His fist opened and closed.Bloody merfolk.
“I await my scale, Captain. A scale of the dragon god of the seas should belong with the people of the seas.”
Waves lapped at his boots. “That’s the only reason you want it?” he asked. But he already knew the answer.
“A queen can never have too many weapons at her disposal. Surely you’d agree.” She cocked her head to the side.
Of course he did, which she already knew. Though… “And what’s to stop me using it? Or Tink?”
Titania bared her fangs.
“Accidentally,” he added.
“Do you know how?” she practically snarled.
No, he didn’t.
When he didn’t speak, she responded, “Then you have your answer.”
“You ask too much of her,” he said, refusing to let the queen have the last jab.
Titania glanced down the beach. “So desperate… I couldn’t help myself.” She shrugged. “But now she has help.” A slow, wicked grin spread across her face. “You see, these things have a way of working out.”
His teeth ground together.Bloody mermaid. She had been taking advantage of Tink’s naivety and her desperation. Not that it should bother him.
“Don’t keep me waiting, Captain.” Titania glanced at the storm clouds. “For your sake, if not hers.” Sunlight glinted off navy scales as she flipped off the rock and disappeared below the water.
Chapter 10
Tink
Tink fanned herself with a giant leaf, fighting a losing war against the heat racing under her skin. But the sun disappearing behind angry storm clouds wasn’t solely to blame. Pirates and merfolk frolicked in the crystalline shallows, most without some, or all, of their clothing. Rum flowed freely from tapped barrels that Cressida and Hook’s crews had brought to shore.
Fish roasted on a fire for the humans—the merfolk ate them raw and wiggling, sometimes while still embracing their partner of the moment. The scent turned Tink’s stomach. She didn’t eat fish, or any meat—something Barley, one of Hook’s crew, discovered the first morning on Hook’s ship when he’d brought her salted codfish. If she’d had anything left in her stomach, she’d have lost it over that disgusting sight.
“Care for another?” Barley offered her a ripe mango where they lounged in the shade provided by lush palms on the edge of the beach. Of all the crew, he was a calm anchor in the storm,level-headed and soft-spoken. Honestly, not at all like most pirates, which raised him higher in her esteem.
The creamy sweetness of sugar apple still lingered on her tongue. “No, thanks.”
Squeals split the air. Tink couldn’t help but look, drawn by curiosity that teased her more than the breeze blowing strands of her golden hair. A naked man—Smee—hefted a mermaid from the sea. The first mate twirled her around above his head as the swell of a wave lapped at his chest. Moisture grew between Tink’s legs as she drank in the revelry before studiously looking away back toward the forest. Pixies were not always the modest sort, but neither did they lust so freely and openly. Their pleasure was in one’s company, their trust, not only the feel of another’s body entwined with their own.
But she’d lost that company, the companionship, her home. She sighed, and her shoulders hunched. A pixie without that was nothing more than a pretty wraith with wings.
“You could join them, you know,” Barley said.
Tink rolled her eyes. “That’s the fourth, nofifthtime you’ve said that. You could too.”
“Someone ought to keep an eye on you.” He grinned as he brushed long, brown hair back from his face. “Besides, these won’t fix themselves.” Barley lifted the garment in his hand for emphasis. A basket full of assorted clothes with visible rips and tears occupied the sand next to him. He was the quiet sort, saying little and content to linger in her company while he worked.
“Captain’s order, eh?”
“No. He didn’t need to ask.”
Of course not. Ever loyal to his captain, Barley favored more creative ventures than hoisting sails or navigating by the stars. The crew was lucky to have him.
Said captain had disappeared into the forest shortly after his private meeting with the queen. Tink shivered, remembering her fang-filled grin and dark claws longer than a jungle cat’s. Whatever they’d discussed, Hook didn’t like it. A dark cloud loomed over his mood like those still rumbling on the horizon. Tink overheard brief words with some of his crew, informing them of their destination, before he’d stomped off without another glance.
Instead of dimming the mood, the news spurred the pirates to party harder. One last fling in case the treacherous waters of the Shrouded Isles dragged them down to the depths. Sage and Smee had literally dragged her into the water with the merfolk until she shook them off and traded the sea for shade. They’d laughed and smirked as a wave nearly knocked her down during her retreat, yelling all kinds of things about how she owed them for getting them all cursed.
