Chapter 11 Sofie
Chapter eleven
Sofie
“This was her bedroom,“ Safira said quietly, opening the door.
Room after room of white plaster and vaulted ceilings gave way to this bedroom, which was as large as the average house on Aegle. Though it had the feeling of cold disuse, it didn’t smell musty, nor was there dust dappling the streaks of sunlight when Safira pulled back the brocade draperies.
“I know you all imagine I’m well-versed in the saga of the pirate lords,” I said, my eyes catching on the wardrobe against the back wall and the ornately painted chest at the foot of the bed, “but I don’t know who her is.”
“Jax’s first wife, Amarylis. His only true wife.“ Safira smiled wistfully, an expression I almost missed as I blew past her, searching for these all-important gowns. “It was a love match.”
I threw open the doors to the wardrobe. Amarylis had many fine things, still hanging neatly as though she might return for them at any time. But none of them were suitable for a formal event.
I left the doors open and turned to the chest.
“She was the first victim of the curse,” Safira added.
I paused in my rummaging through the chest, the noisy layers of thin tissue falling back into place over the packed gowns before I could examine them.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The same thing that always does. No, I shouldn’t say that.
Ama was one of the lucky ones, if you could say that.
She made it all the way to the enchanted isle, into the cavern where the treasure is hidden.
She and the captain went in alone. It was months before he could even talk about it.
The captain took his eyes off her for one second.
She was lifeless, crumpled to the ground before he could look back.
” She sniffed. “They were sweethearts for many years before he took her to the pirate’s ball.
He loved her with all his heart, and she adored him. ”
I had to wonder, was she one of his paramours in myriad ports, or had that been a lie? Could someone like Jax even experience true love?
“Foolish of him to risk her life for a bit of treasure, then,” I concluded, much to Safira’s open chagrin. “I gather the other marriages were more, er, mercenary?”
“Fellow pirates after a reward,” Safira agreed. “And a thief or two.”
“But never a sorceress?”
Safira fixed me with such a stern glare, I had to return my attention to the dresses before she hypnotized me again. “A common mage, once,” she answered, “but obviously no formally trained sorceresses. Would you have agreed, if he’d asked you instead of tricking you into marriage?”
Her melodic voice lingered in the room, its natural allure dampened by its suddenly harsh notes.
“Bounty or no, he could’ve turned to Dewspell Academy for help,” I argued. “It’s just the sort of puzzle the masters enjoy. Not to mention the prospect of adding an item that can control the seas to the Library of Enchanted Relics.”
I froze with a heavy ivory silk dress in my hands, the thousands of hand-sewn beads catching the light.
“He knew what they would ask in exchange for breaking the curse,” I said, my voice quiet, as if any of Jax’s choices could still astonish me. “He never went to Dewspell for help because he didn’t want to share the treasure.”
“That’s part of it,” Safira agreed.
“What’s the other part?”
“A ship ferrying valuable magical artifacts to Dewspell may have been waylaid by Carabosse some years prior.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Have you, though? I mean very valuable. Precious things. Dark things. All sold by the king and queen of Gerhelm as they tried to rebuild their kingdom. Dewspell paid dearly for the lot of them, to avoid them falling into the wrong hands. Which means they paid dearly twice once everything hit the open market.”
I sighed, rubbing at my eyes from the mix of musty fabric, yellowed tissue paper and frustration. “Does his greed have no bounds?”
“The captain can’t resist a good challenge. But this treasure, this quest, is different. It calls to him like a siren’s song over the waves,“ Safira said, scoffing at me as if I’d said something foolish. “It’s part of the curse.”
“And if it isn’t?”
“Of course it is.”
Her faith in Jax was unwavering. I shook my head, dismayed at the blind loyalty of his crew. But there was nothing I could say to convince her otherwise, and so I changed the subject.
“Would you consider these gowns out of fashion here?” I asked, tutting at the heavy fabrics, ruffles and layered designs, which were no doubt meant to be worn over elaborate petticoats and thick farthingales.
Every last one was over-embellished and gaudy—not to my taste at all, and not particularly suited to movement, either.
“They’re still beautiful,” Safira said, “but they’ll need a lot of work. Not for the style, but because Jax will remember them. If he finds out we touched so much as a thread of Amarylis’s things—”
As if on cue, Jax stormed into the room, his towering frame somehow larger now that we were on land. His hands were curled into fists, his expression stormy as he all but shouted, “What are you doing in here?”
