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“Need I remind you that you’re on a boat surrounded by men who are at my command?” He tucked a finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Don’t take my good looks and charming humor at face value. I’m capable of a lot more than you think.”
I pulled away. “You only seem capable of impatience and narcissism.”
“I could say the same for you, dollface.”
“The difference is,” I said, “you need my blood and I don’t need you at all. So who’s at the disadvantage here?”
He stared blankly as I raised a pointed eyebrow. Henrik snorted, licking his lips as if he were trying to wipe away his smile.
Adrian narrowed his eyes at his brother, then turned back to me and gripped both of my wrists again. I winced at the surprise, but, again, it wasn’t painful. His hands were unusually warm; his long fingers coiled around my delicate wrists like vines. Heleaned in close to my face, pulling his lips back into a smile. I refused to back away, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of the upper hand.
He took it as a challenge, inviting himself closer until his lips almost touched mine.
“Don’t be too proud of yourself,” he said. “I need you alive, but I don’t need you to be happy about it. I can torture you in ways you couldn’t dream.”
I stared into his eyes. Yes, he meant what he said, but at the same time, somehow I knew he was more harmless than he let on. It must have had something to do with both being captain and having such a tough older brother. That’s what I assumed, anyway. I had a gift of reading people, after all, strangers and acquaintances alike.
I leaned to his ear, if for nothing more but to get his lips away from mine.
“I don’t think there’s any worse torture than listening to you run your mouth for the next week,” I replied.
“You know, I’m beginning to like her,” Henrik said off to the side.
Adrian growled from his ribs.
“Listen closely, Princess Blood,” Adrian muttered. “If you don’t want me to go back to your precious broken home and give your father a world of more trouble, I suggest you obey me.”
My heart suddenly shattered. Father. I had been so caught up in being kidnapped that I hadn’t even thought about how he must have been feeling now, his wife dead and his daughter gone. He must have spent the night without sleep, his head in his hands, just like the day of Mother’s funeral.
I had to get back to him. I couldn’t let him live that pain twice.
“That’s better,” Adrian hissed. “There’s the submission I was looking for.”
“If I help you,” I said, “will you let me go back to my father?”
He nodded. “As soon as the Eros is in my hand, you can go back to your father and your fancy suitor, and live happily ever after.”
My fiancé? How did he know?
Wait. Jacques. Jacques saw Adrian take me from the balcony. There was no doubt that he had reported it to Father and his friends. As men of the king’s navy, they would come for me.
There was hope for my rescue, but I had to survive.
“What are you going to do with her for the next six days?” Henrik asked flatly.
“I’m going to put her to work,” Adrian replied. A wide grin decorated his face. “And I have the perfect job for her to do.”
CHAPTER 5—FIRST JOB
“Don’t get any ideas,” Adrian said, arms crossed.
I wasn’t sure who he was actually talking to until the cook replied.
“And what ideas would I get?” Luc asked, his fiery hair twirling around his face like a hurricane. “I have to say, I have many ideas, and you’ll need to tell me what category not to have ideas in. I have many ideas regarding poetry and soliloquy, introspective and morality, the weather and sea. Or perhaps you’d like me to avoid thoughts about purpose and truths —”
“Everything,” Adrian sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Please just don’t have any thoughts.”
“What an insane way to live!” Luc cried with a shout, clutching his hand to his chest and sinking against the kitchen counter in despair.
