Page 40 of Escaping Pirates
It was difficult to read it while standing so close to Harlan, but I didn’t want to move away. I wanted him to hold me forever, so tightly that I would feel safe and protected for the rest of eternity.
I unfolded the paper and held it close to the lantern.
Elena,
I hope you’ll forgive me for writing this on the same parchment I’m supposed to be using for a love letter to Sugar or Blossom. The irony doesn’t escape me. I’m expected to pour out my affections to them when the only person I can think about is you.
Every time I’m made to dance with one of them, I keep wishing you would take their place. You’d probably trip on purpose just to make me laugh. You have the incredible ability to find humor when there shouldn’t be any, and I admire that quality more than you know. It keeps me sane.
Blossom would want sonnets and metaphors that make no sense, but if I’m going to write something honest, it won’t be for them. It’s for you. You’re clever and funny, and strong in ways no one on this ship seems to recognize—but I do.
And I want you to trust that I will get us out of this. Somehow, some way. And when we’re standing under open sky again, not behind bars or beneath sails, we’ll write our own story. One where no one gets to decide what we say or who we say it to.
—Harlan
“Harlan,” I breathed. The raw ache in mychest intensified. My fingers lifted to caress his face. “That was beautiful.”
“Of course it was. You inspired it.” Harlan leaned forward. “I really like you, Elena.”
“I feel the same way about you,” I whispered. There was so much more I wanted to share with Harlan. So much more I wanted to know about him. But right now, I couldn’t ask him any questions. I couldn’t talk any longer. I just wanted him to kiss me.
What did I have to lose? My time aboard theKraken’s Revengehad taught me that life was too short to live without joy, and kissing Harlan would be joyful.
I tilted my face upward.
A loud banging from just beyond the brig door made both of us leap in fright and spring away from each other. