Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I wasn’t sure how this crew would feel with me taking out their captain and taking over the ship, but once I told them that we could find more mermaids and that this would be the first they’d be chasing Nerissa instead of the other way around, they were all for it. In any event, I don’t think they’ve been allowed to sail this far across the Pacific, so they seem excitable and in good spirits.
Which, even though I was just battling them and chopping off their limbs and smashing in their skulls the other day (not to mention throughout the years prior), I do feel a responsibility for them now to keep them safe and happy. Being a captain of a ship isn’t just about having control—it’s about accountability and that’s something I pride myself on.
I just hope the crew of the Nightwind still feels that way. I know how most of the Brethren regard me, especially my immediate family, but I don’t know what Sterling has been telling them. The man has zero charisma and the brains of a gnat but that doesn’t mean he won’t strike a chord with some of them. It’s impossible to stay in my position for so long and not acquire some resentment.
But I will worry about that later. I trust that Thane and Cruz will keep everyone as safe as they can and I’m hoping that Nerissa isn’t causing too much trouble. When the cursed crew told me that she had left the ship for the Nightwind, I was surprised but, then again, the sea witches can be unpredictable and prone to following flights of fancy.
I bring my mind back to Maren. I know exactly what she needs and wants, even if she won’t admit it. I go to the bench where I had laid some of the fish I caught earlier to ensure there are some left after Sedge and I cooked up dinner. Now that I know she’ll eat one raw, it will be easy to keep her fed (though I shouldn’t be surprised considering her appetite).
Then I go to one of the empty barrels that had been collecting rainwater, filled to the brim, and pick it up with a grunt, lugging it over to the stairs and below deck. There I rummage for anything clean, and finally find some old but acceptable linen sheets and a shriveled bar of lard and lye soap. On the Nightwind, we have bars of fragrant Castile soap that I am sure the princess is used to, but this will have to do.
I knock on her door as a courtesy and unlock it with the rain barrel sticking out first, just in case she feels like attacking me. It would be futile for her, but annoying for me.
But Maren is kneeling by the porthole and staring out the window at the moon and the sea and…damn it, it knocks the wind out of me. That’s all she really wants. To go home. She doesn’t want to be with me. She just wants to return to the sea.
Then I will help you get home, I think to her. As soon as you help me.
She slowly turns her head and looks at me. Tears have made her eyes wet and she blinks them away, her posture stiffening, becoming royal and composed again.
“I thought you might like a bath,” I say, putting the barrel down, plus the sheets and soap. “If all goes well, I have dinner waiting for you upstairs. A whole damn fish all for you.”
Her eyes light up now. I knew the way to her heart was through her stomach.
“What do you say?” I ask. “How about you let me bathe you while you tell me what you think about my proposition?”
That shine in her eyes grows hard. “How about you free me?” she asks. The chain garbles her words but I still understand her and I always understand her tone.
“It would be foolish of me to do that when the first thing you’ll do is attack me. Perhaps I’m not as smart as those you’ve accompanied in royal circles, but I do know when a scene is doomed to repeat itself.”
She doesn’t say anything to that because she knows it would be a lie. But she does appear to relent a little. She gives me a slight nod.
I go over to her and pick her up so that she’s on her feet. She’s unsteady with her legs bound together and I figure at least I could loosen those for her. I bend down to untie them, keeping my focus on her face even though her breasts are largely in the way, until her legs are free.
“If you try and run you won’t get far,” I warn her. “I know you did earlier but the only reason I didn’t catch you is because the skeleton crew caught you first. Believe it or not I watched the whole thing, the way you hung from that net. You were never in any real danger, Maren, I was always right there.”