Page 38 of If I Go Down with This Ship

My jaw drops as Astra meets my gaze, their expression unconcerned.“They provoked me,” they say.“Kept going on about how Captain Night needed someone else to do his dirty work for him.”I extend a hand, and they accept it, standing and tilting their head back.

I reach out to take a look, but they swat me away.“I think you broke it,” I say.

“Probably.”

Someone shuffles close, and I watch as Captain Night grabs a second man standing inside the circle and hauls him forward by his shirt before wrapping his hand around his neck and squeezing.I don’t recognize the stranger, but the crowd certainly seems to.

“You dare show your face after you ratted on us?”

Oh shit.

Captain Night drags him closer, and the man tries to fight, shoving and yanking on him, but it’s no use.My captain’s hold is strong, and by the veins popping in his neck and forehead, he’s furious.“You crossed the wrong man, Peter.”

“I didn’t mean to,” the man—Peter—wheezes.His face darkens from red to purple as Captain Night’s other hand reaches for the knife in his belt.

“Say it again,” Captain Night warns.

Peter laughs.“You were always a joke of a captain, you know that?No one took you seriously.You were all about fairness and taking care of your crew, but you could never bring yourself to raise your sword when we needed your might.It’s why we starved!”He grins as Captain Night’s hand tightens around his throat.“You never did have the backbone to do what needed to be done.”

Captain Night’s chest heaves.I think for a moment thathe’ll let go, show him mercy, but he doesn’t.His hand only tightens around Peter’s throat as he raises his knife.

I’m frozen in place, one hand on Astra’s arm, the other at my side, fingers itching to pull him back before he can cross that line.But there’s no stopping him.This was always unavoidable, even I know that.Captain Night lost half his crew because of this man, and I can’t blame him for wanting revenge.

I just didn’t want to be privy to the details.

This is who he is, Laszlo.This is the man you almost kissed.

I don’t want to see him as a killer, don’t want to see the pirate in him come to life, but there’s no looking away from this.Though I tried to ignore it, I heard the gunshot on that merchant ship.And I may not have been certain it was him who fired, but on some level, I knew.

Teeth gritted, Captain Night drags the knife across Peter’s throat, blood spraying over him.I flinch, my free hand balling into a fist at my side.Peter gurgles, and Captain Night drops him before stooping and wiping his bloody knife on the man’s shirt.He sheathes it at his belt, turning to survey the crowd.

“Go,” he orders the other man.Frantic, Peter’s companion pulls the knife from his foot before turning and limping through the crowd.

There is a warning in Captain Night’s look, a message conveyed.He is covered in blood, crimson droplets splattered over the rich cobalt blue of his jacket, over his face and stubble.Jaw clenched, he strides forward and wraps an arm around Astra’s waist, and the crowd lets us pass as we help them toward the tavern.

My blood turns cold, and my hands start to shake.I can’t hear anything but a high-pitched ringing in my ears.CaptainNight says something to me, his finger tapping my hand on Astra’s lower back to get my attention, and I blink, trying to focus as we enter the tavern.

Adelphine is at the bar and speaking to someone, but she stops mid-sentence when she spots us.She apologizes quietly before coming our way, scowling.“What have you done?”she hisses, tugging us toward the stairs.

What I knew he could do.

Since the day I set foot on his ship, I’ve always known exactly who he is.He’s a pirate.He’s a killer.Attractive and alluring as he may be, I was a fool to think he could ever turn his back on revenge.

We follow Adelphine up to the second floor.I try to ignore the sounds of pleasure emanating from behind both open and closed doors as we’re led past them and up another set of stairs to a third story.

“What happened?”Adelphine asks.

“It was Peter,” Astra says, voice muffled by the sleeve pressed to their nose to stanch the blood.

“And you?”Adelphine asks, focusing on Captain Night.“Why are you covered in blood?”

He clears his throat but says nothing as she opens a set of double doors and ushers us in, closing them quickly behind us.I don’t want to look at him, to be reminded of what he did, but I do anyway, my pulse thrumming as I survey the blood spatter staining his clothes and skin.

“No, I don’t want to know,” Adelphine mutters.“So long as it didn’t happen in my tavern.”

I scan the room as Adelphine pulls out a chair for Astra by a table in the corner before disappearing into an attached room at the back.The inside of this room looks far superior to themain bar.Miraculously, the paint on the walls isn’t chipping away.There is a neatly kept desk before one of the windows, with rolled-up maps and scribbled-on parchment piled atop.And behind the table and chair where Astra is seated, there is a silk dressing screen with clothes draped over it and a washing tub peeking out behind it.

Along the farthest wall sits a large four-poster bed covered in silks with a trunk at the foot.It appears to be locked up tight.I’m at once drawn to the lock, to whatever secrets are being kept behind it, but I jerk away as Adelphine knocks over a bucket somewhere in the back room.