“Then youareunder my command,” the woman said, her voice stern. “And if you ever wish to sail these waters without a storm at your back, then you’ll heed my orders.”
There was a long and foreboding silence, but Tedric answered with a gruff, “What are your next orders then?”
“We have what I want. Start sending the word for a retreat.”
Feet shuffled toward the door. Amaris dove for the first open room, sliding under a desk. Several men stepped from her office and disappeared down the ladder.
Amaris crawled from her hiding place and checked both ends of the hall.Inadequatewas a complete understatement for her attempted rescue, and she was running out of time. Holding her breath, she forced her heart to calm before she crept up to the door frame.
A woman with brunette hair stood facing the square windows overlooking the open ocean. Her long red nails drummed against her hips. They were a match for the red leather jacket draping her shoulders.
Amaris scanned the desk. It was mainly free of clutter, but her eyes locked onto a large piece of parchment and a compass sitting next to it. Raising to her tiptoes, Amaris stepped into the office. The captain crossed her arms and moved closer to the windows, releasing a sigh. Amaris dared another step and scanned the room for the key. She again sent a prayer that it wasn’t around the woman’s neck, because it was always around the pirate’s neck in the movies.
“How lovely you could join us.” The captain’s words were pleasant, but her tone was far from it, sending Amaris’s blood to freeze over.
A pair of hands seized her from behind. The captain turned, a wicked smile gracing her lips. Golden eyes stared back at her, glowing as bright as the lightning in the sky.
Amaris’s chest tightened as the man holding her captive shoved her closer. She was back in the throne room all those weeks ago with Alan gripping her arm and dragging her down the hall, but now she was thrown beside the desk.
The captain came around and grasped Amaris’s cheeks, squeezing them as her nails bit into her skin. Without giving her sailor a single glance, she said, “Leave us.”
He followed her orders, the door shutting with a subtle click. She released Amaris’s face, shoving her back. Amaris tried to remain calm, to keep her breathing under control. How had she thought she could do this? As the captain turned her back and strode behind her desk, Amaris’s eyes shot to the back of a picture frame and a leather necklace hanging from the corner.
Too easy, she thought. It was the key.
“Who are you?” Amaris asked, attempting to keep her voice clear and calm, like Theodoric with his stone-faced demeanor. She needed a plan.
The captain folded her arms across her chest, her long nails tapping against her elbow. She had no weapon pulled and didn’t have a sword sheathed at her side or knives strapped to her thighs. Her claws seemed as good a weapon as any with their long, pointed ends.
“I see you prefer to get straight to the point. How boring,” the captain sighed, glancing over her shoulder as if to be sure they were alone. She raised her hand and cupped it around her mouth. “I’m Drauna.” She smiled then angled her nails in front of her, but her eyes studied Amaris instead. “You’re not what I expected.”
“Excuse me?” Amaris blurted out. “You expected a man to come save Adelaide instead?”
Drauna laughed maniacally. Amaris’s jaw tightened, and her bodyjumped as a clap of thunder boomed overhead.
“I know her brother will try. He most certainly has the spirit to, even if it’s tainted.” She raised a brow in a teasing smirk as she pushed from the desk to stand before the window.
“What do you mean?” Amaris reached for the picture frame.
“Theodoric Fastrada is haunted by who he is, what he was forced to become. His soul is diseased, devouring him.”
Amaris’s gaze snapped to her, her fingers hovering over the leather necklace. “How do you know that?”
She turned lazily around. Amaris ripped back her hand.
“The same reason I know what you desperately crave.”
Amaris pulled back, her face twisting in disgust. “How could you know what I want?” Nothing could prevent the slight increase of her pulse.
She laughed. “Isn’t it what we all desire? To belong. To have the answers.” She raised a brow and smirked. “To have a family, Amaris.”
Amaris sucked in a breath. The wind forced a window to snap open, sending a breeze to fly over them. Sea water and the subtle scent of singed wiring filled the charged air.
“How do you know my name?”
Drauna smiled, once again turning to face the wall of windows. Amaris snatched the key from the frame.
“Your name is hardly of concern. Where you come from is far more interesting.”
