Right, easy enough.She sighed just thinking of the many obstacles before her.
Hook nodded to the mermaid before turning back to Cressida. “A truce while we’re here?” He held out his good hand.
She grasped it. “Of course.”
Smee had already garnered the attention of some giggling merfolk before Tink and Hook reached the beach.
“It seems like you’re on good terms with Captain Cressida,” Tink said as her boots sunk into the sand.
“Cressida and her crew are mostly friendly…unless you cross them,” he replied, but his focus was on the queen’s rock, still empty despite the mermaid’s word that the queen would meet them. “They prefer to earn money protecting merchant ships, recovering lost goods, and other upstanding services.”
“Like you?”
“Yes.”
She’d meant it as a joke, but his response held utter sincerity. Sudden nerves twisted tight within her, but it wasn’t the queen she worried about. Her gaze slid sideways to Hook. Had she misjudged him? Yes, he had a fearsome reputation—a man one should not cross. But she hadn’t heard of him doing anything truly horrid, not like Captain Blackbeard or some other pirates who preyed on the innocent and unsuspecting. On women like her.
Oh, wait…
“Let me do the talking,” Hook said as they neared the rocks.
Her lips thinned. “So I’m just here to look cute?” He’d gone through a lot of trouble getting her there just to tell her to keep quiet.Stupid pirate.
His lips quirked up at the corners. “To confirm that you were mistaken when you said I stole the Heart of Fire and ask the queen to remove her curses from me.”
“Youdidsteal it,” she reminded him.
“But not from them.”
“And they’ll just believe me?” Tink frowned. Most likely they’d believe the pirate dragged the witness there against her will. Which of course, he did.
“They can tell when you lie to them, you know. You told them I stole it, and they believed you because you believed it. If you tell them differently now, and I do as well, they’ll hear the truth.”
Most interesting. Tink skipped a step and nearly stumbled in the sand.
“So once we clear this up, you’ll let me go? Take me back to Tortuga?” The sooner the better. Every day spent stuck with this lousy pirate was one more away from home. She needed to be searching for information about the scale, not spending her days chained to his bed. Most sailors she’d talked to said itdidn’t exist. A legend, they called it. One old man, though, had told her stories about a woman hiding it in a cave and leaving a trail of clues for her descendants. “Hid it somewhere normal folk wouldn’t look,” he’d said. It was a start, anyway. Only a matter of time before she came across someone who knew more.
Hook’s jaw stiffened. “That was a valuable jewel you stole…”
Nails dug into her palm. “You can’t seriously—”
A large swell rose from the deep and sped toward the queen’s rock. Tink’s eyes flew wide.
Hook pushed Tink behind him as the wave grew in the otherwise calm waters, rising high as their heads. Water crashed against the rocks. Tink ducked behind Hook. A gasp wrenched from her throat as cold water swirled up around her calves. As it retreated, the water tugged at her, begging her to come with it, but she grasped onto the man in front of her instead, who stood firm against its grasp.
Musical laughter chimed through the air. Tink peeked around Hook to see the water recede from the rocks, leaving a sandy path from them to the shore. On the largest rock sat Queen Titania. Violet hair spiraled down to her iridescent, navy tail. Like other merfolk, she wore no human clothing, though pearls of cream and pink accented her hair, and a crown of bone-white coral graced her head. The merfolk queen cocked her head to the side as she took in her small audience. “Not a combination I expected.”
Elongated, sharp teeth peeked out from between her lips. Those things could bite a fish in half. Or a pixie. Tink shuddered. Was the queen amused or annoyed? If the latter, they were in a heap of trouble.
Chapter 9
Hook
Saltwater dripped off Hook’s face and slid down into his boots as he stood before the queen of the merfolk. Given her reputation, she’d probably splashed them on purpose. Tink released her hold on his coat and stepped out from behind him. She’d had no trouble letting him take the brunt of the wave. The petite pixie gave a wobbling curtsy, her boots sinking into the wet sand. Even with her wings bound, it seemed the queen recognized her.
Hook removed his hat and swept a bow. “Queen Titania.”
“Captain,” she replied, her tone flat.
