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He smiles and leans forward so his mouth is at my ear. “I don’t see you stopping me.”
“If I had, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
His eyes shoot up in alarm, but he doesn’t have enough time to guess what I’m about to do until I’ve already done it.
Yes, I knee him. Right between the legs.
He takes some time to recover. Enough for me to exit the cell and lock him in.
He stares at me levelly. “That was low.”
“I thought it was rather brilliant, actually. Besides, you said you wouldn’t touch me. I can see your word does not mean much to you.” I throw at him the same words he used on me.
“And you said if we brought your blasted luggage on board, you wouldn’t put up a fight.”
“I didn’t put up a fight. I got out of my cage fight-free.”
“Lass, let me out of the cage.”
“I think you’re more suited for it than I am.”
He bangs a fist against one of the bars. “Let me out. You know you won’t get far. All I have to do is yell, and over half the crew will be upon you.”
“And I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they find their first mate trapped in the brig.”
“Alosa,” he says, a hint of warning in his voice.
“Answer something for me, and I will spare you the embarrassment of your crew finding you.”
“What?” He’s clearly agitated. I suppose I would be, too, if I had been duped by a pretty face.
“When we first met, and I was bargaining for the lives of my crew, you whispered something to the captain. Something that made him stop killing my men. What was it?”
Riden appears perplexed, but he answers. “I told him that if he wished to keep the support of his crew, he would be wise to stop encouraging you to kill them off.”
“Did you care for them? The men who I killed?”
“No.”
Hmm, perhaps I was wrong about how much he cares for the members of this crew. “Then why bother?”
“I answered your question. Now let me out.”
I sigh. “Fine.” Though I wonder why he doesn’t want to talk about it. Perhaps I’ve hit on something there. If it wasn’t to do with the men I killed, then wouldn’t it have to do with his brother?
The cage sings as it unlocks, and I hand the key to Riden. “You and the captain are brothers.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“What exactly happened to your father?”
Riden locks me in soundly. Then he pockets the key without taking his eyes off of it. He turns to leave.
“I killed him.”
Chapter 4
THEFLOORISDISGUSTING,but somehow I manage to sleep. When I wake, a face is inches from my head.