“Apparently I’m required to attend some type of ball as your bride.” I rolled my eyes at him and continued shifting through the dresses.
His big hand was in front of me in a flash, yanking the gowns out of my hands. “Get your hands off her things.” Jax’s face hovered so close to mine, I could feel the heat of his breath and see the pure, dark rage swirling in his eyes. “You have no right to be here.”
“No, pirate, I have no choice but to be here.“ I glowered back at him, refusing to move an inch. “The two of you made certain of that. In case you’ve forgotten, I was supposed to be home with my family on Aegle by now. Instead I’m here, being dragged through a den of thieves with a fancy facade, catering to your every demand while I try to save my own skin—and yours and your crew’s, too, by the way!
I’m simply making the best of a bad situation, and I will not be hindered. ”
As proud as I was for standing up for myself, it was as if he didn’t even hear me.
Didn’t see me, either. In his effort to protect his first wife’s things, Jax rushed the chest, pushing me back roughly as his body wedged me out of the space.
I staggered backwards, saved from falling only by Safira’s quick, liquid movements as she caught me under the arms.
Stunned, I watched Jax’s hands begin to shake as he dropped the lid of the chest, bits of gowns and aged tissue paper sticking out the sides, then lift it and desperately try rearranging everything, the trembling worsening by the moment.
“Captain,” Safira said softly, musically, as I got back to my feet.
Her siren’s voice seemed to bring him back.
“You do not come in here, ever,“ he growled, his back to me as he continued to try righting the chest’s contents. I didn’t mean to. I took a step back just from his tone. “You do not speak of her, or touch anything that belonged to her, do you understand me, Sofie?”
Though he said my name, it wasn’t until he whirled to face me that it registered. I quelled a tremble of my own as I coiled my hands into fists.
“Does that include you, husband?” I batted my lashes at him, happy to antagonize him if it meant hiding my own fear.
I could no longer pretend this pirate could not love. But the force of that love, pain and regret all mixed together—that frightened me more than any death curse.
A muscle twitched in Jax’s jaw as he loomed over me, pure fury transforming his face into that of a menacing specter. I could see he was fighting to restrain himself.
Good. At least he wasn’t a complete brute with no self-control.
“Push me again,” I said, my voice low, “and I will set fire to this entire villa. Starting with this room.”
Jax had enough sense to recoil, his eyes widening in momentary panic. But his anger returned swiftly. “What sort of villain have I allied myself with?”
“The kind you asked for,” I answered him levelly. “The kind you needed.”
“You’re an evil sorceress minx, is what you are. Sweet one moment and ready to gut me the next!”
“Why thank you.” I fluttered my lashes again, a hand going to my chest. I refused to back down—or to show the pain I was feeling. “It’s so good to be noticed and appreciated.”
It was plain to see now that he cared more about a few silly dresses than me—cared more about these tiny fragments of a memory of the woman he’d loved.
All while I stood right here, ready to risk my life to break the curse that had ended hers!
He’d practically forgotten I was in the room!
It shouldn’t have hurt so much, but for once in my careful, chaos-controlling existence, my emotions were spinning out of control.
My next words were harder, the better to hide all the feelings now warring within me. “Now, escort me to my room, captain. I have some enchanting to do.”
“You’ll not use her things!” Though he half-shouted it, it was clear the anger had gone out of him. For the first time since the night I’d met him, he looked truly tired.
“If you want me to attend this ball with you, I’ll need something suitable to wear, won’t I?
Wouldn’t want to shame Carabosse’s lord captain,“ I said, mocking the Lady de Gorm’s earlier words.
I patted his chest as I walked by him, headed out of the room and back into the vast, cool maze of the halls.
“Don’t worry, husband. It’s just a bit of harmless enchanting.
I’ll even use my own dress, since it matters so much.
Kidnapping me has turned out to be terribly convenient for you, hasn’t it? ”
I left him in Amarylis’s room, hoping he felt even an ounce of the shame he ought to, but doubting he would. At the very least, once Safira hurried after me he’d be alone with his memories. He might even contemplate what he had done. Was that too much to ask for?
I could not change him, or make him see me, or shake him out of the past when there was a very urgent present to attend to. But neither would I tolerate his bad behavior, nor his interference.
If he wanted a sorceress who could rival the Bride and her death magic, he was getting one.
“Show me to my room, please,” I repeated to a servant. The place was crawling with them, and more than a few looked to be ex-pirates of some kind.
It was time for this fairy godmother to get to work.