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Henrik licked his bottom lip, a twisted frown across his face. “And whose fault is that?”
Without another word, Henrik walked off, leaving Adrian to shove his hands in his pockets and stare at the light of the Eros.
***
The prisoners found it odd that we would feed them, and to be honest, I found it strange as well. It wasn’t that I was aprofessional pirate or understood their codes by any means, but at the same time, I was sure that prisoners weren’t supposed to be treated as equals, especially since they had attacked our ship.
But it was Adrian’s orders to keep them alive.
He was acting so strange these days.
“You make a single complaint and I’ll let you starve for the next two days,” Luc warned as he slid the soup through a hole at the bottom of the bars. “I have no patience for whiners.”
The men took their soup quietly, and Luc nodded toward the back.
“Let’s go see this infamous fiancé of yours,” he said.
I sighed. “He’s not my fiancé. Who told you that, anyway?”
He shrugged. “There isn’t much to do aboard a ship besides clean and gossip. If he’s not your fiancé then who is he?”
Even telling Luc about the situation made me uncomfortable. I liked Luc and respected him as my boss. But between Henrik’s and Adrian’s flip in personalities the past couple of weeks, Luc was my only source of stability. I couldn’t tell him the truth and risk losing his friendship.
“He works for my fiancé,” was the best I could come up with.
Luc clicked his tongue and nodded. “I see, I see. Your fiancé must be rich to have the ability to send someone after you. But it also seems a bit cowardly, don’t you think?”
“He’s not cowardly, he’s just…”
Old. He was old.
I inwardly cringed, stopping the conversation by knocking on Jacques’s cell bars to get his attention. His eyes were closed, his head leaned back against the cell wall. He looked apathetic as always as he slowly opened his eyes and looked over at me.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, trying to start a conversation.
He chuckled darkly in return. “That’s a verymotherlyquestion to ask.”
I cringed. Jacques didn’t speak much, but when he did, it was like the devil stabbing me in the heart.
Luc came up behind me, taking the soup from my hand and sliding it under the bars.
“Esmeralda has the heart of both a mother and a goddess,” he said matter-of-factly.
Jacques gave a twisted smile.
“That’s…convenient,” he replied.
Jacques stood, walking toward us as if he was going to get the soup, but instead, passing it completely. He stepped in closer to us, leaning against the bars and eyeing us both.
“You’re all sailing toward the Eros,” he said. “Isn’t that right?”
I nodded cautiously. He gave a genuine smile this time, throwing me off balance.
“That’s also very convenient,” he said.
“How are you familiar with the Eros?” Luc asked. “It’s not a popular mythology.”
“It’s not unpopular either,” Jacques replied. “Also, it’s hard to miss the sky opening over the sea with a red glow. People talk.”
