Chapter 4
Chapter four
Killian
He was eating the fucking berries, cheeky little cunt, bragging how fucking smart he is but meanwhile… he lets that sorry excuse for a goat play him like a puppet. I wish I brought my rum. I need it. How was I supposed to know that this was going from a scouting mission to a kidnapping?
Nobody expected Peter’s new victim to be dumb enough to take a nap in Silvermist’s forest. Presenting us with an opportunity too good to miss.
I never met someone who is simultaneously the dumbest landlubber and smartest brat I have ever met.
If he is smart, that is. He might take after Peter more than I am seeing now.
Maybe like his so-called fated mate, he is not smart at all.
Perhaps he is just a manipulative little bitch.
It doesn’t matter, as long as Peter truly loves him and misses him.
Soon! Because only twelve hours in and this boy is giving me a headache.
The manipulative yapping about his figure, the little jabs about not looking like the kind of guy who would turn down food.
A ploy to get me to pity him. As if he doesn’t see how insanely handsome he is, because of his curves.
Just Peter’s type, stunning, fierce, funny and breakable.
Just like she was, the person who I need to be thinking about.
Not James, queen of the Faun, Darling of Silvermist—he is not the first handsome Lost One I’ve seen. And I am not letting him distract me.
Sure, instead of sleeping, I am listening if he gets out of his tent again.
But that’s different, I just can’t risk him getting away from us.
Because if he escapes he will tell Peter.
My crew and I will watch him during every moon and every sun out of necessity.
There is no way I am going to let him crawl back to Peter, tell him where we are.
The king of the goats would love that, and then my plans will fall through.
I wake up with the first rays of the sun the next morning.
After lying awake for hours. Listening to every rustle and creak coming from the surrounding tents.
All to make sure that Silvermist’s darling would not escape, but it seemed like he gave up after I caught him.
So, I get out of my tent, determined to get to the Obsidian Oath before nightfall.
I want James neatly locked up in one of the cells.
Because the moment he is, I can finally rest.
Seviin, my boatswain, is the first person out of the tents, after me.
She usually is, our mother hen, always making sure we are as well-fed, happy, and as healthy as we can be.
She will be pissed off with James, but happy to know there is real food.
“Morning, Seviin, so our burden is a cheeky little cunt. Found him bingeing on those damn berries,”
Seviin’s mouth falls open just a smidge, just enough to show a glimpse of pearly white upper teeth.
“Weird, that vein on your forehead doesn’t look like it’s about to burst. In fact, I would even say you’re smirking,” she tells me when she is done staring at the berries, like they grew legs.
“I was pissed off yesterday, of course I was, everyone would be. For now, I am just glad, we can have some breakfast before we start our track back to the Obsidian Oath,” I clip.
Not willing to tell her the brat’s wit impressed me.
She will read far too much into it. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he is so cunning.
The hunger and the exhaustion had made me a bit loopy.
Happens to the best of us, clearly, or it wouldn’t have happened to me.
“Whatever you say, Cap. I’ll wake the rest of the crew, so we can have breakfast, and then get a move on.
I miss the smell of the ocean, this forest is ridden with bugs, and I am so over it,” Seviin says, her body practically contorting as she shivers thinking about the bugs.
I did not mind them so much, but I do miss the open sea too.
Even if it’s just Silver Sea, and I mean back home, I never got to sail as much as I do here.
“You wake the crew. I’ll get our guest. He can eat some berries, so he won’t pass out before he gets to breathe in that ocean air too,” I tell Seviin leaping to my feet, suddenly eager to wake him, so we can get out of here.
“No need to wake me. I’ve been awake for hours.
Your guestroom sucks,” he says, making quotation marks with his still bound hands as he emerges from the tent.
His chestnut short hair is all mused up.
Dark circles have formed beneath his still slightly pinched golden eyes.
For a split second, I feel a pang of guilt.
He might be a cheeky asshole, but we’ve been putting him through the ringer just because he was stupid enough to fall for Peter.
Despite his innocence, he is being dragged into this.
Just like she was.
I shake my head. After all, I am doing him a favor, the favor no one did for her.
“You should be lucky, I did not leave you out in the rain like a dog, darling. Now, shut up and eat some of those oh so poisonous berries. Or don’t.
I don’t give a fuck. Just know, we have a long track ahead of us, and if you pass out, my crew will drag you through the mud to get you to the Obsidian Oath,” I tell him, watching him settle down at the far end of the fire. As far away from me as he can.
One by one, the rest of the crew comes out, glaring at James when they learn they can eat the berries. Which doesn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. I duck my head down to hide my smirk. I should not find his fire so entertaining.
“So, Captain Hook. Think I can have some tea? I need something to wake me up, and you would not want to be a bad host now would you,” he smirks.
Again mocking the fact I called him our guest. But all my amusement vanishes at the name Captain Hook.
A hush falls over the camp as I jump up and am in front of James in two strides.
The leather of my coat snaps angrily as I walk.
“The hell did you just call me, darling? My name is Killian Tregear, Prince of the Fae and Captain of the Obsidian Oath. You do well to remember my name correctly, or you will learn just how hospitable I can be.” My voice comes out as a low growl, my hook sinking into his shirt as I lift him from the ground.
