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Riden shakes his head. “No, but they came close. My father wanted to start with me. I was… a disappointment to him. I hadn’t turned out the way he wanted me to. Didn’t look enough like him. Didn’t talk, walk, drink like him. I think my father chalked it up to the fact that we have different mothers—but whatever the reason, Draxen was always more like him. Do you have any brothers or sisters, Alosa?”
“I’m sure by now there’s near a hundred of them. My father has quite the… appetite. But I’m the only one he’s claimed. If there are others, I do not know of them.”
“I see. I was raised with Draxen. We did everything together. Played and fought. He always looked out for me, being my older brother. When my father yelled and hit me, Draxen would come to my defense. He was my protector in our younger years, during the time when he was bigger than I. Then we grew, and I could start looking out for him in return.”
Normally, here is where I would throw out some amount of snark. Riden’s story is very sappy. But strangely, I feel the need to be still. To listen.
“We have a strong bond. It’s the strongest thing I have in my life. And I would never do anything to break it because my whole life has been built around it. So without it, I don’t know what I would be. Nothing good.”
I wonder what it would be like to have something like that. Someone whom you could trust and call your friend since childhood. I have many good women aboard my crew whom I trust and call friends. But they are all recent finds. Within the last five years or so. I don’t have anything I’ve held on to since I was little.
Except my father, of course.
“My father was about to kill me for what he assumed would be my last disappointing act. But then Draxen was there. He’d broken free of the men holding him and come to my rescue. Yet again. That act saved my life. When it most counted, Draxen chose me over our father. I owe him my life and my allegiance. He is the best thing I have, and I would never do anything to hurt or betray him.
“Draxen then pitched his skill with the sword against our father. But Father was an excellent swordsman, drunk and lazy or not. He disarmed Draxen and was about to kill him. But I picked up my brother’s fallen sword. And I killed him.”
“And what happened after that?” I ask.
“Killing our father had a strange effect on Draxen and me. We felt freer with him gone, stronger. We fought our way to the brig. We released everyone. And we took the ship.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, I left out all the fighting bits, but I’m sure you know what a fight looks and sounds like.”
And smells and feels and tastes like.
“Now tell me about your scars,” Riden says.
A deal’s a deal. So I tell him. But I don’t want him to feel sorry for me. So I state everything like it’s fact. No feeling. No remorse. I tell him about my endurance tests. My rigorous fighting practices. The regular trials my father gave me. I don’t go into too much detail. He just needs a sense of life with my father in order to be satisfied that I didn’t lie to him by saying I would share if he did.
At the end, Riden asks, “And are all your father’s men trained in the same way?”
“Well, I’m the only one he’s trained personally, but—” I cut off quickly.
“What?”
“Why do you want to know about their training? Is this another blasted interrogation?” I jump out of the bed in an instant, shoving half of Riden’s weight off me in the process. “I can’t believe you. What the hell is this, Riden? You show me kindness and then expect me to open up to you, is that it?”
Riden shrugs. “You’re a woman and the pirate king’s daughter at that. Something tells me you wouldn’t budge under torture. We needed to approach you in a different way.”
“Damn you. And your blasted crew. Is any of this real?”
Riden sits up and regards me seriously. “Is any of what real?”
“Your story? This?” I gesture about the room. “All the niceties? Are they just a way to get me to open up?”
He stands and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Most of it is real, Alosa, even though it shouldn’t be.”
I shove him back and wince at yesterday’s wounds. “What is that supposed to mean? You’re playing a part. The conflicted first mate. You’re a lie.”
“So are you. Why don’t you tell me what you’re really doing on this ship?”
“I’m not doing anything!” I scream. “Just let me go. I want to go now!”
It’s hard keeping up appearances when I’m so furious. But it needs to be done.
“Can’t do that. Not unless you want to tell me where your father’s hideaway is? Then we’ll take you right to him.”
