JAMES
Time is different down here with no light and no schedule to help track it. Exhaustion hangs so heavily on me I don’t even remember falling asleep but the next thing I know, I’m being nudged awake. Blinking away the darkness and brain fog, I look up to see the General standing before me.
“Prince Caspian sent me to give you two choices,” he says, straight to the point. “Come with me or stay here and see the noose.”
I carefully tuck the page back into the book and shove it into my pocket as I get to my feet. The choice is an easy one. I’d decided before I even left Caspian’s study.
“Let’s go,” I say.
I follow the General through the dungeons but instead of heading back up to the castle proper, we descend deeper underground.
Apprehension grips me but I know this is just the start of having to trust the prince.
The General doesn’t speak to me as he leads the way through tunnels that get increasingly more narrow and rough.
We travel for almost two hours before he stops at a decaying ladder.
He jerks his chin at the dark shaft that disappears above our heads. “Your ship is up there.”
I grip the first rung and start to climb.
“Captain.” When I turn to look, he’s staring hard at me as though he’s not sure he likes what he sees. “Don’t condemn the man for the sins of his father.”
“I judge a man by his actions, General.”
The man nods once but seems satisfied by what I’ve said because he steps back and I continue climbing, soon losing the glow of his lantern in the shadows .
The sins of his father…
Yeah— the King —who has the blood of thousands on his hands.
Aldric is just as bad and I have no evidence proving Caspian isn’t any better.
But even as I think it, I get the feeling I don’t know the whole story once again.
I keep coming back to how he doesn’t want his father and brother to know we’re going after the lost city.
You don’t hide something like that from your family if everything is love and good times.
But I still have more questions than answers and it leaves me with the same intrigue I want to spend time unwrapping.
If I’m being honest with myself, maybe I’m more interested in unearthing secrets that have nothing to do with a lost city and everything to do with a man whose smug smile tugs at my chest. I want to strangle him most of the time, but the grudging seed of respect in my gut isn’t something I can ignore any longer.
He’s never what he seems, which makes him both unpredictable and damn it—desirable.
The tunnel lightens and I soon emerge into the brisk outdoors.
The sun is setting to my right, the sky a brilliant display of soft pastels.
I’m on a cliff overlooking a small bay somewhere on the coast outside of De’Vero but what has my attention is the Tempest sitting in the calm water of the cove.
I pull myself all the way from the hole, relief coursing through me at the sight of her.
“Captain.”
I turn abruptly but it’s only Harrison. He looks relieved as he walks out of the brush where it’s apparent he’s been waiting for me.
“Good to see you in one piece,” he says. We clasp forearms and I nod my thanks as he hands me my sword and pistols. “Compliments of Fox.”
I study his face. He has multiple cuts and the beginning of a black eye. “Are those his doing too?”
Harrison’s jaw tightens as he turns and leads the way towards a trail that disappears over the cliff edge. I’ll take that as a yes.
“What does the crew know?” I ask.
“Only that you were going to make your escape tonight.”
We continue to the small strip of beach where a row boat is waiting. Harrison stops me with a hand on my arm.
“What’s going on, Captain?” He’s looking me over in concern mixed with confusion. “Two men came to me saying they were helping to coordinate your escape with the help of Fox. I went along with it, but Fox is walking around your ship like he owns the place now. What changed?”
I hesitate but I’ve always told Harrison the truth.
“Fox’s real name is Caspian De’Vero.” Harrison stares at me in disbelief. “He has information about the location of Grythmoor which is why I’m standing before you now. He asked for my help—”
“Whoa, whoa, wait— what ? We had the fucking prince of De’Vero in our posession this entire time?
” I stay silent as he processes what I’ve just said.
Irritation flickers in Harrison’s eyes but it isn’t enough to push out the shock of my news.
“And Grythmoor? We’ve searched the Stormwrack for years and never found anything,” he states.
“And now we’re just supposed to trust him ? ”
His voice is growing louder and I grab his arm and yank him a few more steps away from the men near the rowboat.
“This same man who did nothing but lie to us for weeks?” Harrison hisses.
“Technically he didn’t lie,” I mutter.
“By omission!” Harrison explodes.
“Are you with me or not, Harrison?” I press impatiently. “We don’t have time to argue the finer points of dishonesty.”
“You hate liars,” Harrison snaps. “And what about your plan to bring down House De’Vero? Now that we know he’s not only a De’Vero noble but a fucking prince, it gives us even more reason to see him dead.”
“That is on hold.”
Harrison’s hands slam onto his hips. He turns and takes a few steps away in the sand, then comes back.
“He’s completely fucked with your head,” he growls. “He’s a liar and a De’Vero and for those two sins alone he should be six feet under. I don’t understand why—”
“Think about the gold,” I interrupt in irritation.
