Pirate witch, p.13
Pirate Witch, page 13
part #3 of The Deadwood Series
Kier nods, and so do the twins. Do any of us like that Nilsa might be keeping secrets from us? Fuck no. But it’s understandable. Now that the bargain is broken, it’s our job to make sure our mate never feels like she needs to keep things from us again.
“Why is there a Castleman Mage here?” Val demands, breaking the heavy silence.
Klaus shrugs, clearly unused to Val’s deep distrust of other mages. “He showed up with Elsie and Reva. He’s a bit young and naive, but he seems harmless.”
“No mage is harmless,” Val grunts, slinking back into his chair.
Klaus looks about to argue, but almost everyone else at the table shoots him a look and he wisely decides to keep it to himself. Val might not be objective about mages, but he has good reasons to be.
The captain stiffens and launches to his feet, capturing all of our attention once more.
“She’s up,” he announces, striding through the wall instead of bothering with the door.
The rest of us don’t hesitate. We slam into one another as we all try to shove through the door at the same time.
NILSA
I’m not sure what I expect to wake up to. Or that I expect to wake up at all, really. I feel like I’ve been run over by a herd of trolls. My head is still ringing, and my eyesight—though improving—is still blurry.
“Go back to sleep,” Opal mutters, drowsily. “You’re thinking too loud.”
“Where are we?” I mumble, pushing myself up onto my elbows.
But the faint rocking sensation of being on a ship makes itself clear as soon as I’m semi vertical, answering my question.
“Your pirates wanted you home.”
That’s unexpectedly sweet of them. I blink and scrub at my eyes, still trying in vain to make out something beyond the blurry, foggy mass which has taken over my sight. It’s got to be day, if the amount of light is anything to go by.
It’s not just my vision that’s struggling. My memory feels… broken.
I remember the ritual. I even remember the Goddesses, but the more I try to focus on the details, the further out of reach they get. I know there were three of them… I remember agreeing to pay a price.
Even that much is fading. Like it was all just a dream. I need to write it down before I forget what happened.
I reach for the edge of the bed… and keep reaching.
Where is it? My bed isn’t this big… I flop over onto my stomach, searching for the point where mattress gives way to empty air.
I still can’t find it. A growl of frustration slips past my lips, and I hear a very low, masculine chuckle in response.
“Just where do you think you’re going, witch?”
Val. For a second my whole body tenses, and I curse before forcing myself to relax.
The bargain is broken. He won’t hurt me.
And if he does, I’ll kick his ass and turn his whole boat pink.
“Why is the bed so big?” I mutter, still blinking even though I’ve pretty much determined it’s doing nothing to help me see. “Did you do something to my cabin?”
“The bed is so big because it’s supposed to fit the whole crew,” he comments, completely at ease.
“And stop wounded witches from wandering off when they should be resting.” That last part is Rysen.
I think I can make them out. Two slightly darker blobs in my vision. Or is that just my imagination?
“You still can’t see,” Rysen scolds, and I feel the mattress dip slightly before his warm arms wrap around me and pull me back so I’m curled on my side, being spooned by him. “Elsie said you need rest to fix your vision. So rest.”
I don’t want to comply, but the bed shifts again. A second, cooler body presses against my front. Cold lips press against my cheek, and I sigh as I realise it must be Kier.
My fae mate says nothing, but his presence jogs my memory.
I take a deep breath. The rightness of what I’m about to do settles over me as I snuggle into him, pressing my body into his and hiding my face in the hollow created by his neck.
The bargain is broken now, and Kier has suffered enough.
“My name,” I begin, whispering against his ear. “Is Nilsa Dunn av Coveton.”
A ripple of shock passes through Kier. His body turns unnaturally still, and I swear he doesn’t even breathe. Until a second later, when he lets out the air on a disappointed sigh. I bite my lip, wondering if that’s it.
I can’t believe the curse broke so easily.
