“Understood,captain.” My voice drips with disdain, and I hope it wounds him, even just a little.
Neither of us break eye contact, and I have to bite my tongue to keep from yelling obscene things at him in the way I always wished I could to my father.
Sig steps up next to us, interrupting our stare down with her interjection. “Alright, well, if you aren’t going to jump ship now, how about I show you around?”
“Fine,” I say, finally breaking away from Weston’s glare to look at her. “Where do we start?” I’ll do anything, as long as it gets me away from him.
An older boy walks up to Weston and mumbles something to him before Weston nods and mumbles back. He turns to me and points to the floorboards.
“Your feet stay on the floor. That’s an order.” The low grumble is the same as it was back in the cave, and my stomach flutters at the memory.
Shall I disarm you again, princess?
I push away the feeling and focus back on my hatred for him. Dawnlin may feel like Blackwood now, but it isn’t. I’m not talking to my father. I’m not talking to a king. I’m talking to a man who thinks he is important, but is manipulating and controlling everyone around him.
There’s no hierarchy here, despite him calling himself the captain, so I don’t need to hold myself back like I would to my father. I can make my time here as difficult as possible, whilestill looking for every opportunity to get off this ship and back to Dane.
Weston may have trapped me here, but he will not win.
I look back at him over my shoulder and smile sweetly.
“Fuck you,Captain.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks before he strides away. The boy that spoke to him tries to hide a smile before he turns and follows.
“Ah,” Sig says loudly, reminding me she is still standing with me, ready to show me the ship. She chuckles softly and shakes her head. “This is going to be fun.”
CHAPTER SIX
“Follow me,” Sig says and waves over her shoulder, beckoning me forward.
My footsteps are heavy on the dark wooden boards as I rush to keep up with her, weaving through the bodies moving around the deck.
“We’re on the main deck. You already know where to get below.” She gestures to the set of stairs in the middle of the deck that disappear into the ship, the same ones I climbed moments ago. “Over there is the forecastle, and up the steps is the quarterdeck.” I swivel my head to keep up with her pointing, my gaze snagging on Weston as he stands with the boy who pulled him away from us.
His eyes flick to mine, assessing, probably trying to determine if I’m going to make another run for it.
Not just yet, Captain.
I glare back before turning coldly toward Sig to focus on what she’s saying. She talks about the ship as if it is a second skin, pointing out every feature that I undoubtedly won’t need to know. Masts tower high over the deck with the sails rolled and bound, and ropes stretching across the space. I get slightly dizzy as I try to take in the crow’s nest, the sheer height remindingme of the deadly mountain path and the ground falling out from beneath me.
“Stay off those until you learn how to scale them properly. We don’t need any accidents,” Sig says, tilting her chin toward the masts.
I nod. I have no intention of scaling them, now or any time in the future.
There’s a break in the railing where the deck drops off into the open water, and I follow as she walks toward it. It’s the opposite side of the ship from where I tried to jump. If I would have realized there was a side without a rail, I would have just run that way instead.
“This is where we disembark. Much easier than just jumping off the side of the ship.” She smirks at me and crosses her arms as she leans on the rail next to the opening.
I step up to the edge of the deck and peer into the open water below. A strip of land parallels the ship, just far enough away that it would be a swim to reach it. Jumping to it would have been out of the question.
“How is this easier? There’s no way across,” I say.
“There’s a gangway, but you don’t have to worry about that yet. It won’t come out since I’m sure the ship knows you’ll take any opportunity to scurry back to Dane.”
I ignore her jab because she’s right, and I won’t give her the satisfaction. Looking at the surrounding landscape, I want to see where off the island the ship is anchored. The strip of land looks familiar, and I lean out over the side to get a closer look.
My eyes trail over the jagged black rock, all the way to the black sand beach it connects to, and the memory of Dane and I tangled up on a blanket flashes before my eyes.
