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Find it.
Gripping it, I pull it free, eyeing a dagger. It’s the length of my forearm, the blades sharp enough to cut down to the bone. The hilt is wrapped in leather for grip and etched into the blade is his name…. Sebastian Hook. This will work.
This is my way out. I might not make it to the mainland—there are still a lot of loose strings hanging in the air—but it’s a chance. It’s better than staying here so he can torture me and toy with my emotions, pretending to care about me only to threaten to end my life in the next breath. After everything, I can accept being locked in here and him wanting answers. I can accept his cold mentality and his need for safety. I can even accept the punishment that comes along with lying to him, but I don’t deserve to be played with. I saved him and his people. I kept this ship from sinking. I deserve better than that.
I hear footsteps outside the door and before I can come up with how I’m going to escape this room and make it to the rowboat, I’m faced with the fact someone is about to come into this room. Judging by the dark sliver that peeks through the gap in the door where the latch used to exist, the hell flame is gone.
They’re going to take me…
The door creaks open and I do the only thing I can. I flatten myself against the wall and wait. Sebastian’s form comes into view and I lurch forward, pressing the blade to his throat. The lamplight flickers across his face, highlighting the strong cheekbones, sharp jawline, and curious green eyes I could stare into for days and never grow tired of.
“Feeling murderous, are we, darling?”
Butterflies take my stomach by storm, but I don’t let them get to me. This is life or death.
“If you’re planning to kill me, you’re going to have to try harder than that,” he says, and I narrow my gaze.
“I’m capable of a lot more than you think.”
Sebastian laughs, his face lighting up as if I’ve just told him the best joke he’s heard in years. “You’re on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Are you planning to float the entire crew too? I don’t suppose you’ve learned how to operate a ship in those books of yours, have you?”
He’s right... There’s an entire crew outside that door. All it would take is one person to see me escape. I can’t control them all. One or two, maybe, but not the entire crew. Not with my magic depleted, There’s no way I’ll make it to the rowboat. I have nowhere to go. I’m trapped here with him and his crew, and the only way off this ship is to float. And to float means death.
“Is this how you treat someone who’s saved you? I haven’t even heard a thank you. I kept that creature from killing us all.” I glare at him, my eyes narrowed into slits.
Sebastian doesn’t answer me. Instead, he takes a step closer, and I tense, arching away from him with the knife still positioned between us.
“One more step and I’ll do it,” I say, willing my voice not to shake, even if my body is.
He snorts, eyeing where my fingers grip the hilt of his dagger, so tightly my knuckles glow white. With a smirk, he steps forward, taunting me. I have to match it backward to avoid cutting him.
My shoulder blades meet the wall. I’m not sure when the space of the room disappeared, but Sebastian leans in closer, bracing his arms on either side of my head. I’m trapped between him and the wall of cabinets. He’s acting as if the blade in my hand hasn’t nicked his skin, but the evidence is undeniable. I watch the single drop of crimson roll down the length of his throat.
His warm breath dances over my flesh, and I jolt the moment his lips press to my pulse, just below my ear. There’s no doubt in my mind that he can feel my racing heartbeat. I shouldn’t want this. I shouldn’t have to fight the urge to melt against him. He’s going to kill me, yet I’m flooded with an odd mix of lust and fear, so consuming I’ve let the knife’s point tilt down toward the floor. It’s trapped between our bodies now and utterly useless.
“We have to work on your threats, little lamb.” He practically purrs his nickname for me.
“Oh really? I can assure you my threats are— “My voice betrays me, going silent as he tips my chin up with his finger.
“Never said you weren’t. But I’ve taken more than one step closer and all my pieces are still in order.” With a swift motion, he snatches my wrist, the one holding the dagger.
“How did you know I wouldn’t...?” The panic bubbles up inside me, knowing I’ve possibly just pissed him off more. I should’ve waited, but I believed—still worry—that he planned to march me through that door and shove me over.
“If you wanted to kill me, you would’ve.” He plucks the knife from my hand and tosses it to the floor like it’s nothing. The metal clangs against the wood as Sebastian turns his attention back to me. “You would’ve used your magic and made me do as you wished long before now. You’ve had access to every grimoire on that shelf, yet they haven’t been touched, and you could’ve cast them earlier since the wards were down. You’ve had countless opportunities to hurt me, just as you could’ve slit my throat without hesitation the moment I walked through that door. Yet, you didn’t.”
I don’t know how to act or how to breathe. I’m trapped in awe, incapable of comprehending the whirlwind of events that have transpired today, nor the emotions that rampage through me so hard that not a single one of them is recognizable. I don’t know how to feel… He believes me.
Sebastian bends ever so slightly. The rings on his fingers are cold against my skin as they slip beneath the shirt I borrowed from him like he’s searching to see if there’s anything else I’m hiding. Were there other weapons in the room? Did I miss them? I don’t know how. I searched every shadow and crevice of this place.
“Tell me, princess,” he muses, his hand still lingering beneath the hem of my dress, but they no longer roam, as if he’s satisfied with his curiosity, sure I’m no longer hiding anything. “What is it you want from me?”
My body stills… He doesn’t believe me. He thinks I don’t want him dead because I want someone from him. That I need him alive for some reason other than because I care.
“Nothing,” I say, trying to breathe normally and doing a shit job of it. I don’t want him to hear the tremble in my voice, but it’s impossible to keep it out of it. “I don’t want anything from you. I simply don’t wish to die.”
He brushes a lock of my hair behind my ear, his bright green eyes staring into mine. I couldn’t look away if I wanted to.
“Luckily for you, I can’t bring myself to toss you off this ship. I’m not sure what you’ve done to me… I’m starting to fear you’ve sunk your claws in too deep, or perhaps I just don’t want to remove them. Either way, we’re here... alone... and the only thing I want to do is kiss you.”