The flash of magic has him arcing off the bed. It’s so bright it actually turns my blurry vision white. Kier’s weight disappears from around me and his muscles start to spasm so wildly that I panic and try to grab onto him. An elbow collides with my ribs and Rysen hisses as if it was him who was struck.
Chapter Fifteen
KIERAN
I crawled into the bed to comfort our wounded mate, beating the rest of the crew to her side by sheer luck. Yet I barely have time to settle her against me before she starts to whisper out something so quietly I can barely make it out. When I do, I’m pretty sure I stop breathing.
There’s an instant where nothing happens, and I bite my lip, disappointment flooding me.
I always knew it was a long shot at this point. The curse needs a woman to give me her full name, yes, but it also requires that woman to love me. Nilsa might know everything about the curse, but without that emotional connection, giving me her name does nothing.
I’m not stupid. It’s hard to love someone you can’t have a conversation with.
My heart cracks a little. Perhaps that’s why, when the pain starts, I can’t distinguish it from the emotional hurt already coursing through my veins.
That changes fast. The pressure-pain grows until it’s suffocating, but the cause isn’t immediately obvious until the chains appear across my body. Made of glowing moonlight, they burn like they did the last time I saw them.
That was the day I was cursed.
As I watch, they slide across my skin like snakes. Rysen’s eyes meet mine for a second before the glow turns to a flash, which forces him to squint until his eyes can’t take it anymore.
Not mine. My sight is adapted to the bright flare of sun on ice. I stare, unblinking as they constrict over my skin, spreading fire until I want to cry out.
But I can’t. They’re cutting off my airflow. Surrounding my throat so tightly that I feel like I’m choking.
I struggle against the chains, but how can you fight magic with your bare hands? All I succeed in doing is thrashing so hard that one of my arms connects with my mate’s ribs.
Shit. Rysen hisses and drags Nilsa out of the way just as the chains’ level of constriction becomes unbearable.
This is going to kill me, I realise. The curse is so ingrained in my body that removing it will cost me my life.
I fix my gaze on our mate’s unseeing eyes, committing her face to memory one last time.
Just when I think the links made of moonlight are going to crush my bones, they fragment. The curse shatters like glass, spraying outwards in a rush of power. My body drops back to the mattress without the magic holding me up and I land awkwardly on one wing, panting and gasping like I’ve run a marathon.
My body aches. Even dragging air into my lungs is painful.
I feel… I don’t know what I feel. Fear, rage, pain, and an overwhelming sense of relief slam into me until my head spins.
Rysen, sensing that the worst is over and correctly predicting where my thoughts have travelled, moves Nilsa back between us. I stroke a lock of her black hair out of her eyes as I gaze down at the incredible woman before me.
Then I bury my head into her hair and sob.
She freezes for a second before her arms wrap around me and drag me into her embrace fully.
The burst of emotion dries up, and I wait for the others to say something. To mock the way the ancient fae prince fell apart over a witch.
But they don’t. I can hear them hovering in the background. There, but not intruding. Like they want to give me this moment with our mate, but they can’t bear to be parted from her any more than I can right now.
I open my mouth, and then close it. Half afraid to speak. No one rushes me, and I glance down at the dark-haired woman in my arms, hoping I can draw some kind of strength from her. Only that doesn’t work. I’m swamped anew with gratitude I’m not sure I can ever truly express.
It’s been over four centuries… and now it’s over.
Open your mouth and thank her. The critical thought stabs at my consciousness, but I can’t do it. Fae, as a rule, dislike thanking anyone for anything. Although Nilsa won’t take it as a statement of debt—and even if she did, I’m so deeply indebted to her already that it wouldn’t matter—a mere ‘thank you’ doesn’t seem sufficient. What can two little words really do to express the enormity of my gratitude?
I must say something.
“I thought, when my curse was broken, I’d talk your ear off. But there are no words,” I finally whisper, brokenly.
