13. Adrian
Adrian
My finger tapped the top of my hat sitting next to me as I went through the documents Bramwell had managed to gather for me.
Octavio Kalfin
Age twenty-seven
Set to take over the lordship of the Kalfin house in stead of his ailing father. Considered to be fun, and the life of the party, yet at the same time responsible. Most find him to be very charming.
“I don’t know why you’re so interested in our host,” Bramwell said, going through his own stack of books, mostly about magical and cursed items. We needed to learn something about this necklace.
There had to be some comparable item, some record of a necklace that looked to be hand crafted by someone talented, but we kept coming up short.
With his immense speed, Bramwell was much better equipped to do this research than I was.
“There was just something… off.” I said. He had a weird aura I couldn’t quite put a finger on, and I was typically good at reading people.
“Maybe because he was talking to our new captive so closely?”
He didn’t even raise his eyes from the book as he made the accusation.
“She’s not a captive. And it has nothing to do with that.
” Why would it? Who Sage talked to was her business.
And it made sense. An up-and-coming lord trying to court a princess?
Basically a match favored by the goddess.
When I brought her back, they would probably court, maybe even get married. They deserved each other after all…
“Adrian,” Bramwell said, ripping me from my thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Can you please stop that racket? I can’t concentrate?”
“What?”
“Your tail.”
And sure enough, the tip of my tail rattled against the floor. I froze and tucked it between the rest of me. This was the second time I’d done that today. A nervous habit I picked up as a child, one I thought I’d gotten rid of long ago, but seemingly not.
The door swung open and Connie strode in, sitting at the table and kicking her feet up, getting dangerously close to my cup of coffee that I slid away from the bottoms of her boots.
“The crew’s all set on work.”
“Good,” I said.
“I saw our new stowaway in the hall.”
I tried to resist the question on the tip of my tongue, but it poured from me anyway. “How is she?”
Connie looked at me from under her hat, but I didn’t even glance up, trying to come across as casual.
“You taking a personal interest of some kind?”
“No,” I shot back. “Just checking in on everyone working on my ship.”
“Right,” she said. “She seemed fine. Anne had it handled.”
“Good.” I put Anne on it because though she was responsible, she also hadn’t been on the ship for very long, so she was a bit softer than a lot of other crew members.
My coffee slid as we passed over a particularly heavy wave. “Damn tides,” Bramwell said. He wasn’t so quick, his cup clattering to the ground.
“Landlubber,” Connie said under her breath.
“Zip it,” Bramwell said as he moved to clean up the mess.
I smirked. Though we were a strange bunch, we were the heart of this ship, keeping it running in our own ways.
Another large wave came along, but I adjusted. Years at sea made me more adaptable to these things, and I couldn’t deny the tail made me steadier than most with two legs. “Did you find anything of note, Bramwell?”
He shook his head. “Still nothing. I find records of supercharged magestones, but they always break eventually. No curses that cause this kind of hold over someone. It truly is a mystery, like something out of a fairy tale.”
I nodded, my mind wandering. “Fairy tales,” I mused aloud.
“What about them?” Connie asked, her dagger out and cleaning her nails.
“That could be it. We’ve been looking at records, facts. But some of the greatest facts reside inside of stories told to children!”
His eyes widened. “You’re right. We assume it all to be fictional.”
“But what if it isn’t,” I continued, excited at the prospect of finding what we needed. “They all at least hold some moral truth, but what if there were ones that held the answer?”
“It’s a long shot,” Connie mused.
“Everything about this is,” I agreed. “And this might just work.”
I could see Bramwell’s wheels turning. “Yes, let’s explore this option. There isn’t a similar one that comes to mind, but I will do some research.”
“We should probably ask her a few questions,” Connie said. “Something she says could be the key.”
I thought it over. Recalling her distress yesterday made me a bit anxious. “I don’t think she knows anything.”
“Even not, how the necklace found her could prove to be useful,” Bramwell said, siding with Connie.
“I’ll consider it,” I said.
The silent stares were so harsh I could feel them. “Why the hell are you—”
“Captain?” A voice called from outside, saving my ass, at least for the moment.
“Yes, Links?” I called back.
Connie huffed, but this came first. We wouldn’t be interrupted if it wasn’t for a reason.
“You might want to get to the second deck. You or the quartermaster. There’s been a bit of an… incident.”
Connie and I looked at each other, each sure exactly what he meant.
We both headed up while Bramwell promised to continue his search.
The problem wasn’t instantly obvious, until we saw water pouring from underneath the laundry room.
“What’s going on?” Connie asked before I could get a word in.
I flung the door open and it took my brain a moment to piece together what I was actually looking at.
Water flooded one of the buckets, pouring over to the floor and creating a mass of bubbles that was halfway to my waist.
Sage was against the wall on the other side, seeming to have slipped. Her dress was soaked through, her once tidy plait a mess around her.
I helped her up while someone behind me stopped the faucet.
“Get this cleaned up,” I said, guiding Sage out of the room.
No one said anything as we left, but I knew I’d have things to answer later.
Sage followed me silently, but I could feel her stewing beside me.
“I don’t think laundry is for you,” I said.
“You think?” she snapped. “I tried to tell you that this morning.”
I turned, straightening my tail. Though I was lower than her on the stairs, I was still taller, and pressing her down with my gaze.
“I know you’re frustrated, and I’ve been going easy on you, but everyone on this ship shows me respect, including you, is that understood?”
For just a moment, I saw a bit of… compliance in her gaze. She wanted to listen, but it was gone just as quickly as it came.
“Yes, Captain,” she snarked.
Thoughts of punishment ran through my mind. Maybe a week of practice scrubbing the deck with a toothbrush, or an evening on watch duty.
Or a hard smack to the ass.
I shook at the thought. Where did that come from?
“I’m serious,” I said. “I’m assigning you something else.”
“I’m soaking wet,” she pointed out.
“I’ll give you time to change. I’m kind like that.”
“Stop being a prick,” she said.
Maybe two hard smacks then.
“Then stop being difficult,” I shot back.
“I’m not. It’s not my fault the ship moves all the time.”
I was going to mention how obvious that was because of the waves, but I kept that fact to myself for now.
We stopped at her room. “Grab something to wear. I’ll take you down to the showers so you can clean up, then give you a new assignment.”
“I don’t want a new assignment,” she said.
“And I don’t allow freeloaders.”
“You stole me!”
“And you came with your own free will!”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been called much worse.”
She groaned in anger, and the sound went right down to my cock, the same way her touch did the night of the party.
“Just go away,” she said finally.
I sighed, my own frustration creeping in, meaning I probably should step away. “Fine. Showers are down the hall. Since I can see you don’t want my company, get yourself cleaned up, and I’ll see you after lunch.”
I shut her in her room and leaned against the door.
Something hit the back of it, as if she threw her shoe or something, and I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face.