Page 7 of Trapped By Vengeance
Smiling, I meet Konrad’s gaze.
His ears are red, and he quickly turns away. “Right. We were going to the beach. But first, we must pass the wharf.”
I don’t look away from his rosy ears as his golden ponytail whips back and forth in the wind. “I hear that can be a troublesome place for a lady.”
“I certainly wouldn’t recommend it without a gentleman to escort you.”
His attitude is devil-may-care as he pats my arm, which is still entwined with his. But I don’t miss the way it falls away to dab Eloise’s shoulder and remain there.
“What brings you to Trotzdem?” Konrad asks conversationally.
“Because I wanted to see the world.” I think of how suffocating my father’s castle was becoming. I didn’t want to remain within its walls for an eternity, no matter how safe they made me.
“So, you started with Trotzdem?”
“I want to see thewholeworld. No exceptions.” To prove my point, I glance around as we descend to the bustle of men loading and unloading ships into the large warehouses set up along the dock like a city all their own.
The wind is friskier down here, but my hood still doesn’t move. It gives me a chance to inspect the rigs as we pass by. There are two fishing vessels being unloaded by a pirate hunting shipbeing staffed. Next is the largest ship in the bay, which is being relieved of the goods it traded with the Venican Isles.
Cowering in its shadows is a schooner that is trying to hide its less illicit goods by the shiftiness of those unloading it.
I’m so distracted by the antics of the schooner that I almost walk into a blade.
Whirling around, I find a dagger pressed nearly to my throat.
Holding it is a short, angry man with no hair and few teeth as he leers at me. “You’re coming with me, little missy.”
Chapter Four
Valda
Before I can properly react to the audacity of such a threat, Konrad uses our joined arms to yank me back before releasing me.
I stumble backward, catching myself in front of an alley between two warehouses.
When I turn back, Konrad has the knife-wielding man by the wrist. “This isn’t what we agreed to.”
Agreed to?
The scent of Konrad’s guilt is only combated by the bloodlust of the man threatening me.
I glance around for Eloise, but the child has scampered away, hopefully to somewhere safer.
Suddenly, hands grab my hood and yank me into the shadows of the alley just as it flies off.
“How dare you!” I cry, yanking my skirt up to find my garter sheath.
“How dare he what?” hisses another man.
Once my black dagger is in hand, I whirl around the two fellows, yanking my hood out of their grip.
These new assailants are identical, except one bears a silver tooth and the other has gold instead. Both have the weathered skin of sailors who cannot resist the sea.
“You dare touch me?” I brandish my blade at them. “You’ll pay for that.”
I lunge at them both, moving straight through the middle so they don’t know who I’ll attack first before I spin to the right. I stab that one in the collarbone.
He yowls as the man who must be his brother grabs my shoulders and pulls me backward. I kick at the man I stabbed, knocking him over.