Talking still hurts. But it’s a soreness born of disuse rather than the agony of the curse.
Nilsa’s head pops up, those icy blue eyes of hers meeting mine, piercing my soul even though she can’t really see me. This woman loves me, I realise. She couldn’t have broken my curse if she didn’t.
Yet not twenty-four hours ago, I tried to kill her and her friends.
I don’t deserve her. None of us do.
Almost as if she can sense my thoughts, she ducks her head down and hugs me harder.
“Rest, both of you.” Rysen meets my eyes, and I raise a brow, silently querying his order. “Don’t pretend that curse breaking didn’t take it out of you,” he grunts.
He’s right, as much as I don’t like it. I sigh but nod my acceptance, relaxing into Nilsa’s embrace.
It’s only a few minutes later that I realise I could’ve just replied using my voice.
I’m so used to not talking that remembering to speak is going to take a conscious effort on my part. The irony burns in my gut as I close my eyes and allow myself to drift off with my mate in my arms.
NILSA
When I wake up for the second time, the blurriness has passed. Only to be replaced by a fierce migraine.
Groaning, I push myself up until I’m sitting and try to distract myself by examining the room we’re in.
The light of the crescent moon streams through the enormous wall of windows behind the bed. I’ve only seen this much glass in one other place on the ship: Val’s office, so this cabin must be directly below it. The rest of the space is richly furnished and decorated in jewel tones that add personality and intimacy to the huge cabin.
There are three doors. One of them is partially open, revealing the tiled bathroom beyond, but the other two are closed.
Eventually, I run out of things to look at and I have no choice but to look down and study the giant bed I’ve been avoiding. How does the ship even have a bed this big? When did Val get it?
It’s big enough for me and all of my men. How can I tell? Because all seven of us are currently in it. Kier is still on my left, but Rysen has moved over to the edge and made way for Cas on my right. Nos is between the two of them, having kicked one leg out of the blankets at some point during the day. I suppress a snigger as I realise his face is basically smooshed into Rysen’s armpit and move my gaze over to the other side.
Val seems to have sat down in one corner and drifted off, if the way his legs are hanging over the edge of the bed is any indication. Klaus is on the other side of Kier, and my Siren mate has fallen asleep on his front, arms and legs splayed in a starfish position that gives him his space and keeps the others out of it. If he moves, he’ll kick Val in the head.
It’s a sweet tableau, but I have no idea how I’m going to get out of here without waking one of them up. I take a deep breath, willing the migraine to pass, before lying back down and attempting to wriggle my way down the mattress. I make it halfway before I realise my face is level with Kier’s dick.
That’s tempting. I lick my lips, but force myself to keep wriggling down to the edge of the mattress. I’m all for waking up my men with a blow job, but the return of my sight has brought about the very pressing realisation that I’m a mess. My feet hit the ground and I stand on wobbly legs before heading to the open door. When I get there, I dart a quick look back to check that they’re all still sleeping before shutting myself in.
It takes half an hour in the shower for me to feel like myself again. Longer spent just sitting on the edge of the counter, wrapped in a towel, before I can convince myself that everything is real.
The Eagle’s bargain is no more. Kier’s curse is broken. Right now, we’re as close to freedom as we’ve ever been. A future with my mates rests on the horizon, tantalisingly close.
All that remains is to kill Queen Catherine.
We could just leave now, an insidious voice whispers in the back of my mind. Take our freedom and run to the farthest reaches of the ocean. Ignore the Goddess’s contract and live out our days beyond the Eagle’s reach.
But I’m no fool. Catherine would just hunt us down. She knows she needs to eliminate the threat we represent to consolidate her power.
So when I patter back into the bedroom, I go straight to the satchel that someone has grabbed from my room at Sade’s palace. Open it, and take out the palm-sized, glowing crystal and examine it.
“Mine’s bigger,” Val grumbles, coming up behind me. “What’s a witch doing with a hunk of unrefined crystal?”
