“How do you know my father?” she asked, unable to contain the questions any longer. It was as good a time as any to chance some information from Kane. What had her father done to put her in this man’s path?
Kane waved his hand with a flourish. “What pirate doesn’t know of Yarrow ships?”
Erinna glowered. That was not an answer, and he knew it. “You know what I mean.”
“Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to divulge such information. Not even to his family.” His words were careful but lacked sympathy. He didn’t care about Erinna’s misfortune; it seemed he simply wanted to avoid an argument.
Fine. Erinna would accept temporary defeat. She would get the answers from her father herself.
“How frequently do younot-smugglethrough these old veins?” asked Kane with genuine interest.
The words tumbled out before Erinna could stop them. “I don’t. Not for a while. My father is the one who uses them.”
“I see,” was Kane’s only response.
Erinna glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She could see a few fresh cuts beneath his square jaw and the healing yellow of a bruise just beneath his collar. Apart from those minor wounds, he looked relatively unharmed. Certainly not like a person who’d spent a few months in prison.
“Was getting captured part of your plan?” Erinna knew better than to think Kane had been held against his will. At least, not after the stunt he pulled earlier on the gallows.
Kane let out a deep, rumbling laugh. “You don’t mince words, do you?”
“I don’t see the point in it.”
His gaze lingered on her a beat longer. Like he was trying to solve some sort of puzzle. “Yes, it was part of my plan.”
“Was it really your best option?” Erinna continued to pry, hoping to get under his skin, the way he kept crawling under hers.
“Yes.”
Erinna held her tongue, waiting for him to elaborate.
He didn’t.
Erinna bristled. All she seemed to do was amuse him. “What are you after, Atwater?”
He turned to her with a shit-eating grin. “I’m a pirate, Yarrow. What do you think I’m after?”
“Please don’t say?—”
“Buried treasure.” The flame grew high and crackled with a flourish to emphasize how truly irritating he could be.
“Why did I even ask?” Erinna rubbed circles into her temples to ward against a growing headache.
The most priceless jewels and finery would be in the palace treasury, but the palace would be under complete lockdown. The most powerful and rarest items would be locked away in Fort Solitude.
In Iprix’s magically protected, personal library.
If Erinna were in Kane’s shoes, this would be the perfect time to access the mage’s hoard. Whatever the old man was able to collect would surely be much more useful to a pirate like him than gold. And although she was loath to admit it, Kane was no fool. He would be traveling to Fort Solitude. She would bet money on it.
“Thinking about me?” he asked, seeming to grow weary of the silence himself.
She glared into the darkness. “I’m thinking about how to get rid of you.”
He chuckled, and Erinna couldn’t stop herself from stealing another look his way. The dim light sharpened his features; high cheekbones and a strong jaw darkened with stubble, black hair disheveled in a way that looked good even when it wasn’t supposed to. His amber eyes caught the firelight like whiskey held to a flame—equal parts warm and cunning.
He had the height and build of someone accustomed to physical work. Muscled shoulders, capable hands, but there was something refined in the lines of his face that spoke of a different life entirely. It suited him, but Erinna would never let him know that.
She glanced at the flame in his hand. “So, a flame-conjuring pirate?”
