Chapter 40 #2
Amaris scanned the desk. It was mainly free of clutter, but her eyes locked onto a large piece of parchment and a compass sitting next to it.
Raising to her tiptoes, Amaris stepped into the office.
The captain crossed her arms and moved closer to the windows, releasing a sigh.
Amaris dared another step and scanned the room for the key.
She again sent a prayer that it wasn’t around the woman’s neck, because it was always around the pirate’s neck in the movies.
“How lovely you could join us.” The captain’s words were pleasant, but her tone was far from it, sending Amaris’s blood to freeze over.
A pair of hands seized her from behind. The captain turned, a wicked smile gracing her lips. Golden eyes stared back at her, glowing as bright as the lightning in the sky.
Amaris’s chest tightened as the man holding her captive shoved her closer. She was back in the throne room all those weeks ago with Alan gripping her arm and dragging her down the hall, but now she was thrown beside the desk.
The captain came around and grasped Amaris’s cheeks, squeezing them as her nails bit into her skin. Without giving her sailor a single glance, she said, “Leave us.”
He followed her orders, the door shutting with a subtle click.
She released Amaris’s face, shoving her back.
Amaris tried to remain calm, to keep her breathing under control.
How had she thought she could do this? As the captain turned her back and strode behind her desk, Amaris’s eyes shot to the back of a picture frame and a leather necklace hanging from the corner.
Too easy, she thought. It was the key.
“Who are you?” Amaris asked, attempting to keep her voice clear and calm, like Theodoric with his stone-faced demeanor. She needed a plan.
The captain folded her arms across her chest, her long nails tapping against her elbow. She had no weapon pulled and didn’t have a sword sheathed at her side or knives strapped to her thighs. Her claws seemed as good a weapon as any with their long, pointed ends.
“I see you prefer to get straight to the point. How boring,” the captain sighed, glancing over her shoulder as if to be sure they were alone.
She raised her hand and cupped it around her mouth.
“I’m Drauna.” She smiled then angled her nails in front of her, but her eyes studied Amaris instead. “You’re not what I expected.”
“Excuse me?” Amaris blurted out. “You expected a man to come save Adelaide instead?”
Drauna laughed maniacally. Amaris’s jaw tightened, and her body jumped as a clap of thunder boomed overhead.
“I know her brother will try. He most certainly has the spirit to, even if it’s tainted.” She raised a brow in a teasing smirk as she pushed from the desk to stand before the window.
“What do you mean?” Amaris reached for the picture frame.
“Theodoric Fastrada is haunted by who he is, what he was forced to become. His soul is diseased, devouring him.”
Amaris’s gaze snapped to her, her fingers hovering over the leather necklace. “How do you know that?”
She turned lazily around. Amaris ripped back her hand.
“The same reason I know what you desperately crave.”
Amaris pulled back, her face twisting in disgust. “How could you know what I want?” Nothing could prevent the slight increase of her pulse.
She laughed. “Isn’t it what we all desire? To belong. To have the answers.” She raised a brow and smirked. “To have a family, Amaris.”
Amaris sucked in a breath. The wind forced a window to snap open, sending a breeze to fly over them. Sea water and the subtle scent of singed wiring filled the charged air.
“How do you know my name?”
Drauna smiled, once again turning to face the wall of windows. Amaris snatched the key from the frame.
“Your name is hardly of concern. Where you come from is far more interesting.”
Amaris choked on her own spit, shoving the key into her boot. “I… How do you...?” she stammered, unable to hide her panic.
“You reek of another realm.”
“But how do you even know of other worlds?”
“That doesn’t matter,” Drauna said, her voice like a siren’s. “Why do you think you’re here?”
Amaris stopped breathing. She didn’t know why she was here. She’d stopped that line of thought weeks ago. All that had mattered was escaping and getting home. “Do you know?”
Drauna laughed, a flash of lightning followed in its wake. “I cannot simply divulge the answers you seek. Where would the fun be in that?”
“What do you want then?”
“To gaze upon you.” Her golden eyes were bright like lightning in a storm cloud. They widened as she angled toward Amaris.
She couldn’t move, not for lack of trying, but Amaris felt pinned against the floor.
A clear thought came to her. Where’s Theodoric?
If there was anyone she wanted in this moment, it was him.
She wanted him to come barreling through the door, lunge with his sword, and take her back to the manor.
But he wasn’t going to, because she’d fucked up.
“Were you the one who tried to kill me?” Amaris dared ask.
“I’ve no need of that.” She donned a feline smile. “A blade may one day slit your throat, but it won’t be by my hand.”
What? Amaris wasn’t sure how many more of her riddles she could take. “Who then?”
Drauna stepped toward Amaris, latching her hand around her throat, but she didn’t squeeze. Her nails drew small circles over her chin. “That is up to you.”
“What’s with the cryptic phrases? Tell me,” Amaris demanded, still fighting the urge to get up and run, fighting against her paralyzing moment of panic.
“There’s much for you to learn, Amaris.”
She balked against her hand, no longer caring how she knew her name, only caring that she wanted to get as far away from her as possible.
“Diggory!”
The door burst open. Amaris fought her grasp, but Drauna clamped down harder, drawing a trickle of blood to spill down the side of Amaris’s neck. A tall man with cinnamon-colored hair and silver eyes stalked closer. He didn’t wear the navy uniform like the other soldiers. Is he a pirate too?
“See that our guest finds proper accommodations.” Drauna relinquished her hold around Amaris’s neck.
Amaris gasped for air as Diggory grabbed her arm, dragging her off the floor bucking and kicking. She tried to rip from his clutches, but his hold was like iron shackles with his long fingers.
“Seems Drauna has taken a liking to you,” Diggory heckled once in the hall. “She wasn’t as merciful the last time she laid a hand on someone.”
“Fuck you,” Amaris snapped, sending the heel of her boot into his toe.
He cringed, releasing the hold on her arms. Amaris swung her leg, the steel toe slamming into his groin. He reached for his crotch and forced a breath. She turned to run, but he grabbed her braid, yanking her back.
“Captain said to find you proper accommodations. She never said where,” he seethed. His fingers dug against her torso as he pressed her to his chest. “You’re just as feisty as the other one. Maybe she’ll love a cellmate.”
Amaris’s blood stilled. She shoved her palms into his chest, digging her nails into the material of his shirt.
Fuck, Amaris cursed. What would Viv do?
She stared him dead in his cold eyes, pulled her head back, and slammed her forehead into his nose. Blood sprayed, but he released his hold. She ran, throwing barrels and whatever else she could behind her to block his path.
She dared a glance over her shoulder. He charged after her, baring his teeth as blood dripped down his lips.