Yet I see no fear in his eyes; there is only that maddening defiance.
“Well excuse me Captain. Last time I met a prince he was behaved enough to introduce himself. You didn’t even give me a good old handshake.
” He smirks. I ought to slap him right here and now.
But I am not going to give him the satisfaction of losing my cool more than I have.
The satisfaction of proving to him that I am the villain his precious goat prince made me out to be…
“How rude of me, but getting slapped in the face with a stick,” I say, licking the cut on my lip, “made me less than eager to shake your hand. Figured even you would understand that. Then again, I should have known better than to expect anything from a human boy who came to play in a world he doesn’t understand.
Letting himself be manipulated by the false prince of the goats,” I snarl before dropping him to the floor with a satisfying thud.
“Samuel, Seviin, gag him. I’ve heard enough of his whiny voice.
Tie him up. All of you—I want this camp packed up in fifteen.
I am not spending another night in this shitty forest.” I say before storming off, because if I stay here any longer, I will punch someone in the face.
My crew deserves better, and that conniving, vexing, vermin needs to be in one piece, so he is still worth his price to Peter.
“Cap’n, we’re ready to leave, you should not let him get to you that much. Bratty little thing, can’t wait to give him back to Peter, as soon as we get what we want,” Samuel tells me after taking far too long to come to find me.
“I know. I just didn’t sleep well. I am not one to linger in the woods. None of us are, though, so let’s just go home,” I lie uselessly. Samuel knows me like no other. Being the friend he is, he doesn’t point out Peter’s pet has gotten under my skin. Nor how I showed my weakness .
Something I greatly appreciate and will reward by doing better from now on. Which will be a lot easier when he is locked up away in one of the cells onboard the Obsidian Oath. Soon as we are home, I will write to Peter and let him know where his lover is off to.
I cannot help but wonder if Peter is already missing him, as Samuel and I make our way to the remains of our camp. The crew has done a great job cleaning up quickly.
It still didn’t feel like someone was on our tail. You would think that if the supposed love of your life goes missing you would know within the first few hours.
Unfortunately, the love of Peter’s life is Peter.
So he might not know at all, which is why I will write him a letter as soon as we are on the open seas.
I really need this plan to work. It’s been five years since I’ve last seen her.
I have given up on everything to get her back.
This is my last resort, because for the first time in years, Peter has shown a weakness.
Not breaking his new fated mate, before leaving the brat alone.
When I get back, James stares at the muddy, leaf-covered forest floor. Avoiding making eye contact with me. Good! He should be scared of me. He seems to think this is all some fun. I’ve probably been too lenient with him, trying to be a better person. That stops today.
“Well done, crew, come on, let’s get home. I am dying to smell the sea breeze again.”
I look around, six of my most trusted crew members looking back at me.
Every last one of them seems to be eager to get back to our ship.
Some more than others, but nobody here seems to enjoy the muted light filtering through between the green leaves of the trees.
Nor the soft, slippery ground beneath our feet that does not echo our footsteps with the resounding thundering thuds of boots on wood.
Instead, our footsteps slurp and gurgle in the thick mud.
“Cap’n, any chance we’re stopping for food soon?
Because I need to eat before we get to the Obsidian Oath.
Those berries were hardly enough for breakfast,” Seviin asks, after we’ve been walking for a couple of hours.
Hours in which James has been suspiciously quiet.
Sure he is still gagged, but I expected him to be the type of brat whose gagging even can be an annoyance.
Yet all he has done is walk along with us, absentmindedly touching his necklace every so often.
It was the same necklace he was toying with yesterday, when he was eating those berries.
I wonder what the importance of it is, whether or not it is something I can use to my benefit, or if it is something he uses to contact Peter.
That is the less likely option though, everyone on the Obsidian Oath knows Peter is hunting us.
If James had managed to contact him, to tell Peter what happened to him, and where we are now, Peter and his army of battle-goats would have been hot on our tails already. And we would have noticed.
“Captain?” This time it is Samuel who speaks to me, most likely, because I never answered Seviin’s question.
“Oh yeah, sorry, we need to find some food. With the unexpected delay, we didn’t bring enough with us,” I answer the two of them. As soon as the words leave my lips, James looks up gesturing to his gag.
“Vani, take our guest’s gag out. Seems like he has something to say,” I tell one of the crew holding the rope James is tied up with.
They do as I say, but they aren’t looking too happy about it. The berry incident pissed the crew off. It was always unlikely they were going to like one of Peter’s people. Messing with their food, however, only made them dislike him more.
“I should be able to get us some Mist pheasants and some wild vegetables. However, I would need my hands free. And before you tell me you don’t trust me, the feeling is mutual.
But… I am hungry too. My mouth is dry. One of you can come with me, walking me like the leashed dog you seem to think I am,” he scoffs.
It is a risk, but we have no other options. We all need to eat something. I make a decision in a split second, without conferring with my crew.
“I will go with you, but no more schemes,” I tell him, casually resting my good hand on my sword, making clear what will happen if he tries to pull whatever shenanigans he comes up with again.
James rolls his eyes, but nods, nonetheless.
Jack, the last of my crew that was holding James, hands me the ropes.
I’ll never tell anyone, but James, tied up, at my mercy, is not a bad visual at all.