Page 69 of A Pirate's Pleasure
There was nothing to do but retreat to the other side of the cell and hope Lief would show up, and that a place that prided itself on being the hub of law and order would stick to its own rules.
After what I’d been through with Lucretius, I should have been good at passing time in a cell, but that only made it more difficult, the knowledge of how many hours I’d wasted in one over the past few weeks just making me angrier. Even taunting the guard had lost its appeal. What was the point when, as he’d so rightly pointed out, it was the last day he needed to put up with me?
I stood as the external door creaked open, hope flaring in my chest. And then there he was, looking tired and disheveled but no less handsome for it. To my relief, the guard had not only admitted him, but had followed the rules in leaving us alone together.
“Lief,” I said with a smile, stepping up to the bars so I could get as close as possible to him, “you came. I was beginning to think you wouldn’t.”
“Of course I came.” He attempted a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes and lasted less than a second. “Zeph, I…”
I lowered myself to sit cross-legged on the floor, gesturing for him to do the same. It made it easier to talk with the obstacle of the bars between us. In complete contrast to Lief, I was still smiling, my facial muscles rebelling at the instruction to stop. “You look tired,” I said. “You need to sleep more.”
Lief tried for a laugh, but had just as little success with it as he had with the smile. “You think I’ve slept at all in the past week? I’ve been trying to think of a way to get you out of here, some sort of deal I could strike, or failing that, blackmail or a bribe. But apparently everyone is squeaky-clean.”
“Figures,” I said.
Lief reached between the bars, the tips of his fingers grazing the cold steel chain between my wrists. “Manacles again. You only just healed from the last pair.”
I tilted my wrists so he could see the runes on the underside. “Magic suppressing ones at that. It seems everyone has a pair these days.”
“Is that how they got you?”
I held his gaze, the beauty of his blue eyes hitting me anew after not having seen them for nearly a week. Lie, or tell the truth? I’d never lied to Lief, though, so I wasn’t about to start on my last day spent breathing. “No. They told me either we could both face the noose, or it could be just me. I didn’t find out until it was already too late that Baravor had confessed, and that they’d already let you go. I suppose I can’t blame them for manipulating me.”
Lief’s eyes flashed. “I can. I’d happily gut every one of them, starting with that bastard Reeve.”
“Shhh…” I interlocked my fingers with his, the bars wide enough that our hands could fit through. “What’s done is done. The universe seems sure I belong in a cell one way or another.”
My attempt at a joke didn’t ease the lines on Lief’s forehead in the slightest. If anything, his agitation only grew. “It’s not fair. You were only here because of me. You didn’t deserve for them to turn that to their advantage.”
“We couldn’t have predicted that Reeve would be here.”
“No, I suppose not.” Lief’s tone was flat. “I sent word to Whitby. I thought he might know a way of getting you out of here.”
“And?”
“They never came. He never came.”
“They won’t. They can’t. Not unless they’re willing to share the gallows with me, which isn’t what any of us wants.” Lief ducked his head, his body language that of a frustrated man who’d reached the end of his tether. “Hey,” I said, waiting until he lifted his head and met my gaze. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act like the world is ending. You’ll go on, and you’ll be fine. You managed perfectly well without me for eight years, so you’ll manage without me once I’m no longer here.”
It was the wrong thing to say, Lief’s eyes filling with tears. I could count the occasions when I’d seen Lief cry on one hand, and I wouldn’t even need to use all the fingers. He shook his head. “We spent weeks trying to locate where a murderous harpy could have taken you, and for what?”
I laughed. “Sorry, but if it’s any consolation, I’d rather hang than face a lifetime with Lucretius.”
One tear spilled over and I followed its progress down Lief’s cheek. “And I didn’t,” he said.
I frowned. “Didn’t what?”
“Manage perfectly well for eight years. I pretended I did, but I didn’t.”
“Lief!”
“No. I need to say it.” Another tear broke free and Lief angrily dashed it away. “Leaving Glimmerfield, leaving you, was the worst mistake I ever made, and I don’t mean because of everything that’s happened recently. I came to that conclusion a long time ago, years even, but I was too proud to seek you out and tell you I was wrong.” He sniffed, his fingers tightening around mine. “Plus, if I’m honest, I thought I’d find you shacked up with a sexy pirate.” He tried for another smile, but it met the same fate as the previous one. “Someone who doesn’t faint at the sight of blood. When I came to find you, I didn’t even know if you’d agree to see me.” This time, he managed a smile. “I was right about that, at least. That look you gave me when you walked into The Black Skull and saw me sitting there. If looks could kill, I would have died on the spot.”
It was funny how I’d yearned for this meeting so I could say the things that needed to be said, and instead it was Lief spilling his guts. “That wasn’t the way I felt on the inside.”