Page 106 of Crossbones
“How are we going to get all of this out of here?” Van asks. “There’s no way this can all fit on the ship.”
“What can fit will be enough for ten lifetimes,” Harrison says.
He’s already walking down the small stretch of floor that’s not covered with wealth. He picks up a handful of coins and lets them trail through his fingers. The sound seems to pull everyone from their stunned stupor because they all run off to explore. Caspian comes up beside me, his fingers brushing mine before he winks and saunters off through the towers of gold, looking like a god among his treasure.
I wander around the room, sliding over piles of coins and digging through chests. I pocket a few random pieces that catch my eye before sitting down on a closed chest near the entrance and looking out over the expanse of the space.
Abundance. The scribe hadn’t been wrong. This amount of wealth is certainly blinding. It’s more than any kingdom that exists right now could ever have in their own coffers. This is generations and generations of accumulation here. It’s staggering. Part of me still can’t believe it’s even real.
Caspian appears, wearing a gaudy gold crown encrusted with ridiculously large jewels. Rings adorn every finger, and he’s twirling a gold coin back and forth over the backs of his knuckles.
“Why isn’t this all covered in ice, do you think?” He peers around thoughtfully. “Maybe a geothermal vent of some sort?”
“Could be,” I agree.
“We need to establish a quicker route out of here,” Caspian says.
His eyes alight with that vivid energy of his as he looks around. It’s an aliveness, a passion for life that I get wrapped up in whenever I see it on his face. He catches me staring and the most brilliant smile takes over his features. He sits down next to me and nudges his shoulder against mine.
“All this treasure, and I still feel richest when you look at me like that.”
Damn his pretty words.But I can’t stop the surge of desire they provoke. I shake my head, barely even attempting to stop the grin that takes over as my attention snags on his dimples. The look on his face when he sees me smile is brighter than all the gold in the room.
“Fuck—especially if you keep smiling at me like that.”
A breath of amusement leaves me.
“You shouldn’t be what I want most in a room full of gold,” I say dryly.
“I don’t know,” he says mischievously. “I think I’m pretty priceless.”
He pockets the coin and comes up with something smaller. A small, dark-blue jewel glitters in his fingers as he messes with it.
“I found something for you,” he says.
He reaches for my ear and threads it through, fastening the back. His knuckles brush my neck and chills rush across my skin.
“Not to get sappy but it reminded me of your eyes,” he says. “So blue they’re almost black—like the deepest parts of the ocean.”
The fondness in his eyes bleeds into a dark yearning the longer I hold his gaze. I touch my ear and something tugs at my chest, making my throat feel thick. To avoid saying anything I grab his jaw and pull him in, pressing my lips to his. My thumb brushes over the stubble on his chin and I deepen the kiss, touching his tongue to mine, hoping I can convey what this means to me without ruining it with inadequate words.
Caspian leans into me further only for his crown to slip down his forehead and hit my nose. I pull back abruptly and look at it in amusement as it settles low on his face. He chuckles and shoves it back into place.
“Are you going to take that with us?”
“You don’t think I can pull it off?”
“I thought you didn’t want a crown?” I tease.
“Definitely not. Too heavy.” And I know he’s not just talking about the actual gold. “I have what Iwantright here.”
He pulls it off his head and tosses it away, then grabs me by the jacket and hauls me in for another kiss.
JAMES
We’re twelve hours into loading the ship and everyone is exhausted. It easily takes thirty minutes to even get to the vault, and hauling out bags and trunks full of heavy gold coins and bricks is not easy. Every single person on the crew is involved, whether they’re in the vault helping pack things up or rowing it all to the ship to load up the brig. To make things even more stressful, the path we found through the fortress is not stable. There have already been a few cave-ins and just now, two crew members appear to retrieve me from the shore saying there is something concerning in the vault.
They lead me through the gold and as we near the back of the massive chamber, the ground under me grows wet. I round a large mountain of gold bricks and see Caspian and Van looking at the back wall. The water is now a small stream a few inches deep and I immediately see what the problem is.
