Chapter 38
Chapter thirty-eight
James
Killian is quiet, too quiet as is the entire crew. I pray they understand what I am doing here… Peter doesn’t, and even Matthew glares at me, enraged and hurt, at the idea that I would trade in two lives for his and Barry’s.
“Who…” As soon as Peter speaks, I withdraw my hand from my pocket, closing around the small dagger Killian just gave me.
It all depends on Samuel and Seviin understanding what I am trying to do here.
I won’t let any harm come to them, but if they do not understand me, if they will not do as I will silently ask them, this is a suicide mission.
“Samuel!” I grab Samuel’s hand.
“Please don’t do this, darling, not like this. I will sacrifice myself, so you can get your brothers back.” I swallow down the hurt at the desperation in Killian’s voice, but in a few hours I will make it up to him.
I grab Samuel’s hand, pressing the dagger into his palm. He squeezes my hand twice and then his fingers wrap around the dagger, as he snarls: “You good for nothing backstabbing landlubber.”
Thank all that is holy in the nine realms, he is playing along. Seviin is super smart. Samuel’s cooperation gives me hope that she will get it too. I pull up his tunic, removing his weapons, even the hidden dagger in his boot. “How are we going to do this? I can’t trust you anymore.”
Not that I trust any deal I will make with him. I just need to make him believe that I will. I need to get Samuel and Seviin close enough to Peter when Peter is distracted enough for them to be able to attack him.
“That brute can hurt me even without weapons. I will win, but I am not going to risk a black eye because you want your brothers back.” Samuel's smirk is wicked, proud that Peter acknowledges he doesn’t need weapons to hurt him.
“Okay, so untie my brothers, I will tie Samuel and Seviin together with the rope, and I will bring them over to you.
I will stand next to you with my brothers.
“Please, Peter, you said so yourself, I am not able to fight. I just want my brothers back.” I hate how easily I am able to slip into this meek personality Peter wanted from me.
All the same, it helps. Peter snaps his fingers and two fauns I recognize untie my brothers, grabbing their shoulders.
Barry winces, but I can’t let that distract me.
I wish I could tell him Killian promised me that Barry could steer a real pirate ship, but I can’t.
Seviin stiffens the second I grab her hand, until she feels me press the second small dagger Killian gave me into her palm. I quickly make a show of tying them up, making sure the rope is tied so loosely they can easily get free when they need to.
“Peter, he is hurting Barry. Please let me hold them. You know I can’t run; look at those pirates, they all hate me. I have nowhere to run…”
It’s the truth, really. Very few of the pirates are onto what I am doing. I ignore the hurt and anger in their glares. Surely, they will forgive me if we win this.
The two fauns that held my brothers step back at Peter’s gesture.
“Matthew, Barry, run toward the captain when I give the sign, okay? Just trust me.” My voice is so low I wonder if they heard me, but when I look up, they both blink twice slowly before staring at Killian.
“Peter, tell me, why did you use the pan flute? Did you not want to have something real?” I ask, stepping closer to him.
I raise my hand before it flies to Matthew’s shoulder again, a slow, sloppy move Peter sees.
He grins, gesturing at his army to relax.
Out of the corner of my eyes I see Samuel and Seviin huddle closer together.
Matthew and Barry tense under my palms, ready to sprint away.
It is almost magical to see how we all work together like this when we never discussed this before.
We had no time too, this was an ambush gone wrong, and it’s in our favor.
“You still miss me, don’t you? Even without the charm, you know I am better than him.”
How the hell did I not realize how arrogant this man is? My stomach, already tight with nerves, tightens even harder at Peter’s words. I step closer to him, my head bowed down, like the obedient little lamb he wants me to be.
“NOW!” I slam my head into his face. The rope drops to the muddy floor, the sound muffled by the slippery, wet, sucking noises of my brothers’ soft shoes as they make their way over to Killian.
One of Peter’s guards notices the dagger in Seviin’s hand. I gave her and Samuel my weapons, but I need to help her out. I just ram into him, bringing him to the floor.
“Darling, I got your brothers,” Killian’s voice rings out over the forest. I can breathe again, and then his voice is followed by a dozen angry pirates ready to fight. Vani shoves a dagger in my hand. I knew they would understand what I was doing in the end.
I sink to the floor, the adrenaline gone. I don’t know if they even got to Peter, or if Killian will forgive me for this. “You are made to stay here; don’t worry your pretty head about it. What are you going to do, you are not made to fight.” Peter’s words are messing with my mind.
“Darling, get up, you were brilliant. Now let’s finish it together. I have a brother-in-law to teach how to sail a pirate ship,” Killian says, pulling me up before I even knew he closed the distance between us.
