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I bare my fangs right back, hissing at him, then I put on a demure smile. “Your nature can be unnecessarily savage.”
“Says the woman who eats hearts for breakfast,” Ramsay says under his breath.
I smack him against the chest as I give him a dirty look. “Come now. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I’m forever on your side, luv. But let’s take one thing at a time, shall we? We’ll go and get the bloodletters and put them in the hold. Maybe their blood will go into bottles, maybe we’ll all end up drinking from the source, but I agree that perhaps we can rein in our ruthlessness…some.”
Thane sighs, running a hand over his face. Even though I know he’s a broken man inside, it’s nice to see his grumpy self is back. “Alright. Captain’s orders everyone. We attack, we pillage, we take…bloodletters. Leave the rest to tell a tale that no one will believe.” He clears his throat. “Hammocks up, chests down!”
“Aye, aye!” the crew shouts, running about.
Cruz brings out his violin and starts playing a lively tune.
“Set fighting sail!” yells Thane.
“As you say, quartermaster,” replies Crazy Eyes as he runs to the aft.
“Batten down your hatches!”
“Aye!” Remi and Horse retort in unison, disappearing below.
“Hoist the colors!” Ramsay bellows, raising his pistol in the air. “And be quick about it!”
“Aye, Captain!” the crew cheers and we watch as the red flag with the jolly roger gets hauled up the mast, flapping gloriously in the breeze.
“Hoist the colors!”
CHAPTER46
Maren
“Are we there yet?”Ramsay asks me, holding his hand out for the bottle of wine.
I take another swig of it, the beautiful Madeira grapes tasting lovely, and hand it to him. “You’re the captain. You tell me.”
He chuckles before taking a sip. “It’s your kingdom, Maren, not mine.”
We’re sitting side by side up on the crow’s nest, our legs dangling over the edge of the platform. The sun is low in the sky and bathing us in streams of gold, the sea breeze blowing salt and the perfume of the nearby land in our faces. It already smells like home.
We were supposed to be heading across the Pacific already, but I asked Ramsay if we could have a little detour to the Sea of Cortez. Growing up, the sea had a different name but now that I’ve seen the charts, I realize that the Kingdom of Limonos is at the bottom of that sea, not too far from the village of Loreto, under the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
Ramsay agreed—it doesn’t take much to convince him to do anything, especially when I use my feminine wiles—and so theNightwindset sail toward the gulf. We’ve been cruising up along the coast, the dry rocky landscape with its craggy coral-hued mountains and prickly desert plants looking so achingly familiar. The water too, with its many shades of blue and green, calls to me, beckoning me to come in.
But I’ve been waiting until I know for sure. The gulf is large, feeling like it stretches on forever, and even though I roughly know the spot, I don’t want to go in the water until I’m certain. I know that theNightwindhas places to go, indeed now that we have bloodletters on board, so we don’t have a lot of time to explore the sea looking for my lost kingdom.
From one hundred feet up the mast with Ramsay, however, I sense we’re getting closer. I can just feel it.
“What will you do when you get there?” Ramsay asks me, his eyes flicking over my face as he studies me. He’s curious but there’s a hint of trepidation in his voice. I know why. He thinks that once I see Limonos I won’t want to leave.
I shrug. “I really don’t know. I just want to see it so that I can say my goodbyes. I reckon I need the closure.” I reach out and put my hand on his, my skin now bronzed from the sun and a shade darker than his that never seems to take on any color. “I’m coming back to you, Ramsay.”
The corner of his mouth lifts, his eyes dancing with determination. “You realize that if you don’t, I’m getting in the water and hunting you down. I don’t care how long it takes, I will find you and bring you back to your real home.” He picks up my hand and places a lingering kiss on it, his gaze locked on mine. “Your home with me.”
Butterflies flutter in my stomach and he lowers my hand from his mouth. Another wary look darkens his dusky eyes and then he’s reaching into his shirt pocket with his hand and pulling out something.
A ring.
My eyes widen, mouth falling open as I stare at it in his fingers.
