AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s this?” I ask, peering at her. “What happened to your face?”
She wiggles her jaw together and avoids my eyes.
“She must have hit her face on the bars in the night,” the prince says, and I immediately know it was him that did this to her. I feel a twang of guilt in my gut, a feeling that I’ve felt less and less over the years.
“She’s clumsy like that,” he adds, tone more spiteful now. “Like a graceless newborn foal.”
The last thing I want or need is to complicate the matter and get involved in whatever marital trouble they seem to be having, and yet there’s a part of me that thinks I need to get the princess alone for a bit. I need to investigate this further, because if this weaselly prince is a danger to her in any way, then I’ll be losing a valuable asset.
“I’m going to open the door,” I say, taking out my keys. “Either of you try anything, I’ll remove your head. You get that?”
I spring the lock and open the door, quickly reaching down to grab the princess by the arm. As I’m pulling her up, the prince makes a go for the door, as I knew he would. In a blink of an eye I have the princess pulled tight against my side and with my other hand I remove my dagger from my holster and push the prince back. I pin him against the bars, tip of the blade pressed up against his chin.
“I told you I’d remove your head,” I tell him roughly, leaning in close so he can see the wildness in my eyes. “Might cut off a few pieces of your face first. With your fine royal breeding, you’d make a bloody good snack.”
He growls at me, a pathetic mewling and I push him back before swiftly exiting the cell, pushing the princess out of it and to the floor while I lock it. Aerik launches himself at the door but it’s too late.
“I’ll come back later,” I tell him, hauling the princess to her feet again. “If you behave, I might bring you some water. It might even be clean.”
I take her out of the room, keeping the door open. If any of my crew feel like tormenting the prince a bit, I’d look the other way.
“Where are you taking me?” the princess asks impatiently.
“Ah, she speaks again,” I say to her as I pull her toward the stairs. “First we’re going to get some fresh air and I’m going to ask the crew if they had anything to do with your black eye there.”
I glance back at her and she clamps her lips shut, looking away so that her hair falls over her eye.
“Unless,” I go on, “you want to tell me it was your husband.”
I know that no one on the crew would manhandle her like that (other than Sterling, but his impact packs more of a wallop, so to speak), but I want to hear her admit that it was Prince Aerik.
She still doesn’t say anything as I pull her up the stairs, passing through the main deck where I can hear some of the crew stirring from their quarters at the foredeck, and the smell of fresh coffee is now wafting from the galley. The princess makes an agreeable sound, almost like a moan that causes my cock to twitch, and I realize I might be able to use coffee as leverage with her. I save that information for later and continue to bring her up to the main deck.
The sun is bright, though there’s a haze in the air, cutting down its strength. Even though we’ve all spent years on this ship and many others, the sun is something that never ceases to be an annoyance. In my haste this morning I had forgotten my hat, so I’m squinting at the light as I bring the princess up to the quarterdeck and over to the helmsman.
“Princess, may I introduce you to Conner Benedict, our bosun, though you may wish to call him Crazy Eyes.”
Crazy Eyes look at her and widens his eyes so that the whites take over, leaning into his moniker. “Pleasure to meet you, Princess.”
She swallows. “How do you do,” she says unsurely, a greeting rather than a question.
“She’s a pretty one,” he says, looking her up and down, his eyes resting on her chest. Her dress is still damp from last night’s swim and her hair is a mess but her physical attributes still shine even under the daylight. As does the bruise on her face, which Crazy Eyes notices. “You rough her up, Captain?”
I shake my head. “I was wondering if you knew who had.”
“Don’t know of anyone who would have been down there by the cells.”
“Not even Sterling?”
He nods at the forecastle. “Sterling’s been up there all night, mumbling and moaning about this and that. That man sure has many a complaint about ya.”
I growl as my gaze goes to Sterling at the bow of the ship, his bald head shining under the sun. I know that the sun bothers him, as it does the rest of us, but he believes he is more of a man for never covering his head.
“Well, he can complain all he wants, things ain’t ever going to change for that bilge-licker.” I bring the princess close, her face just inches from mine. She stares at me wide-eyed. “Are you going to tell me who laid their hands on you?”
“What does it matter? I’m your prisoner,” she practically spits out.
“But that’s why it does matter, luv. I’m not concerned out of the goodness of my heart, for I don’t hold any good in my heart at all. But you are precious cargo now, and as valuable as gold. If it be your husband that beats you, I need to know. Two months is an awful long time to be caged with someone like that.”
