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I rolled my eyes with a bitter laugh. “Is that it then? It’s as easy as just picking up your knees and marching on?”
“The alternative is sinking to the bottom and suffocating.”
I saw red. The nerves in my body suddenly vibrated in frustration.
“How can you say such things without any idea of what we’ve been through?” I asked. “My family has suffered gravely in the last few years. You shouldn’t speak of moving on so casually to someone who has suffered deeply. It’s far too cruel.”
Luc dropped his ladle, stepping forward and caging me between himself and the kitchen counter with both of his hands. He towered above me, getting my full attention with his deep, swirling eyes. There was a powerful energy coming from him that commanded me completely still.
“Would you like to hear a story about suffering?” he asked in a low voice. “I know a good one.”
My jaw clamped shut. He continued.
“I know a bittersweet tale of a boy who grew up as an orphan in the capital city,” he said. “He had no family of any sort, and the headmaster of the orphanage beat him so hard that he often blacked out from the pain. He ran away from the orphanage as a teenager, hoping to find a new life. And he did.”
He leaned in more, the silk of his robe dancing across my feet as the soup beside us simmered.
“He found a girl of his own age, beautiful and kind,” he continued. “Her family took him in, feeding him and hiding him away from the authorities that wished to drag him back to the wretched hellhole he grew up in.
“That girl grew up to be a woman with dreams and aspirations like his, and he couldn’t help but fall madly in love with her. In his obsessive love, he asked her to marry him. Sheagreed. A week before their wedding, he came home to find out that she had been killed in an accident.”
My heart stopped. For a moment, I couldn’t decide who was more invested in this story: me or Luc.
He took a soft breath through his nose. “Her parents lost their only daughter, and all they were left with was a useless orphan son. In their grief, they abandoned him, and he was alone once again.
“Even now, he is completely alone in his journey. But his pain doesn’t hurt him anymore. The memories of his deepest loves keep him alive. And because he learned what great treasure was, he can continue with nothing and still be content. Which is good, because do you know what he does now?”
I shook my head. He leaned into my ear, his breath fanning the side of my face.
“He makes salty, cold soup for crooked men who like to play pirate.”
He pulled back, ladling a new bowl of soup and handing it to me.
“Take this to the captain,” he commanded, snapping back into his usual whimsical tone. “Tell him one more complaint about it, and I’ll throw him over the side of the ship myself.”
His eyes didn’t meet mine. He only put his head back over his soup in concentration. My mouth dry and without words, I turned to go back up the stairs.
“Oh, and Esmeralda?” he called.
I turned to face him, but he was still staring at the soup pot.
“Don’t worry about your father,” he said. “I’ll get you home. You have my word.”
He turned his back on me as he dabbed the corner of his eye with his knuckle.
I walked mindlessly up the stairs and to the table. I could hear the muttering of the men next to me, but they sounded distant, their voices muddled with the sounds of the waves.
That story wasn’t true, was it? I didn’t want to accept it. Had a man as vibrant and wild as Luc really…?
“Hey, Princess Blood! Over here!”
I turned back to the sound of the captain’s voice, realizing I had completely passed the table. Adrian raised an eyebrow at me, silently asking me what I was doing. I scowled at him in return, storming back to the table and dropping his soup on the table in front of him. It splattered on his shirt. He jumped back with an irritated yelp.
“What are you doing?” he asked, wiping the soup off his shirt.
I put my hands on both my hips. “Stop asking Luc to remake your food. If you want to torture me, just do it. But stop making him work harder because you want to show off your power like some childish prince.”
I was about to walk away, but Adrian’s arm shot out to stop me. He stood from his seat, the men going silent as they watched.
