Page 18 of Crossbones
“Laughs?”
“Aye.” Harrison pulls out a stick of tobacco and runs it through his fingers. I notice his knuckles are bloody. “The fucker laughs—” When he cuts himself off I look at him impatiently. “Look, you need to go down there, alright? Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
“I don’t need luck to break a man,” I say with contempt.
“Then stop hiding in your cabin.” He heads towards the door, intenton going above deck to smoke off the anxious edge he’s vibrating with.
“I’m not fucking hiding—”
Harrison turns and gives me a pointed look like he doesn’t believe me before he tucks the unlit tobacco stick between his lips and leaves without another word.
CASPIAN
The cell is freezing cold. The kind of chill that cuts through to your very bones. There’s a draft coming from somewhere and an incessant dripping that’s slowly fraying my nerves. The dreaded sound of boots coming down the hallway cuts through my disassociation and despite my best efforts, fear rises in me at what’s to come.
My body hurts from the last time and I bite back a groan as I struggle to get my legs under me. I have no strength to resist but I refuse to go down easy. Keys jangle, bars creak and the boots are inside my cell, walking the few steps to stop in front of me. A scoff of disgust and a fist twists into my hair, jerking my head up. My eyes flutter open, fixed into a perpetual glare at my captor.
“My sweet little prince,” he purrs. “My favorite little toy.”
He drags me across the stone towards the door—
I’m kicked awake.Hard. The jump from nightmare to reality is not a far stretch—just a different cell, a different monster. I’d fallen over onto my side and when I look up, Blackwell is standing over me. Water splashes onto my face—fresh water. I choke trying to drink as much of it as I can. It’s day three down here and my head hurts from lack of food and water, the manacles have already rubbed my wrists raw, and the cutlass wound on my side is throbbing. But pain is good, it gives me something to focus on and I use it to help bring me fully back to the present.
That nightmare had been a bad one. I shove the memories it stems from back where they belong—in a dark corner, covered in shadows and tied up with self-loathing.
“Like a beaten down dog,” Blackwell mutters.
I push myself up, sitting against a support beam. “Woof.”
“You either have no sense of self-preservation or you are vastly unaware of just how dire your current situation is.”
“Now you just sound like my father,” I huff. “He says I use humor to deflect.”
Blackwell steps back to lean against the open door of the cell, arms crossed over his chest. When he doesn’t say anything, I give him another slow once over, appreciating the dangerous undertone he’s exuding.
“Finally decided to pay me a visit, Captain?”
He looks at me with contempt. “Heard my investment wasn’t being very forthcoming.”
“I figured that would get you to visit me faster,” I grin. “Curiosity is a persistent bitch.”
Blackwell ignores the comment and tilts his head at me. “Why were you flying the Black?”
I look at him with ado-you-seriously-think-I’ll-tell-youlook. “Maybe I’m a pirate.”
“I’ve never heard of you.”
I laugh. “And you know every pirate to ever sail these seas?” Drawing my legs up, I rest my arms on my knees and regard him with a raise of eyebrows.
“I think you’re hiding something.”
“Imagine that—hiding something from a pirate.” I lean forward and smirk. “Does that scare you, Captain? Not knowing? You strike me as a man who always wants to be in control.”
His eyes glimmer in the dim light with an expression I can’t read. I probably shouldn’t bait this man but I wasn’t lying when I said it’s a coping mechanism. I can turn it off as easily as I can control the tide—
“What House do you belong to?”
He’s a stubborn prick, I’ll give him that much.
