Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
“Do it.” My throat burned, dry and sandy. “I won’t bite.”
A rabid pirate ran up behind him, poised to thrust a rapier into Ashley’s back.
“Behind you,” I tried to shout.
But Priest was already there, cleaving the man across the face. Then he used the pirate’s own rapier and plunged it into the belly, jerking upward on the blade until it opened the stomach and part of the chest. The man dropped.
Pivoting aft, Priest screamed something at someone, raging, spitting, his face contorting with feral madness. I’d seen his temper at its most dangerous peak, but never this. His wild eyes, demonic expression, and mercurial bearing embodied a violent storm. A savage war. A roaring, consuming fire of wrath.
He was terrifying.
Returning to my side, he yelled at Ashley, who calmly answered, seemingly unruffled by Priest’s rage. I tried to read their lips, but my focus was ebbing, the darkness pressing in at the edges.
Priest slid a knife beneath the rope around my midsection and paused. His hand shook. His chest rose and fell. He desperately needed an outlet for the fury that snarled inside him.
Ashley touched my waist, fingers featherlight, and his mouth moved through a string of words, of which only a few were discernible at the end. “…I’ll hurt you.”
“Already hurt.”
I could no longer see the blue of his eyes, for the dangerous shadows that lowered over them were too dark and stricken.
“Can’t hear. No…sound.” I wasn’t sure how well I could talk. My face was swollen, and my voice didn’t reach my ears. “Find Madwulf. Below deck. He took… Opened compass. Tiny map. My stone…”
My father’s letter.
A tear leaked from the corner of my eye.
Priest set his jaw, nodded, and cut the rope.
The fetters unfurled, and I fell into Ashley’s arms. He caught me as delicately as he could, but everything inside me moved at once. Bones shifted. Muscles engaged. Weight displaced. The shocking, wracking pain was too much.
Nausea invaded. My stomach heaved. I drifted in and out of awareness.
I tried to stay alert as Ashley carried me across the planks to Jade. Over his shoulder, I spotted Priest at the bow of Blitz. He glowered with a shivering lust for death, his expression boiling, creased, cemented in an unblinking grimace. Once he saw me safely aboard my ship, he would go after Madwulf, no mistake.
A new pair of arms slid beneath me, along with a new level of hell as I was hauled over the gunwale. The pain came in constant waves, piercing and gnawing so deeply I couldn’t stop crying.
Ashley didn’t follow me over. He leaned in and spoke quickly to those on Jade, presumably giving updates and instructions on my care.
Bending down, his warm fingers found the hand of my uninjured arm, and he lowered his brow to my knuckles. I felt the love he poured into the gesture before he straightened and hardened his expression. Then he drew his sword and raced back across the plank to Blitz.
Neither he nor Priest would return until every man involved in my torture was dealt with brutally and without quarter.
Except Madwulf.
When they found him, his demise wouldn’t end in a few hours or even a few days. They would torture him for as long as they could keep him breathing.
As another surge of anguish battered my body, I stared up at the man who held me, blinking through the fog of pain. Jobah’s dark warm eyes stared back.
Dear God, it was a relief to see him.
Missed you, Captain, he mouthed, carrying me slowly, gently into the companionway.
“You, too, Jobah.” More than I could voice.
The last time he cradled me like this, I was bleeding out from a sword wound in the gut. Too bad my present injuries hurt a thousand times worse. I faced a long, rocky road ahead and wasn’t confident I would survive the battle this time.
Today, Jobah said, slowly shaping his lips around each syllable, isn’t your day.
He was reminding me of my favorite motto.
If I had the strength, I would’ve laughed. But he was right. Today wasn’t my day to die.
Tendrils of determination wound around my chest. For as long as I lived, I was still the captain of this ship. So I put on a tough face and swallowed down my pain. “How…are…new passengers?” The two badly beaten men? The slave ship? Did he understand what I was asking?
His smiling lips created a clear answer. Healed.
Good. Christ, that was great news. My old surgeon, Ipswich, while ever sour and rude, had an impressive success rate with saving people.
As Jobah conveyed me through Jade’s lower decks, a sense of peace penetrated the torment in my bones. I was finally home. If I died, it would be on my ship surrounded by loyal friends.
Dammit, no. I wasn’t going to die. I’d come too far. I had a ship to command, a map to my father’s treasure, and a crew that depended on me. I. Would. Survive.