Page 39 of A Pirate's Pleasure
“Thank you,” I said, because it seemed like the right thing to say. “You’re too kind.”
“I am,” Lucretius said as he tested the give of the chain, the irony apparently lost on him. “It’s another of my weaknesses.”
I went over to sit on the double bed—at least I had a bed—the chain just long enough to stretch that far if I kept to one side of it and didn’t roll over. It wouldn’t make for the most comfortable of nights, but it was better than the cell, so I wasn’t about to complain.
“Well... I will leave you to get some sleep,” Lucretius said, “and then tomorrow we can see about making you look less like a pirate.” He paused in the doorway to blow me a kiss. “Sleep well, my prince. I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally have you here after all my efforts.”
Thankfully, the door closed without him waiting for a response. I swallowed down a laugh at the sound of it being locked. Apparently, chaining me to the wall wasn’t enough of a precaution. Lucretius didn’t just have a plan A, B, and C, he had them stretching all the way to Z. As soon as the footsteps had receded down the corridor, I went over to the window. There was no way of opening it, no catch, no lever, no nothing. Even if I could have opened it, the chain wouldn’t stretch far enough anyway to make it useful for anything but allowing a breeze in.
I returned to the bed and lay back on it while I contemplated my plight. Chained to the wall. Locked in the room. Locked in the house. Even if I could overcome all those obstacles, there was still the small matter of me being on an island with no way of getting off it.
“Fuck,” I said aloud, and all the grinning skulls agreed with me. No doubt they’d lain on this very bed and all had the same realization that they weren’t getting off this island anytime soon. There was a space on one shelf, and I suspected Lucretius had left it there deliberately, a reminder that despite all his smiles and endearments, there was still room for one more.
Chapter Sixteen
Lief
Zephyr’s fingers gripped mine firmly, allowing no room for argument as he tugged me along the quiet street toward the dock. “Where are we going?”
He turned to grin at me in the dim light of dusk, his teeth shining white. “Do you trust me, Lief?”
“Well, yeah, but…”
“Then, trust me, and wait and see. It’s a surprise.”
His steps quickened, and it was all I could do to keep up with his loping stride. “I can’t think of anywhere you could take me in Glimmerfield that I haven’t already seen a thousand times.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I felt churlish. It wasn’t the place that mattered; it was the company. Anywhere with Zephyr was special, because it was him. Especially when we didn’t have Dax giving us that knowing look that said we weren’t fooling him, that he knew full well we were having sex. He probably did. No doubt Zephyr confided in him. We hadn’t discussed it, mainly because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know just how many secrets the two shared. What if they discussed what we did in bed? I’d never be able to look Dax in the eye ever again. Yeah, it was far better to remain blissfully ignorant.
Instead of heading down to the docks, Zephyr took a sharp right turn, and I knew where we were going. A small hill lay in this direction that you could climb if you were feeling energetic. There was nothing up there, but it provided privacy and a view across Glimmerfield or the sea, depending on which direction you looked in. It figured that whatever this surprise was, Zephyr wanted to be close to his beloved sea.
We were forced to let go of each other’s hands to navigate the last part of the hill, the incline much steeper. At the top lay a large, flat area. It was empty of anyone save for us, the evening air too cold at this time of year for anyone to venture up here. Which made us idiots. But then I’d already known that.
“So?” I said, holding my arms out to the side as I turned in a slow circle and surveyed the completely empty hill. “Where’s this surprise?”
“I didn’t know whether you’d come up here with me unless there was something to see.”
I laughed. “So the surprise is there is no surprise?” I pulled Zephyr close, hooking my arms around his neck and staring into that handsome face of his. I never tired of looking at him. He was perfect, all stormy gray eyes with a darker ring around the iris, sharp features, and full lips that just begged to be kissed. “There is something to see, and may I say what an absolutely stunning sight it is. The best in Glimmerfield. Possibly even in all thirteen kingdoms.”
His lips twitched, but he didn’t give in to the humor as his arms stole around my waist to clasp me to him. “I love you.”
Something buzzed in my brain. Something that examined every minute detail of the three simple words before conceding that he really had said what I’d thought he’d said. Simple? There was nothing simple about those words. If I’d ever dreamed of them being spoken, I’d thought they’d come from me first. Zephyr Chase had never given any indication that he did love. He did lightning and chaos. He did adventure and mischief. Love, though, wasn’t in his vocabulary as far as I’d known. Realizing that shock had kept me silent for far longer than was comfortable, I forced words past the sizeable lump in my throat. “Well, that is a surprise.”
“Is it?” An expression of hurt flickered across Zephyr’s face as he tried to pull away.
I clutched onto him, refusing to let him put distance between us. “Yes, it is, but a good one. A great one.” I held his gaze and smiled, trying to erase whatever negative thoughts were going through his mind. There was an easier way to do that, though, wasn’t there? Which is what I should have gone with first if his unexpected declaration hadn’t turned my brain to mush. “I love you too.”
“You don’t have to say it just because I did.”
“I’m not.” I pulled him down and kissed him, his lips cold against mine. “I’m saying it because it’s true.” Taking his hand, I led him over to the side of the hill that looked out across the sea, both of us taking in the view. “I wish it snowed in Glimmerfield,” I said.
I felt the buzz of Zephyr’s magic in his fingertips before he pulled his hand free from mine.
“Wait. Watch,” he said.
He lifted his hand, the familiar strands of red winding their way up into the sky. At first there was nothing, disappointment curling in my gut. Then one flake floated down. Another joined it, and then another, until there was enough snow to cover both us and the ground. I laughed at the sheer joy of it, tilting my head back and catching one on my tongue. “Two surprises,” I said as the snow settled around our feet. “You sell yourself short, Zephyr Chase.”
Seven days had passed since Zephyr’s disappearance and, despite rationing having continued, food supplies were low again. Whitby was a great captain, but he wasn’t Zephyr, and there was far more grumbling and dissent on board than I’d noticed during my first days on the ship. I guessed the threat of bringing mother nature down on your head held a lot of sway. As Whitby didn’t have that method at his disposal, that only left more traditional ways of maintaining discipline open to him.
With that on my mind, I walked over to stand next to Whitby. “You might need to bring whipping back.”