Chapter 2
Chapter two
Jax
One minute, I was enjoying the fine sunshine that arrived the morning after I condemned another woman to her death. The next, I was staggering into the rail of my newest ship, then tumbling over it, the little red-haired wildcat on my back.
As I plummeted into the dark, frothing water around the ship, I considered not even searching for the sunlight above. Might it be better if I just…stayed? Would the curse allow it this time? Or would she propel me out of the water, forcing me to continue my wretched quest of seven years?
What was a cursed pirate to do? Stay, and find out if the Bride would let me sacrifice myself for the angry little sorceress who’d just knocked me overboard? Or swim, and find out if I could finally defeat this abominably clever curse?
Then, just as always, I shook off the idea of giving up and letting the Bride win. There were still so many adventures to live for, so many fights and victories. This treasure could not elude me forever. She could not elude me forever.
And then, just as I pointed my face toward the sky, the wildcat was in front of me, a blur of frosty white skin and dark fabric, grabbing me by the topknot in my hair and hoisting me back to the air.
Still under the surprising power of her grip, I spat water and took a huge breath, feeling the drag of my boots and weapons-laden belt. Curse her, my best blades were going to rust!
I ripped her bony hand free of my hair. “What,” I said with a cough, “did that accomplish?”
A flash of surprise marred her fair face, followed by a scowl. Why did everyone think elite pirates couldn’t read or speak well? I wouldn’t have my title if I couldn’t keep the required ledger. Nor could I lead a virtual floating city of crew members without the ability to speak effectively.
Above us, the crew was lowering a rescue boat from the newest addition to Carabosse. This one was a fair enough merchant ship, not the fastest but no doubt laden with trade goods bound for the north. She’d do. Though she’d need a new name…
“You foul brigand,” the wildcat raved as she treaded water—better than the average lass in a gown, I must admit. “How dare you trick me into marriage! I know all about your brides—“
“You know less than you think.”
“Excuse me?” Her eyes practically bulged.
“I’ll gladly explain the terms of the curse to you,” I said, pausing to cough once again, “as soon as we’re out of the water. The sea is cold and full of sharks here.”
She lifted her already upturned nose, which was now as red as the sunrise she’d slept through. “This isn’t cold, and I’m not worried about the sharks.”
“You’re right. Where I’m from, this would be called frigid.”
Again, she eyed me suspiciously as the rowboat hit the water, as if I had somehow stolen educated words along with the usual pirate’s bounty and was trying to sell them to her.
I knew I shouldn’t ask, but I couldn’t help myself. “Why aren’t you worried about sharks?”
“Oh, that’s rich.” She angled her face away from both me and the approaching boat, as if she could not bear to view either of us. “I see you don’t know who I am.”
“I know what you did,” I said, not bothering to hide the hint of taunting, “and I know that makes you a balancer from Dewspell Academy. And such a dutiful one at that, to curse even a newborn princess to endless slumber.”
The cold sea deprived me of the chance to see her pale skin flush with anger, for it was already a spare few shades away from turning scarlet. “I did what was necessary.”
“Then I know you might be the right woman for the job, and that’s plenty. The crew and I have a rather large problem with a cursed bit of treasure. One I can’t retrieve until the curse’s terms are met.”
“You’re cursed? Or the treasure is cursed?”
“Yes.”
A harsh breath, as if she was trying to hiss but couldn’t do it through chattering teeth, said she didn’t appreciate that reply.
“I thought you said this wasn’t cold?” I needled, unable to help myself. I was saved from her tart reply by the arrival of the rowboat. “What ho, Aoki.”
My first mate steered the lifeboat towards us, tossing a rope and wooden buoy with expert accuracy, which is to say it hit the red-faced wildcat in the shoulder.
“Watch it!” she exclaimed, dipping dangerously low in the water as she tried to grasp her injured shoulder.
Aoki offered her a sharp smile. “Ladies first, madam.”
With that wretched scowl of hers firmly attached to her face, she gripped the line and waited to be pulled toward the boat. I swam after her, choosing to expedite the process.
A shadow darted to the side. At least it was a small shark. It darted away when Aoki dropped the line and buoy back in the water for me, somewhat needlessly.
