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Ainsley
The kettle shrieked, however, the woman before me did not make a move to rise from her knelt position.
My stomach knotted with a thousand emotions from seeing this woman bow before me.
“I’m not the heir—” I began to say. If she knew my parents, she must have known I was raised by the duke and duchess, but that would hardly give her reason to bow before me as though I were some sort of royalty.
“Aren’t you?” she said, rising to her feet and moving toward me with a playfulness that directly rivaled the hatred she had shown me only moments before, as she demanded to know where I had obtained my key.
The kettle’s screeching finally drew the woman’s attention, and she made her way to the fire, lifting it off and taking it to the kitchen. She returned holding a tray with cups and tea, sugar, and honey. My stomach growled at the sight of it, not realizing I hadn’t eaten in an incredibly long while.
“Sit, sit. Take what you’d like. I think I have some biscuits. I apologize for the lack of options.” She hurried off, returning with a delicious-looking assortment, and I didn’t mind immediately taking a helping.
Killian eyed the tea and food more warily than I did and observed until the woman had a bite. If he’d had it his way, he would have likely prevented me from touching anything as well, but the sometimes-infuriating pirate seemed to be catching on that his orders did not quite have the same effect on me as his men. I did not obey his every whim.
I smiled as I chewed and stared, and it garnered a cocky grin from Captain Flynn.
“How do you know my parents?” I inquired once the woman had chewed a bit of her own food. “And who are you?”
She dabbed her mouth with her finger and bowed her head. “My apologies. My name is Jo. Jo Wildrin. And I’m a magic caster, though you know that part already. My specialty is wind. But you…” She hesitated. “I wouldn’t have believed the lightning had I not witnessed the storm you created.”
“Which you never thanked us for,” Killian remarked with an arch of his brow.
I kicked him under the table, and his jaw opened as if to say something before he popped a piece of biscuit in his mouth.
“Cheeky.” Jo chuckled. “How did you find me? Did Hattie send you?”
I fiddled with the rim of my teacup. “I…she…” I sighed. “Sort of. I have yet to actually meet my mother. Well, that’s only partly true.”
Jo placed her hand on mine, and I looked at her as she offered me a kind smile.
“I had just met my father and she turned up, taking him away and forcing some sort of magic inside of me. I felt a calling here, if you will. And it seems I likely ended up meeting you by chance.”
“Not by chance.” Jo smiled. “Hattie was always one of my favorites.”
“You know her well?” I questioned, taking a sip of tea as it warmed me.
Jo tilted her head from side to side. “As well as she’d allow someone. She is fiercely protective. I find it odd that you haven’t met her.”
“I was raised by the Duke and Duchess of Rookhallow Proper. I only just learned I had other parents…that I was adopted.”
Jo nodded. “I heard rumblings of the sort, but Hattie and Wyatt kept their plans to themselves as far as you were concerned. There weren’t many who even knew she was with child. Know that she would not have left your side lightly.”
“So I’ve heard,” I muttered, adjusting my cloak. It felt as though I were choking. Perhaps it was the subject matter.
Jo grinned and gestured to my fidgeting. “I must say, that cloak you wear should have alerted me you weren’t of the common sort. That red stands out like a bloody signal to our enemies: ‘Here I am.’ Is it any wonder the Royal Navy spotted us so easily? That, and you using your magic.”
Killian covered his chuckle with a cough, and I narrowed my eyes. “You find this comical, do you, Captain?”
He cleared his throat, yet a smirk played across his lips. “I’ve said nothing of the sort.”
I rolled my eyes at the infuriating pirate and directed my attention to Jo. “Thank you for your insight, Jo,” I muttered.
“I mean no disrespect. As a matter of fact, I have a few things I believe may fit you. That is if you don’t mind wearing leather. You’ll be more inconspicuous that way.”
Killian choked. “Leather?”
Swiveling my gaze to meet his, I offered him a satisfying grin. “Will that be an issue, Captain?”
