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My eyes widened. “Of course not. Please, Henrik, listen—”
“Unless you want to marry the old man,” Henrik continued. “Perhaps he’s richer than I gave him credit for. Or you find his son more interesting. Don’t look so surprised. I saw you sneak down to meet him the other night.”
“Henrik—”
“Or maybe sleeping in my brother’s bed every night has swayed your affections?”
Suddenly my head swarmed. “Are you insane? How can you say that?”
“It’s natural, isn’t it? When you spend that much time with someone?” He stepped closer to me. “Maybe you’re interested in a fling here before going back to your rich husband?”
“What’s wrong with you? You’re never like thi—”
He grabbed my hand again, this time, with force.
“I won’t let go of you that easily,” he said. “Not to my brother, not to a rich officer, not to anyone. I don’t care about the consequences.”
I had never truly been afraid of Henrik, until now. The way he looked at me was predatory and dominant, not at all like the man I knew him as.
“This isn’t like you,” I squeaked out. “You’re not like this. Stop. Please.”
Henrik’s hand tightened around my wrist as he opened his mouth to speak, but someone else spoke before he did.
“Let her go, dearest first mate.”
The moonlight struck Luc’s eyes harshly, even though his voice was soft and sweet. Henrik stepped back, eyeing him.
“This doesn’t concern you,” Henrik replied.
Luc’s voice remained in his flippant sing-song manner as he took heavy steps forward.
“But you’ll be a better man with some beauty sleep,” Luc replied with a cheerful tone. “You can’t win the lady’s heart with such a brute force, you know.”
Henrik’s hand loosened around my wrist, his eyes seeming to gloss over. He shook his head, as if his headache had returned, then looked back at Luc.
“What are you saying?” Henrik asked Luc.
“Tell the lady good night,” Luc replied, his voice still sweet. “She’ll only respond to a gentleman, you know. And a gentleman doesn’t stay up past curfew.”
Henrik paused, seeming to process the words. He swayed forward a little, then cleared his throat. He turned to me, his eyes now completely blank instead of intense and possessive as they had been only a moment before.
Henrik’s eyes narrowed. “This is—”
“Oh, first mate,” Luc sang again. “You don’t want to do this at all, do you?”
Henrik paused, his hand fully dropping from my wrist.
“Tell the lady good night,” Luc commanded.
“Forgive me,” Henrik said. “But I must retire early.”
He gave a short bow before turning on his heel and walking past Luc. When he was out of sight, Luc took three long strides to meet me.
“Are you all right, little dove?” he asked.
I stepped away from him, unable to understand what I had just seen.
“Luc, what was that?”
