Page 29 of Maggie and the Pirate’s Son

Balthasar scoffed. “That fucking grog? Rather drink me own piss.” But he took a drink all the same, glaring at Bash.

“Don’t know how? Say it’s not so,” Maggie teased to ease the tension.

“It’s not. But I don’t like how they play,” he growled, and the Butcher laughed loudly.

“How do they play?”

“For money,” Balthasar answered. “Nav don’t like to break the rules. Though, the rules don’t forbid wagering the services of your cabin boy,” he said, sliding his gaze over Maggie in a way that made her feel sick.

Sensing Bash stiffen for a fight, she nodded towards Langley’s group to distract him. “What about their game?”

“Dominoes. And yes, I know how, but it wouldn’t be sporting or good for morale.”

“Oh, ho, big talk, Nav, big talk,” Samson laughed, far more kindly than O’Riordan had.

“Can you teach me to play them both?” Maggie asked.

“Aye, but not tonight.”

He looked as bone weary as she felt, and a deep soreness was beginning to settle into her muscles from her adventures in the rigging. How she longed for a hot bath, but she resigned herself to dreaming of one in her nest beneath the desk in Bash’s alcove. She was relieved when he ate his meal quickly and stood before the chiming of the bells.

As they neared the companionway, though, instead of turning towards his berth, Bash made for the ladder to the upper deck. Maggie hesitated, perplexed.

“I’ve got first watch,” he explained, nodding towards the hatch.

Her instinct was to ask what that had to do with her, but she bit her tongue and blinked sleepily.

“You’ll accompany me.”

For a moment she thought he was joking, but he shifted from foot to foot, impatient for her to climb.

“Sounds like a rare opportunity to enjoy a night of privacy,” she tried.

Bash coughed out a laugh but stepped closer to her. “There’s not a chance in hell I’ll leave you down here alone.”

Maggie tossed her head, still not quite used to her short-cropped hair after a lifetime of it trailing to her waist. The move brought her face dangerously close to his. “Surely they’ll not trouble me after you said your piece.”

“And surely you’re not still as naive as you were a week ago,” he growled.

Maggie blinked even as a shiver ran through her whole body at the sound his throat made. “I’m exhausted,” she said, careful to keep her tone even rather than the plaintive whine she felt to the depths of her being.

“Oh. Well all right then. I’ll just tell the captain and the men that I can’t take my turn at watch because the cabin boy is sleepy.”

“We worked all day,” she argued.

“That’s life at sea, darlin’,” he countered, and what could she say to that?

So, with a sigh that she tried to soften from sounding overly dramatic, she squeezed past him in the tight passageway and, ignoring the little thrill which beset her stomach when she brushed against him, she climbed the ladder hoping to catch her breath in the fresh air above.

Frankly, Bash had expected more of a fight. Anyone could see the girl was asleep on her feet. Of course she’d want to turn in for the night rather than stand watch with his piss-poor company until the wee hours, but if life had taught him anything it was that there’s trust and then there’s trust.

He trusted most of his companions to do their jobs. The majority worked hard and performed well when it mattered and shoddily when they were too drunk. In battle, he trusted every man to do his best to survive, but the list of those he trusted with his life was short indeed.

Not a chance he’d leave Maggie on her own in a quiet corner while he was known to be detained above.

He had little experience with women. None, really, not since the day his sire ripped him from the bosom of his kin. But he’d heard enough stories about the fairer sex—and knew enough young men, as well—to expect her to huff and brat petulantly over his demand. When she acquiesced so quick and easy-like, it left him unsettled and bracing for a counterattack.

Emerging onto the deck, however, he found her once more at the railing, staring out across a horizon of pink and orange hues. In the east, the stars had just begun to appear amidst the inky blue.