“A mermaid bite. Who did this? I’ll kill her.”
“No.” I shake my head and will the pirate to come up for air, to be alive.
He doesn’t.
“Moira!” Peter barrels down the beach to me. When he reaches me, he cups my face in his palms. “Are you all right? You’re hurt! What happened? Was it the pirate?”
“No. The pirate saved me.”
Peter scoffs. “Only so he could take you to his master.”
“Does it matter?” Tears roll down my cheeks.
Peter wipes them away. “It does. He didn’t save you because he was good, Moira. He saved you to take you to Hook, soHookcould kill you. That’s all.”
“The only good pirate is a dead pirate.” Foy stares at the sea, too, his own bow in his hand.
“We need to get you back to the cave. Nibs and Slightly will take care of the bite.” Peter takes me in his arms and lifts us up into the night as Foy and Coy keep their gazes on the sea. “Come home soon,” he tells them.
“If he comes up, we’ll handle him,” Foy calls. “We’ll be back after that.”
As we fly through the night, my mind is filled with thoughts of deep blue eyes and rough hands.
But none of that matters, because one image rises above them all—blood in the water.
Chapter
Fifteen
So they all stood back, and let him see, and after he had looked for a little time, he did not know what to do next.
“Just back up and let me work.” Nibs shoos Coy away from my side and inspects the bite. “It’s not great, but it looks clean.”
“The pirate did that.” My lip wobbles when I say it, so I clamp my mouth shut.
“Pirate?” Slightly’s head whips up, his eyes large. “You saw a pirate?”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak.
Slightly and Peter exchange a look, but Peter waves him away. “Is she going to be okay?” Peter stops at the base of the giant bed, his gaze on my leg.
It pulses with pain now, not the burning agony of earlier.
“She is. I don’t think it has any venom in it. Doesn’t look like it.” Nibs dabs at it with a wet rag. “The mermaid must’ve just been having a nibble.”
Why does everyone here make light of mermaids? They’re fucking terrifying.
“Clean it up.” Peter hands Nibs a water bowl. “Make her as comfortable as possible.”
“Will do.” Slightly kneels beside the bed and starts unwrapping some more light cloth, probably for a fresh bandage.
Peter grabs the pirate’s sleeve, my blood soaked into the threads, and tosses it angrily into the hallway. “I should’ve been there.”
“Not your fault.” I lie back as Nibs and Slightly fuss over the bandage.
Peter runs a hand through his hair. “Why were you up there in the first place?”
“I …” I glance toward the door. Tinker Bell isn’t hovering around where I can see her, but I get the feeling she’s listening. Caution bells ring in my head, and I wonder if I should hold back and not tell Peter about her betrayal. If I rat her out now, what will she do to me? She already tried to put me in harm’s way, but if I actually cross her, would she do worse? I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out. And more to the point, if I keep her secret, it’ll be something I can use against her later if need be. She’s cunning and cruel, and I need to fight fire with fire.
