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“Why must you always be so defensive? I was helping you.”
“Yes, and what a sacrifice it must have been for you. I’m sure you didn’t enjoy every moment of it.”
Smiling, he leans forward a bit. “You are by far the most enjoyable prisoner ever aboard this vessel.”
“I assure you, I’m not trying to be.”
His smile fades. Intensity takes hold in his eyes. “I know.”
Riden’s hand is still on my bare leg. His eyes capture my gaze. I swallow, lick my suddenly dry lips.
Riden places a hand at my cheek. “Alosa.”
“Yes?”
Uncertainty flashes across his face. He lets his hand drop. “How did you get out of your cell?”
Instead of answering, I shrug, mostly because it takes me a moment to find my voice.
Riden takes a step back, observes me carefully. “You’re clever, Alosa, in a way that is uncommon for a pirate. And you’re talented. There’s no doubt about that. And I’ve always known you’re hiding something. But now I’m starting to get the sense you want to be on this ship more than I do.”
“Want to be on the ship?” I ask incredulously. “If that’s your concern, then by all means, let me go.”
“Why else would you go to the pirate quarter of town? You had to know we’d be there.”
“You’re joking, right? You locked me up and then sent Sheck and Ulgin down here. Do you know what I had to endure? I set out to find the two of them and kill them before I left. They aren’t men. They don’t deserve to live.”
“I know. That’s why I let you kill Sheck. Because I couldn’t do it myself. But why risk it? You could have gotten away easily if you had just left.”
“I have a hard time letting things go. I wasn’t about to leave until everything sat right.”
I can’t tell if he believes me. He’s still trying to read my face.
But then his eyes travel down to my bags.
I step in front of them protectively. “What are you looking at?”
“You know I’m going to have to search your things. Unless of course you want to tell me how you got out of here?”
“I just got out, all right? Leave me and my things alone.”
“I can’t do that. Now step back.”
“No.”
He steps forward and reaches for me, trying to physically move me out of the way.
I kick him square in the chest with my uninjured leg. The force is enough to knock him onto his back. Oh no. I put way too much into that one. I’m practically telling him all my secrets. He’s the one most suspicious of me. I need to pull back. But he threatened my clothes! They’re all I have on this ship, and I’m rather attached to them. I don’t want his sticky fingers going through them. And I suppose it wouldn’t be good if he looked too closely at my books.
When Riden stands, he looks at me with new understanding. “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“It was a pretty decent shot, eh?” I try to make it sound like I got lucky, but I don’t know if he falls for it.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”
Ha. As if he actually could if I were trying my hardest. That line of reasoning is dangerous, though. I relax my face, trying to add a hint of fear. And though it goes against every instinct I have, I step away.
Riden leans over my clothes in such a way that he can keep an eye on me as well. He’s not about to let me get the jump on him from behind. He’s learning.
