Chapter 19 You Look Like You
Chapter nineteen
You Look Like You
Rose
Found family is a rare treasure—but rarer still is the family bound by both blood and love, for such bonds are forged only once in an age.
— The Mysterious Deep: A Comprehensive Understanding
“Go find him,” I whispered to Oscar through false smiles.
I ran my gloved hands together to soothe the building pressure in my chest. Instead of staying close to Flynn, I’d allowed myself to be pulled away, playing the part of a blushing bride.
I still didn’t know if Flynn would forgive me for this, but I refused to let him walk to the gallows. Maybe that was selfish, but so be it.
“He can take care of himself, Rose.” Oscar scratched at his nose to cover his mouth.
“It’s all rather romantic, isn’t it? Falling in love in Paris only to find out he’s the heir to Fairview. You truly didn’t know when you first met him?” Sarah Harrington squealed.
“Definitely not,” Oscar and I said as one.
A small giggle erupted from her, but the woman next to her eyed me like I was dirt on her toe. Cora Harrington was afflicted by a chronic condition where she was unable to smile, and it soothed her to make everyone around her miserable.
I took a steadying breath, readying for the blow.
“Yes, how peculiar that we all thought you engaged only to find out it was to a mysterious heir. I suppose the third time is the charm, they say.” The flash of her engagement ring as she tucked a stray piece of chestnut hair behind her ear was glaring.
Once her words would have cut where they were intended to, but I knew who I was now.
People like Cora would forever be stuck in the small boxes they were born in.
Never finding enough space to stretch out their arms. The things I’d seen and done, the life I’d already lived, mattered more than sharp words.
I reached out and took her hand in mine, making a show of examining her ring. I clicked my tongue and plumped out my lower lip.
“What a shame Richard Carlisle couldn’t set aside more for a clearer diamond. Well, I’m sure he did the best he could, given that I heard he invested quite a bit into North Star Line. Such a shame.”
It would have been more convincing if I kept the smile from my lips at the last line.
At the end of the day, I was only human, and I very much enjoyed the smug aristocrats receiving their just dues.
Anyone who invested in North Star Line after my father’s removal deserved every shilling they lost and more.
Cora’s cheeks flushed, and her eyes flicked down to my empty hand, a cruel smile decorating her thin face. She opened her mouth, but quickly shut it at what she saw behind me.
“Miss Bailey,” Bash’s voice wrapped around me like a warm breeze.
I turned, and there he was. A rogue pirate captain in aristocrat finery holding out his hand to me, voice low and deep.
If I’d known two years ago that taking his hand would lead us here, I would’ve done it over and over.
My hand fit just right in his. Slightly crooked nose, steel jaw, high cheekbones, freshly shaved. He was a midnight dream.
“Mr. Smith,” I answered.
His eyes raked over me, assessing, hungry.
Too eager for polite society. I could see the thoughts flick through his mind as his gaze dropped to my lips, lingering for too long.
Whatever happened with his father only made him stronger.
It was in the fire in his storm eyes and the way he watched me as none of it mattered.
Oscar cleared his throat.
“Are you thirsty?” Bash asked, ignoring our party.
I nodded and choked out something that was probably an acquiescence in another language. He led me away, leaving behind murmured apologies and haughty breaths of irritation.
“We were very rude just now,” I said.
Every step with him at my side was a soft landing of my feet on plush grass. Safe. Found.
“I don’t care about them. I only care about you,” he said.
It didn’t matter where he took me; I only knew I would follow. The music serenading behind us echoed the sentiment with its gentle strings and longing current. Even the flickering candles agreed with their gentle sway. The world was in agreement, where Sebastian Flynn went, so did I.
He released my hand, took a drink from a servant, and held it out to me. I very much wanted to set it back down and run away from here. Back to the Wraith and the cabin that slowly became mine.
“Are you all right?” I asked, fidgeting with the cool glass.
We stood at the edge of the room, and his body was angled just so that it blocked the wandering eyes of nosy rich people.
He lifted his hand and brushed his fingers down the side of my face.
I leaned into the touch, knowing we shouldn’t, but helpless against his current.
I drifted into him, sighing with the first sense of contentment I’d known in four months.
It lightened my chest and pulled the tension from my shoulders.
“I missed you,” he said, his voice low.
