Chapter 8 #2
“That’s Captain Cressida. Don’t forget it.
” Her reminder wasn’t a true threat, more a good-natured jab.
It was clear Hook had a reputation with this other crew, and not all of it bad.
Even without the title, her stance and lavish attire marked Cressida’s rank on the Siren.
Her boots shone with polish and her breeches lacked any holes or patches.
Even the jacket she wore over a billowing shirt cut a flattering shape, as if it had been tailored specifically for her—gold buttons, silver stitching, and all.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, love,” Hook said with a grin.
Tink frowned. Just as quickly, she shook the expression away. Who cared if he called every woman in Neverland “love”? He didn’t mean it. Not when he said it to her, and likely not to anyone else.
Cressida’s crew lounged in the sun or flirted with the merfolk, mermaids and mermen alike. A few others lingered onshore. Common behavior, she supposed, though one thing struck her as out of the ordinary.
“Is all her crew women?” she asked.
Smee smiled, a wistful, faraway look in his eyes. “Aye. The Siren boasts the fairest crew on the seas.”
Hook turned away from the dock as they neared and lowered his voice. “Do try not to get too friendly with them this time.”
“And the merfolk?” Smee gazed toward mermaids at play. Both male and female dressed alike—no clothes to speak of other than shells or seaweed as decorations. The mermaids often chose not to cover their chests as many races did.
Hook slid a narrow-eyed look at Sage. “I do believe last time two mermen got a little upset…”
Sage messed with the end of her brown braid. “Don’t look at me.”
He let out a dramatic sigh.
“Captain?” Smee asked again, a note of pleading in his voice.
“Fine. If you must.”
Smee’s countenance brightened considerably.
Cressida appraised Tink as she climbed onto the dock. “Adding more women to your crew.” She smiled. “About time.”
Hook edged in front of her. “Don’t go trying to recruit her away from me now.”
Cressida laughed and tossed her curly, dark locks behind her. “Protective. How…unlike you.”
The mermaid who’d met their boat popped their head back out of the water. “She’ll meet you.”
Tink’s gaze traveled across the lagoon to a lone outcropping of rock in shallow water.
Bright-colored coral in pinks and oranges clung to its base, peeking out from the water each time the tide receded—Queen Titania’s audience rock.
Tink had met her there weeks ago to deliver the necklace she’d stolen from Hook.
An odd fluttering filled her chest. How many pixies could say they’d met the merfolk’s queen at all, much less twice?
Perhaps they’d write about her in the pixie histories, if she could ever get the scale of Leviathan, return it to the merfolk, use the enchanted pearl they offered, and fix her bracelet so she could return home and tell the tale.
Right, easy enough. She sighed just thinking of the many obstacles before her.
Hook nodded to the mermaid before turning back to Cressida. “A truce while we’re here?” He held out his good hand.
She grasped it. “Of course.”
Smee had already garnered the attention of some giggling merfolk before Tink and Hook reached the beach.
“It seems like you’re on good terms with Captain Cressida,” Tink said as her boots sunk into the sand.
“Cressida and her crew are mostly friendly…unless you cross them,” he replied, but his focus was on the queen’s rock, still empty despite the mermaid’s word that the queen would meet them. “They prefer to earn money protecting merchant ships, recovering lost goods, and other upstanding services.”
“Like you?”
“Yes.”
She’d meant it as a joke, but his response held utter sincerity.
Sudden nerves twisted tight within her, but it wasn’t the queen she worried about.
Her gaze slid sideways to Hook. Had she misjudged him?
Yes, he had a fearsome reputation—a man one should not cross.
But she hadn’t heard of him doing anything truly horrid, not like Captain Blackbeard or some other pirates who preyed on the innocent and unsuspecting. On women like her.
Oh, wait…
“Let me do the talking,” Hook said as they neared the rocks.
Her lips thinned. “So I’m just here to look cute?” He’d gone through a lot of trouble getting her there just to tell her to keep quiet. Stupid pirate.
His lips quirked up at the corners. “To confirm that you were mistaken when you said I stole the Heart of Fire and ask the queen to remove her curses from me.”
“You did steal it,” she reminded him.
“But not from them.”
“And they’ll just believe me?” Tink frowned. Most likely they’d believe the pirate dragged the witness there against her will. Which of course, he did.
“They can tell when you lie to them, you know. You told them I stole it, and they believed you because you believed it. If you tell them differently now, and I do as well, they’ll hear the truth.”
Most interesting. Tink skipped a step and nearly stumbled in the sand.
“So once we clear this up, you’ll let me go?
Take me back to Tortuga?” The sooner the better.
Every day spent stuck with this lousy pirate was one more away from home.
She needed to be searching for information about the scale, not spending her days chained to his bed.
Most sailors she’d talked to said it didn’t exist. A legend, they called it.
One old man, though, had told her stories about a woman hiding it in a cave and leaving a trail of clues for her descendants.
“Hid it somewhere normal folk wouldn’t look,” he’d said.
It was a start, anyway. Only a matter of time before she came across someone who knew more.
Hook’s jaw stiffened. “That was a valuable jewel you stole…”
Nails dug into her palm. “You can’t seriously—”
A large swell rose from the deep and sped toward the queen’s rock. Tink’s eyes flew wide.
Hook pushed Tink behind him as the wave grew in the otherwise calm waters, rising high as their heads.
Water crashed against the rocks. Tink ducked behind Hook.
A gasp wrenched from her throat as cold water swirled up around her calves.
As it retreated, the water tugged at her, begging her to come with it, but she grasped onto the man in front of her instead, who stood firm against its grasp.
Musical laughter chimed through the air.
Tink peeked around Hook to see the water recede from the rocks, leaving a sandy path from them to the shore.
On the largest rock sat Queen Titania. Violet hair spiraled down to her iridescent, navy tail.
Like other merfolk, she wore no human clothing, though pearls of cream and pink accented her hair, and a crown of bone-white coral graced her head.
The merfolk queen cocked her head to the side as she took in her small audience. “Not a combination I expected.”
Elongated, sharp teeth peeked out from between her lips. Those things could bite a fish in half. Or a pixie. Tink shuddered. Was the queen amused or annoyed? If the latter, they were in a heap of trouble.