“How did you get out of your cell?” he asks. Not an ounce of sleep traces his words, though he had to have just woken. He grabs me by my upper arms, holding me in place.
I say, “I stopped the first pirate I saw and asked really nicely.”
His face is cloaked in shadows, but I swear I can hear his smile. “I’m the only one who has a key.”
“Perhaps you dropped it, then. That was careless of you.”
He touches his side as if to grab a pocket, then remembers he’s not wearing a shirt. A fact I haven’t been able to forget.
It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t smell so good. Pirates are supposed to stink. Why does he have to smell like salt and soap?
He yanks me forward, and I realize I should probably be putting forth at least a little resistance. So I place my hands on his chest and shove. The night air is brisk, but Riden is still warm from being wrapped in bed. Warm and solid and good smelling.
With iron-gripped fists. If he bruises my other arm, I will have to retaliate.
He hoists me to the door he came out of. It’s as dark as the end of a cave in here, but Riden seems to find whatever he’s looking for just fine. He pulls me back outside with him and holds something up in the air for me to see.
“This would be the key I so carelessly dropped,” he says.
“Strange, that.”
He sighs. “Alosa, what are you even doing out here?”
“You’ve kidnapped me. What do you think I’m doing out here?”
“The rowboats are over there.” He points to the opposite side of the ship. “So why would you be lollygagging around my door?”
“I wanted to kill my captors before I left.”
“How’d that work out for you?”
“Still working on it.”
“I bet.”
Down the stairs we go, past the sleeping crew, and into the brig. Riden shoves me back into my cell. Then he tries the key.
Obviously, it doesn’t fit.
Riden observes it more closely. Surprise takes over his face. “You switched them.”
“Hmm?” I ask innocently.
He comes into the cell with me. “Give it to me.”
“What?”
“The key.”
“You have the key in your hand.”
“It doesn’t fit.”
“You can hardly blame me if you broke it.”
I don’t expect him to buy any of what I say. I’m learning that I enjoy toying with him. I like the surprise and … not respect, but something close to it, that shows on his face when he learns something new about me. But I can’t let him discover too much about my true nature. That’d be dangerous.
For him.
Because I won’t fail. I can only imagine what my father would do to me if I did. But I’m not afraid. I’m doing this not only for my father but also because I want to. Because I’m a good pirate and the hunt is thrilling. Because I want to reach the siren island as much as any other pirate. Perhaps even more so. I’m determined to do whatever it takes to get the map. If Riden becomes too difficult, I will remove him from my path by any means necessary.
“I’ll give you one more chance to hand it over, princess.”
It’s brighter down here. Several lanterns are lit outside the cells. I can see Riden’s face perfectly. In the getup he’s wearing, I can see a lot of him perfectly.
“I don’t have anything,” I say again.
He steps toward me slowly, keeping his eyes on mine as he does so. I back up until I hit the wall, but he continues to advance. His face is too close. I can see flecks of gold in his eyes. They’re lovely eyes. I’d like to study them longer.
But suddenly his hands are on my hips.
I think I might stop breathing, but I’m unsure. I’m startled, certainly; am I supposed to slap his hands away or stand still?
He moves his hands up my stomach, never taking his eyes off me. Now I know I’m breathing because I think I might have just gasped. I’m pretty sure I should slap his hands away.
But I don’t. Once he reaches my ribs, he moves his hands to my arms, running them up to my shoulder.
“I don’t know what you’re wearing,” he says. “But I like it.”
“Custom-made,” I say.
“And then stolen by you?”
I shrug. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
“You’re touching me.”
“I’m trying to get my key back.”
“Sounds like an excuse to touch me.”
He smiles and leans forward so his mouth is at my ear. “I don’t see you stopping me.”
“If I had, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
His eyes shoot up in alarm, but he doesn’t have enough time to guess what I’m about to do until I’ve already done it.
Yes, I knee him. Right between the legs.
He takes some time to recover. Enough for me to exit the cell and lock him in.
He stares at me levelly. “That was low.”
“I thought it was rather brilliant, actually. Besides, you said you wouldn’t touch me. I can see your word does not mean much to you.” I throw at him the same words he used on me.
“And you said if we brought your blasted luggage on board, you wouldn’t put up a fight.”
“I didn’t put up a fight. I got out of my cage fight-free.”
“Lass, let me out of the cage.”
“I think you’re more suited for it than I am.”
He bangs a fist against one of the bars. “Let me out. You know you won’t get far. All I have to do is yell, and over half the crew will be upon you.”
“And I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they find their first mate trapped in the brig.”
“Alosa,” he says, a hint of warning in his voice.
“Answer something for me, and I will spare you the embarrassment of your crew finding you.”
“What?” He’s clearly agitated. I suppose I would be, too, if I had been duped by a pretty face.
“When we first met, and I was bargaining for the lives of my crew, you whispered something to the captain. Something that made him stop killing my men. What was it?”
Riden appears perplexed, but he answers. “I told him that if he wished to keep the support of his crew, he would be wise to stop encouraging you to kill them off.”
“Did you care for them? The men who I killed?”
“No.”
Hmm, perhaps I was wrong about how much he cares for the members of this crew. “Then why bother?”
“I answered your question. Now let me out.”
I sigh. “Fine.” Though I wonder why he doesn’t want to talk about it. Perhaps I’ve hit on something there. If it wasn’t to do with the men I killed, then wouldn’t it have to do with his brother?
The cage sings as it unlocks, and I hand the key to Riden. “You and the captain are brothers.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“What exactly happened to your father?”
Riden locks me in soundly. Then he pockets the key without taking his eyes off of it. He turns to leave.
“I killed him.”
Chapter 4
THE FLOOR IS DISGUSTING, but somehow I manage to sleep. When I wake, a face is inches from my head.
I shriek and roll away. Even though I realize now that he’s on the other side of my cell, my heart still races.
“No need for that,” the pirate says. “Just needed a lock of your hair is all.”