“Gold that we don’t even know is real or not!” Harrison whisper shouts.
I growl low in my throat, done with his tantrum. “Enough—you’re either in or you’re out, Harrison. Let me handle the prince and if the treasure doesn’t exist—”
“If the treasure doesn’t exist,” he interrupts fiercely. “I’m going to kill him myself and I don’t give a fuck what your orders are.”
Our eyes clash with frustration. There’s a strain on our relationship that hasn’t been there before.
I don’t want to think about the disaster this will be if the treasure doesn’t exist—which is a very likely scenario—but one I’ll deal with later.
Hopefully much later. I turn abruptly, dismissing him and earning a low curse, but as I climb into the rowboat to head to the ship, Harrison joins me and I know at least for now, I have him.
After greeting my very relieved crew, I head below deck. I step through the door into my cabin and there’s Caspian, lounging behind my desk, boots up on the worn wood and that infuriating smirk on his smug face. In two strides I’m on him, my dagger presses against his throat before he can speak.
“I’m only going to say this once. Out here, you answer to me. This is my ship, my crew—we do this my way or so help me God, I will bury this blade in your throat right now and be done with you. Understood?”
Caspian’s eyes sharpen. He wraps his hand around the blade at his throat—the actual blade—and slowly gets to his feet. He pushes it away, not seeming to care he’s cutting himself. The smell of blood permeates the air between us.
“I’d hoped by now you’d realize it will take a little more than blood on a blade to scare me into submission.”
The time he licked my knife barrels into my head violently. I shove it back.
“Do not fuck with me,” I snarl.
“Setting boundaries already, Captain?” He mocks. An absolutely wicked smile curls his lips. “A shame—I was looking forward to getting to know you from the other side of the bars this time.”
“I’m not the one hiding who I am.” He tilts his head at me in a silent question. “Tell me—are you more prince or pirate?”
“Do I have to claim either?”
“Yes, because how does a man know who he is when he’s so many things at once?”
“That’s just it.” Caspian leans in. “You know the best part about being out at sea, Captain? The sea needs no names—only truths.” He pulls back enough to meet my eyes. “The tide commands me, the horizon calls to me—but neither requires me to be anything other than a man of salt and sin.”
My lips twitch in an almost sneer. “That may be true—But that’s not your truth.”
The barest ripple threatens his calm control. He releases the blade and steps back, perching on the edge of the desk at a more comfortable distance. He crosses his arms over his chest, telling me he put this space between us because I hit a nerve.
“I ripped through your carefully crafted mask once. I’ve seen the cracks—” I growl. “And you can try and hide behind your polished charm and your clever tongue, and that might be enough for the sea, but don’t confuse that with your truth. You’re more than just salt and sin.”
I think I’ve shocked him again because his face is carefully blank. In fact, I can’t read him at all. Where usually he has his carefree noble act front and center, now he has nothing. Nothing except a burning fire in his eyes he can’t seem to put out.
“You don’t know what I am.” His voice is low, even, and has an edge. I latch onto it, my blood racing.
“Maybe—but maybe you don’t know either.” I sneer.
“You’ve buried the real you beneath duty, performance—acting like you don’t care.
Then you dress up pretty words and call it freedom because what…
it’s simpler?” I look him up and down with borderline contempt.
“All while you’re bleeding under that smile.
” I shake my head. “No—you’re more than you seem and I don’t know who you’re trying to fool more, yourself or everyone else. ”
Caspian’s mouth twitches and the fire flares in his eyes. I watch his jaw clench, like he’s trying hard not to let me see how much my truth is hitting home. But I’m so drawn to him, I can feel his energy—the rage and tension of whatever the fuck this is between us. It’s truly intoxicating.
“Why do you care?” He almost sounds petulant except there’s a ring of truth that tells me he’s not being bratty—this time. This time I’ve hit something vulnerable and he’s trying to keep me away.
“Because I’m not fond of liars, especially the kind that have done it for so long that they begin to believe it.”
I let the silence stretch. We stare at each other, both trying to figure out where this conversation turned and became something a lot more intimate.
I shake my head. “We’re about to sail into dangerous waters—I need to trust the men I’m sailing with. Unfortunately, that includes you and yet I have no idea who I’m dealing with.”
Caspian scoffs but there’s little heat in it. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to be a liability, Captain.”
“Are you sure?” I pull a handkerchief from my pocket and take a step towards him. I shove it into his chest, trying and failing to ignore the way his muscles flex beneath the fabric. “Because you’re bleeding all over my cabin, Your Highness .”
His lips pull up in a slow smirk and as his bloody hand slides against my own to take the piece of fabric, I realize it’s his ambiguity that draws me to him—but it’s whatever is underneath that refuses to let me go.
I may not know exactly who he is but I do know now, without a doubt, he is going to be the ruin of me.