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AUTHORITATIVE SHOUTS and the thundering of footfalls came all along the deck above.
The pirate’s captain was on board.
Caelina jumped when the trapdoor slammed open once more, flooding the hold with daylight. She watched the staircase in dread or anticipation. Chewing on her lips, she was cautiously optimistic that the pirate captain was a rational man and not an ignorant lecher. In either case, she wouldn’t be entirely opposed to flirting with him as long as it meant her release.
But noting the slim pair of legs in tights and leather boots walking down, Caelina blinked hard as the lone person who descended the stairs was not who she had imagined to be the ruffian’s leader at all.
The tall, beautiful woman only looked to be a few years older than Caelina. Her hair was fiery red, tied back with a black bandanna underneath her gold-lined tricorn. Her eyes were pale green, her smile wide. She also bore the same inked marks as the others across her muscled, browned arms, and a deep scar cut across her one eyebrow.
Caelina’s eyes narrowed. “Who the hell is that?”
Stellan was already groaning. “Oh, shit. It’s Neris.”
“Who?”
“My crazy ex.”
Caelina turned her expression of disbelief onto him. “Your crazy what?”
Her boots clacking on the wooden floor, Neris’s smile widened as she approached the two of them. “Hello, Stellan,” she greeted in her hoarse voice. “It’s so nice of you to carve out some time in your busy schedule to see me again.”
Caelina looked from her to Stellan and back again in complete bewilderment. The pirates were after Stellan? Because their captain was some sort of jilted lover pining away for him?
To Stellan’s credit, he didn’t seem inclined to antagonize Neris further with the same mocking that Caelina was so easily coming up with in her head. “Neris, just let us go,” he bid, his tone still calm.
“But it’s been so long,” Neris purred as she moved closer to him. “I’ve really missed you.” Unbidden, she leaned up against him to lick his neck.
Stellan’s face darkened in displeasure but he merely turned his head away.
Still leaning against him, Neris’s smile sweetened as she turned to meet Caelina’s horrified gaze. “Is this the new wife?” Neris prompted. “I have to apologize as the ‘til death do you part’ part of those vows you’ve just made will have to come a slight bit early.”
Caelina couldn’t help her outburst. “Is that what this is all about? Some sort of petty lover’s vendetta?”
Neris’s gaze turned sharp. “He left me! I loved him and he left me!” she screeched. Then she added with a haughty huff, “Though I would never expect someone like you to understand—a monster, incapable of any feelings whatsoever. You never deserved such perfection in a man. I must say your village elders’ matching decisions leave much to be desired.”
Caelina rolled her eyes. “So, what? You just kidnap us? And I’m the monster?” She cast a glance back at Stellan, incredulous that he could even have been in a relationship with someone so vile. “Her? Stellan? Seriously?”
Stellan grumbled. “I said she was my crazy ex. Not my sane, rational ex.”
Neris’s face crumpled in wrath. “Shut up!” Straightening up, she folded her arms across her chest to look Caelina up and down. “What is so special about you anyway?” Neris drawled. “You look frail and weak. You could never take on a real warrior.” She turned back to prompt Stellan, “What is it, huh? What does she have that I don’t?”
Caelina stifled her mirth. “My sanity, for one?”
Stellan gave Caelina a pointed shake of his head. Probably knowing how volatile Neris was, he was trying to advise Caelina not to provoke Neris any further.
Neris hissed. “You’re a little girl. You know nothing about the real world,” she claimed. “I’ve worked very hard to get where I am. I am the captain of this ship! Everyone here is commanded by me. I wear the entrails of anyone who disobeys me.” She began to pace the floor. “This boat used to belong to some lazy-ass lecher and now it belongs to me. I paid my dues with the knife in his back before I cut off his junk. Do you even want to know how many ruffians I’ve killed? What have you done?”
Indignation rising in her chest, Caelina tipped her chin up. “I am the strongest High Fae mage across all the Fae lands.”
“Magic. Psshh. What is magic if your hands are bound? You are nothing,” she dismissed. Seeming happy with her conclusion, she approached Stellan once more.
Despite the preposterous nature of their dilemma, Caelina had no doubt in her mind that Neris was not simply making up stories and that she was indeed capable of seeing through any of her ghoulish threats. And given the obedience of her pirates, Neris must be a formidable and ruthless force indeed.
Hell hath no fury.
Neris was busy admiring Stellan’s formal clothes. “I love this look on you.” Then with a wicked smile, she proceeded to undo the top buttons on Stellan’s shirt.
“Stop that!” Stellan tried to back away.
“But it looks so much better like this,” Neris insisted, splaying her fingers across the exposed skin beneath his throat.
Caelina bit her lip at the sight. Despite her inexperience, she’d never thought of herself as a prude. She oversaw warrior training now and then, which always tended to get hot and sweaty, and as a healer, she’d already seen her fair share of body types, clothed or otherwise. But looking at Stellan now, she might understand why someone like Neris would mourn the loss of someone like him.
Stellan’s bare chest was smooth, carved marble. With his eyebrows drawn, his jaw set hard, he looked fierce. Except there was something delicate about his eyes, something refined. It only made him look even more attractive. Her knees felt weak—though she convinced herself it was probably from sitting on the floor for too long.
Shaking off her shivers, Caelina clenched her teeth. “You want him back, is that it?”
Neris didn’t even glance her way. “I want him to suffer. Like he’s made me suffer.”
Caelina sighed. “Look, then why don’t you just kill him and get this all over with?” she suggested offhand. She was still fully open to negotiating. “And since I’m sure I have nothing at all to do with this, I think it would be in your best interests to send me back to Ipera.”
Neris’s mouth formed an ‘o’. “Oh, I’ll definitely kill him. And I’ll definitely send you back,” she promised with a shrug before leaning toward Caelina to peer closer at her face. “I just want to scratch your pretty face a little first—the sort that magic can’t heal,” she added, her grin turning devious.
That statement finally got a rise out of Stellan, and while he struggled against his chains in vain, he still managed to growl out his threat, “Don’t you lay one finger on Caelina.”
Cackling, Neris threw her head back in delight. “Oh, dear Stellan.” She clicked her tongue then sighed heavily before she dropped this, “After all these years, you are still madly in love with this pathetic mage wench, aren’t you?”
And Caelina’s jaw dropped open in shock.
WHAT?
