Page 32 of A Pirate's Pleasure
“What’s that going to achieve?”
Honestly, I didn’t know. But as it was that or the sea, the cliffs were as good a place to head for as any. Better than just standing and waiting for Lucretius. A rocky, winding path led up into the cliffs, heavy footsteps sounding in our wake as we took it.
“Your taste in men sucks,” Lief said as he ran by my side. “And frankly, I’ve seen better breasts.”
“Have you?”
The path had grown too steep for Lief to answer, which was perhaps as well when it wasn’t the best time to be questioning him on whose breasts he’d seen when the boy I’d known had never shown the slightest bit of interest in girls. As the gradient increased, it forced us to use our hands to haul ourselves up, loose rocks beneath our feet making the ascent more hazardous than I’d anticipated, and threatening to tip us both off into the awaiting chasm if we weren’t careful.
“You should have just gone with him,” Lief said as he scrambled up a few more feet, the top of the cliff now in sight.
“Really?”
He heaved out a sigh. “No. There is no man less suited to living out his days on one island and devoting himself to one man than you.”
I might have taken offense if our pursuer hadn’t chosen that moment to let out another scream, the sound ricocheting across the open space and causing a shower of rocks to rain down on us as we covered our ears against the second aural assault. Thankfully, this one was short-lived. Perhaps Lucretius couldn’t climb and scream at the same time. It appeared even harpies struggled with multi-tasking.
And then we were at the top of the cliff with nowhere else to go.
“Now what?” Lief asked.
I looked down at Lucretius, who’d reached the halfway point of the steep path. “Now, I stop him from getting up here.”
I raised my hand, calling on the magic that came from deep within me. The red strands swirled around me, filling me full of confidence that I was strong enough to hold Lucretius off until he realized the effort just wasn’t worth it for a man who didn’t want to be with him anyway, and who he’d only end up killing if past experience had taught him anything.
The first lightning bolt missed him, Lucretius pausing to lift his head and grin at me, all those sharp teeth on display. Oh, the kinky fucker liked that, did he? He wouldn’t like it as much when one hit him. My optimism didn’t last long, the second bolt hitting him, but doing nothing more than slow him down for a few seconds.
“Fuck!” Lief said at my shoulder. “Did you use full power?” Most people wouldn’t have known to ask that question, but Lief had been there throughout the development and shaping of my fledgling powers. He knew about as much about my magic as I did.
I shook my head. I rarely used full power because I never needed to. Weak lightning was usually more than enough to stop a target in its tracks. A human would be dead from the strike I’d just dealt him. Another reminder should one be required, which, given the feathers, and the wings, and the teeth, it probably wasn’t, that Lucretius was far from human.
If only I’d been more circumspect that night, if I’d drunk less, if I’d been more suspicious about why a lone sailor would hang around in the tavern with no sign of a crew, or of a ship, now I came to think about it. Yes, I’d been stupid in retrospect. But regretting it wouldn’t make the situation go away.
“You were right,” Lief said. Three words I never heard from him. “I should have stayed on The Navarino. I’d rather take on your entire crew in single-handed, unarmed combat than tangle with an enraged harpy.”
I let out a strangled laugh as I gathered more magic. The more I used, the quicker it would drain until I had nothing left. “So you’ll listen to me next time?”
“Next time…” There was a wistful note in Lief’s voice. “Let’s see if there is one before I agree to anything. Because I’ve got to tell you that the future looks pretty bleak from where I’m standing.”
I unleashed another lightning bolt, this one far stronger. It hit Lucretius and he let out a strangled cry, smoke rising from blackened feathers as he tumbled head over heels down the steep path. A surge of satisfaction ricocheted through me as he finally came to a stop and lay prone. Had I stopped his heart? Sometimes a strong enough bolt of lightning could do that.
“Hit him again,” Lief urged.
But Lucretius was already rising to his feet. And then he took to the skies, those huge wings of his beating so violently that I imagined I could feel the breeze from where we stood.
“Shit,” Lief said, echoing my own thoughts perfectly. It was harder to hit Lucretius now that he was airborne, the harpy displaying a grace and speed the likes of which you wouldn’t expect from something so large, as he swooped and dodged the lightning bolts with seemingly little effort. I finally made contact, but it wasn’t enough to dislodge him from his forward trajectory. Not now that he was prepared for it.
And all too soon, he’d reached us, tucking his wings behind him as he landed only a few meters away. “You hit me with lightning,” he said, brushing at some of his charred feathers with a disgusted expression on his face. “Is that any way to treat your lover? I’m beginning to feel like you’re not pleased to see me.”
I laughed. “You think?”
As Lucretius stepped forward, Lief and I both took a step back to maintain the distance between us. The only problem was that eventually we’d run out of cliff, the sheer rock face giving way to a hundred-foot drop to the sea below.
Lucretius held up a finger, swinging it in Lief’s direction. “And as for you. You stabbed me. You kiss my husband and then you stab me. That’s not the way to make friends. After I’ve killed you, I’m going to stick a candle in your skull and use it as a lantern.”
“Oh, he’s your husband now, is he?” Lief mocked. “Zephyr must have forgotten to mention the wedding ceremony. When was it exactly? The same night you tumbled into bed together? Or the following morning before Zeph ran away from you because he could think of nothing worse than being tied to your feathery ass for all eternity?”
“Don’t wind him up,” I urged as we took another step back.