I hadn’t even noticed he was awake, and I roll my eyes at him. “This one is special. I’ll explain when the others are up.”
He takes my chin and tilts my face up so I’m looking at him. “No more secrets?”
I shake my head, dislodging his grip. “No more secrets,” I agree, solemnly.
The captain nods, seeming to decide something before offering his hand to help me up. “Let’s grab some food. Rysen looked like he was about to pass out when he saw how much weight you’ve lost.”
I’ve lost weight? I snort and take his hand. “Charming. You know you’re not supposed to mention a lady’s weight to her, right?”
“I’m a pirate, not a gentleman.” He pulls me up. “You want nice words and manners? Ask Kier or Klaus.”
He shoves open the door beside me, revealing a walk-in closet. The only clothes inside right now are mine, and I run a hand along the fabrics before picking out a short, black number. I go to drop the towel and change, only to remember that Val’s standing in the doorway still.
I shoot him a questioning look, and he arcs a brow in response.
A dare.
Game on, captain. I’m not shy, so I don’t even bother to hide my body as I let the fluffy fabric fall from my chest to land in a heap on the floor. Keeping my eyes on him—though his have already wandered down my body, lingering in places—I step into a lacy thong and completely forgo a bra.
When I wrap the straps of the dress around my body to cover my breasts, leaving almost more skin exposed than covered, Val scoffs.
“Mirna might be sunny as fuck, but there’s a bloody cold wind up there tonight.”
I grab a pair of knee-high boots and start lacing my feet into them, bending over as I do so.
“Careful, someone might get the impression you’re starting to care for me,” I tease. “Lunars don’t feel the cold so much.”
I finish with my boots and turn around to find Val still staring at me, heat lingering in the depths of his dark eyes.
Somewhere between Cirio’s Cove and this point, the tension between us had shifted from suspicious and dark to something lustier, more intimate, and just as antagonistic.
“See something you like?” I taunt.
He smirks a second before a rope appears out of nowhere and snaps across my ass with a loud crack. The sting seems to travel straight to my clit and I gasp, eyes widening in shock.
“Get moving,” he retorts.
“Kinky fuck,” I mumble at his back, rubbing my butt to ease away the sensation.
“You have no idea.”
I nibble my bottom lip, trying not to think too much into those words which were said so quietly I’m not sure I was even meant to hear them. Instead, I grab the crystal from where I left it. Following him out of the enormous cabin and along an unfamiliar corridor until we reach the galley. Setting the crystal on the table, I take a seat beside it and watch as he rifles through the drawers, grumbling.
“If I get us some stuff, can you do that thing where you make it edible?” he finally huffs.
I chuckle. “Don’t you feel like cooking?”
“I didn’t think you wanted food poisoning,” he retorts. “But I can—”
“I’m just messing with you. Give me the stuff and I’ll do it.”
Val hands me a bowl filled with stale biscuits and salted pork and I groan. “I thought you were using the charms I made? Why do you still have this stuff?”
“It’s a good backup.”
I roll my eyes and reach for my connection to the Moon, only to hesitate when She answers. My magic feels different than before. More… intense.
My mind flashes back to the moment I felt cold lips on my forehead, and I shiver.
Did something happen then? Something that’s messed with my magic?
“Everything alright?” Val asks.
Damn perceptive mage.
“I think it’s just the aftereffects of the ritual,” I mutter, before whispering a prayer that turns the bowl of random ingredients into two plain sandwiches on a plate.
I almost expect it to go wrong. It doesn’t. If anything, it goes better than I expect.
“Didn’t have to transfigure the crockery,” the mage grunts.
I turn my nose up at him and roll my eyes, trying to disguise the fact that I hadn’t meant to do it. “I’ll turn it back later.”
Goddess, are all of our conversations going to be like this? Snipping and flirting in equal measure until one of us breaks?