I lifted my eyes to his and felt them burning with the pain of being without him. Now that he was here, touching me, it all felt too large. Too big to overcome like a tidal wave.
“I don’t think I breathed the whole time you were gone,” I confessed.
His chuckle ran across me, sending a shiver down my spine that was warm and desperate.
“You are the only person I wouldn’t accuse of lying about that, but you look well despite that amount of oxygen deprivation,” he said.
The urge to sink into him was insistent, but as the music switched to a more upbeat tempo, I was reminded where we were. Shielded or not, there were always gossips around every corner.
“What happened?” I asked.
His hands wrapped around mine at my side, and he leaned in, his lips brushing against my ear.
“Meet me at The Siren and The Kraken tonight.”
I felt warmth pull while my heartbeat fought to break free of my chest.
“I’m an engaged woman; it wouldn’t be appropriate.” I sniffed.
I loved the way his lips curled up. There was the captain I knew so well.
He lifted my chin with his thumb and forefinger, and I thought I might die right then and there.
“Good thing I already ruined you then,” he said.
Oh, god, lightning shot through me, and I was inclined to take his hand and run far from here if only to feel his body against mine.
“Time to go, Rose.” My sister's voice was as unwelcome as an upset stomach.
“No, thank you.” I chirped, stepping in closer to my pirate, who smiled and ran his eyes over my lips like he was memorizing them.
“Good thing I didn’t ask. Oliver is pale as a ghost, and I’m fairly certain he’s going to expire if you insist upon these shenanigans.” Ruby said.
All good things came to an end, and Ruby’s pull on my arm made it clear we weren’t negotiating.
“Our parents would like to invite you for lunch tomorrow. Your uncle is welcome to come as well,” she said.
I wrinkled my nose, and Bash chuckled like it was all a great joke.
“I can’t wait,” he said.
Ruby gave a small sniff that was as impolite as she was capable of. As she dragged me away to where our family waited with coats already on, I craned my neck to peer at Bash, who watched me with his hand covering his mouth, no doubt covering up his great humor at being kidnapped by my own sister.
Luckily, I knew an excellent inn to escape to.
If I had to listen to Oliver and Ruby talk over me one more time, I might actually lose my mind.
Apparently, questions like ‘are you insane’ and ‘could you be any more selfish’ were entirely rhetorical.
It was all great fun for Oscar, who was slow to confess he was in love with a pirate as well.
Though I suspected the judgment towards my own sex would still outweigh any confession he attempted.
By the time the carriage made it to Bailey's house, I was itching to remove myself from its walls.
In fact, as soon as the iron gate came into view, I opened the door and hopped out, which was followed by a curse from Oliver and a shriek from Ruby.
I almost preferred riding with Roberta, even though she and Ruby were both exhausting.
I breathed in the night air and felt the tingling drops of ice fall onto my skin.
Looking up, a light snowfall had begun and was silently casting a light coat over the stone ground.
I twirled, relishing the familiarity of home with a fresh snowfall.
I felt lighter. Even though I still needed to answer to my parents and go retrieve a questionable artifact from the ocean, I’d done exactly what I’d set out to.
Oscar and Flynn were free, and everything was lining up like a well-thought-out game of chess. A year ago, I’d whispered I was in charge when I most certainly wasn’t. For the first time in a long time, I truly felt in charge of my own life.
“Rosamund Beatrice Bailey, you cannot jump out of a moving carriage,” Ruby yelled.
In answer, I lay down on the street and moved my arms and legs up and down, letting the cold sink into my coat and bones. A giggle broke loose from me.
“I did it,” I whispered.
“Aye, you did it, but you also gave Oliver indigestion, and Ruby has several gray hairs,” Oscar said.
“You can’t talk like a pirate here,” I chuckled.
The starlight sky was otherworldly, with its blackish-blue hue and falling snow, like shooting stars from their perch.
“Is she drunk?” Ruby whispered just as the second carriage pulled up beside us. “Get her up before Ma-,”
“Rosamund Beatrice Bailey, what do you think you are doing?” My mother’s voice cut through my revelry.
“I miss the sea,” I murmured.
Oscar chuckled and offered me his hand. “Me too.”
I took it with a grunt and dusted myself off. No one appreciated whimsy anymore. Before I could even begin to formulate a second thought, Roberta was barrelling towards me.
“You made us all look like fools. How could you be so selfish?