly await her response.
She folds her arms, eyes tracking my every move. “None of your business.”
It’s my turn to laugh. This woman, this flea—this vermin—has decided she wants to play games. Unluckily for her, I’m a sore loser, and I always win.
“How many are on your crew?”
Silence.
