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Killian
Isaw her the moment I breached the main deck. The wind whipped through her white-blonde hair as she sat on a barrel and stared out into the orange-cast horizon of the sky. I approached slowly, watching her take in the sight. Adventure was everywhere, and she had no idea of the journey she was on already.
She fiddled with something in her hands, as she gazed toward the infinite sky of our surroundings.
“Are you all right?” I questioned, knowing she bloody well would not be all right after the past few hours.
She shrugged but didn’t turn to face me.
I walked around her and leaned against the side of the ship, finally seeing her face. Her brow was furrowed in a way that had me nearly reaching out to touch her cheek. I bit my tongue to stop my thoughts. The woman was a sight to behold, but it was her fire that made her alluring, more so than any I’d met before her. And no Captain needed that sort of distraction.
Beyond the furrowed brow, her shoulders held a weight to them I hadn’t seen before. She’d been through hell in the past day or so, and after wielding that kind of unimaginable magic, she was likely past the brink of exhaustion.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
She shrugged again. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I knelt in front of her and touched her hand. Ainsley lifted her gaze to mine.
“I can’t say I understand what you’re going through, but I do know that magic takes an extraordinary amount of energy from its wielder. You need nourishment. Come on. I kept my touch gentle on her hands but tugged her up from her seated position.
We moved toward my private chambers, and once she was inside, I shouted for one of my men to bring some food.
Ainsley fiddled with what appeared like a key in her hand now that I could get a better look at the gentle, almost reverent movements she was making. Before I could ask after it, she turned toward me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you—about Silverthorne. I only just learned the news. I’m not even sure what that means, if I’m being honest.” She tucked the item back into her pocket and tugged at a few strands of hair. “Did Giles give you anything? Where I might find him?”
I shook my head.
The hopeful way in which she observed me drained from her face, and she closed her eyes. “So your crew was in danger for nothing.”
“We’re not saints, love. We’ve been in scrapes before.” I chuckled in an effort to lighten the air in the room.
“My father.” Ainsley paused for a moment. “The duke, he was poisoned before he was able to confide in me the secrets he knew.” She turned her gaze to me, and in it, there was a fear that I doubted the lady revealed to many people. “No one knows that. I’m telling you in confidence. I thought finding the rogue would be easy, but it appears that may not be the case.”
Ainsley paced a few steps back and forth before reaching into her pocket once more. She pulled out a piece of paper and a small golden key. I could only assume it had been what she’d been meddling with in her hands earlier on.
“This is all I have. The only clues to go on. Beyond their names of course.”
She handed me a tattered piece of parchment with fairly elegant handwriting gracing it, and I read the touching words from Silverthorne to a Hattie. Who would have known a man as infamous as him could have had such a soft spot for a woman?
“Do you know any Hattie’s?”
Ainsley’s closeness caused me to startle slightly, not realizing she was so nearby. “I’m sorry, love, I don’t. I wasn’t aware Silverthorne had any romantic ties, let alone a child.”
“My magic comes from her, and I thought perhaps with your shock over my abilities, she would have been more well-known.” Ainsley backed away from me without taking the parchment back. She worried her lip and stared out of the window in the room.
“I haven’t encountered many magic casters at all. Most have been in hiding. Someone wielding the sort of magic you displayed would certainly have cause to be on the run.” I stopped myself, not knowing how much more to lay upon her shoulders at the moment. Every minute Gretta’s crew had seen Ainsley’s abilities, even now as they resumed the chase, was another minute of growing danger.
“How bad is it?” she questioned in a quiet, yet unafraid tone.
Do I tell her?
Before I could consider my options, she approached once more and stared up at me with a fierce sort of courage I had rarely seen a royal display. “Don’t dumb things down for me. I may be a naïve woman, but do not set me up for failure.”
“If anyone finds out about you, the Royal Navy will indeed be on our tail, as well as countless others. And that’s before adding in the fact that you’re Silverthorne’s blood.”
Ainsley nodded once but didn’t back away from me.
“I will honor my word and protect you.”