I have a choice to make now, to believe the goat who has always lied to me or the fae who has always been honest with me, even when it made him look bad.
I look around. Two of the faun warriors have been killed. It is the first time I have seen violence like this. It should shock me to the core. But it doesn’t. I feel a sense of relief, two less faun’s who can go after my brothers.
Peter, the man I was so desperate to get back to only a few weeks ago, is bleeding now. Samuel and Seviin have him up against a tree.
“There is nothing you can do. I will never lift the brownies curse.” Peter’s voice isn’t as loud and steady as it normally is. He might have been lying to me all this time. I have still gotten to know him. And I can tell how scared he is now.
“James, my sweet boy—”
“‘Sweet boy,’ what kind of cringe pet name is that? Everything about you is vile,” Seviin interrupts him, actually shuddering at the pet name Peter used for me.
“She is right, you know. Forget me asking why you didn’t try to get something real. You would never be able to find someone who loves you as much as you love yourself. Don’t ‘sweet boy’ me.” I am too tired, too hurt by this man, and too over him to show any emotions in my words.
“Maybe we can come up with something, some kind of deal, James. Killian lied to you too,” he says, ignoring Seviin mocking him, not me, speaking to him so emotionless.
“Killian did not lie to me, you idiot. I played you like you play your pan flute. There are no deals to make with you. We need to see Celeste in her true form again before we can even entertain letting you make a deal.”
My body sinks into the forest floor, the tension that had been shimmering in my body ever since Peter brought me to Silvermist seems to dissipate with every word that I speak.
“You have nothing to offer me, the only reason I am willing to make a deal with you is because I still love you.”
This man cannot stop lying. I don’t even know if he believes his own lies now or if he truly thinks we are that dumb.
“Killian, you have been waiting for this day for so long, just do what you have to do to get Celeste back, please. I want to go home with you, my brothers, and our friends.” I sigh, suddenly feeling exhausted.
“Yes, you’re going to kill me in front of your darling,” Peter scoffs. “You’re going to show him what a savage you really are…”
I am about to tell Killian not to listen to Peter’s taunts, but before I can, Killian speaks up.
“I am, because I know James better than you do.”
His words get punctuated by the muffled hiss of metal over leather.
Followed by the filthy, slimy sound of skin and meat being torn apart.
I wince as I look Peter in the now dead empty eyes, looking up at me from the forest floor a few feet away from his body.
In a flash, a stunning woman with black hair and ice blue eyes runs up to Killian.
“You did it, Killy. You really did it like I knew you would,” the woman, who I can only imagine is Celeste, says, hugging Killian, who has fallen to his knees.
“You too, James. Come here, you helped us so much,” Celeste says, reaching out to me.
Right as she does, Belichime and Dexter step back into sight with Matthew and Barry.
“The captain told us Belichime and Dexter are your friends and that they would keep us safe,” Barry explains.
“They are. Oh, I am so sorry what I did to you both. We’ll talk about it on the pirate ship, but first come, I need you to meet Celeste, who you knew as Tinkerbell, and Killian the Captain of the Obsidian Oath,” I say hugging my brothers, the warmth of their bodies seeping into my skin.
They still feel the same; at least Peter didn’t starve them.
Killian looks up, still hugging Celeste with tear-glossed eyes.
“Ahoy, me hearties, my name is Captain Killian Tregear. Thank you for aiding in the rescue of my sister. The two of you are brave lads. You must have more questions than the oceans have water. Let’s get home to the Obsidian Oath; you two will be my esteemed guests.
” Barry’s entire face lights up, but Matthew looks wary.
“I promise, Matthew. tI’s not what it seems like. I will explain it all to you, but we need to get back to the ship. We need to rest,” I tell my middle brother who eventually nods and follows Killian, Celeste, me, and the rest of the crew toward the ship that really has become like a home to me.
“We did it, darling. We have our siblings back.” Killian’s voice is louder than I have ever heard it before. He is right; it’s slowly sinking in, but we did it, we made it, we actually did it together.
“Yeah… we did,” I mutter, Killian looks back at me. I get it, he must have expected me to be happier about this, and I am, but this means it’s suddenly all over. We got what we wanted, and now we’re going to get Celeste and then Matthew, Barry, and me.
“Sorry, it’s just not sinking in,” I say with a smile. I don’t want to tell him something else is sinking in too, not because I want to lie to him, not because I want to hide things from him. But because I need some time to deal with this.
“James, why did you never come back for us? Peter said you were kidnapped, but the longer you were gone, the meaner he got.” My chest gets uncomfortably tight as I listen to Barry’s question.
“That was my fault. I will tell you when we’re back on the ship. We’re almost there, okay?”