A crewmember gripped each of my forearms, hauling me over the side far more gracelessly than Aoki had brought in the sodden wildcat, who now floundered on the floor of the boat with her posterior pointed in the wrong direction. That is, towards the sky.
When she tried to sit up, Aoki pressed down on her back with his boot. “Stay still, madam. Wouldn’t want to rock the boat.”
I flashed him a wolfish grin as I settled in at the stern. The crew began to row us back to my new ship.
On the horizon, one of my other ships, Temerity, appeared as little more than a speck. We were back aboard my newest acquisition before I even had time to shiver.
“Fetch the captain some dry clothes,” the pirate known only as the Lady de Gorm ordered the cabin boy, her Laufeean accent thick and prickly as she welcomed me aboard. “Will you be taking over the captain’s cabin, sir?”
“Naturally.”
“And where shall we put”—her lip curled at the bedraggled sorceress in the now-ruined purple gown—“her?”
“Give her a hammock below.”
Behind me, Aoki hopped onto the deck. “How do we know she won’t curse the crew? Curse us more,“ he amended.
“She can try.” I removed my water-logged weapons belt, handing them off to the Lady de Gorm, who would do what she could to polish and save them from rust. I addressed the wildcat directly. “Now, wife, the reason I married you is so you’ll have no choice but to break the curse you now share with—”
“Sorceress Dar’Vester,” she snapped, hauling herself up on unsteady legs. Her unnaturally vivid red hair was a mop over her face, but she still managed an air of wounded dignity. “You will address me properly, Bluebeard.”
“It’s ‘captain’ to you, actually.”
She paused a moment—far too brief a moment—then belted out a harsh, nasty laugh. One that came at my expense. “You make your wives call you captain?”
“No,” I said more quietly. “Only you.”
“Only the ones who put up a fight?” She offered me a sneer as she strode towards the captain’s cabin. My cabin.
Boots squelching, I kept pace with her, my sea legs (and longer legs) allowing me to outpace her easily.
She began to walk faster, her hands curling into fists at her sides. I glanced again at the many rings she wore alongside her wedding ring, wondering how much each was worth.
“It might surprise you to know that you’re one of only two,” I answered her.
“Two brides? That’s not what I’ve heard.”
“Not brides. You’re one of the few to fight me. Certainly the first to knock me overboard.”
“Oh, so you’re a liar, too? You are versatile, aren’t you? Did you know it doesn’t count as coming along willingly when you use a siren?”
A soft intake of breath drew my attention to Safira, her braids carefully tied back and wrapped in patterned yellow fabric where they streamed from beneath her brimmed hat—a distraction that allowed the wildcat to reach the cabin ahead of me.
I slammed my hand against the doorframe, barring her just before she could enter. Her forehead collided with the back of my arm.
The wildcat took a step back, rubbing her forehead so that it was as red as her nose and cheeks. I didn’t like the way she was looking at my tattoos, like she could read every bit of magic hidden in them.
“This is my cabin now,” I said to distract her. “Someone will move your trunk below deck to make room for mine. Alas, my first mate is correct. You won’t be allowed to go with it.”
It worked. “You can’t expect me to stay in these sodden clothes!” she exclaimed.
I shot her a smile as cold as the sea. “Should’ve thought of that before you went overboard. Do it again, and no one will fish you out.”
“Ha!”
The derisive sound had me freezing in the cabin door. Slowly, I turned, using my body to block the way in as I lowered my arm.
She took a step back, but barely.
“You wouldn’t do that,” she said snidely, her neck craned upward so she could properly sneer at me, “because you need me.”
I scanned her from her bare feet to the wet crown of her red head, then turned back toward the cabin. “Prove it,” I called over my shoulder.
I was two strides into the cabin, my hand reaching for the edge of the door to slam it shut behind me, when something hit me square between the shoulder blades, hard enough to steal my breath.
I fell to my knees, eyes wide and panicked as shocks of pain spread throughout my body.
For the second time this morning, the little wildcat sorceress had me gasping for air.
And by the gods of the Prevarian Sea would she pay for it.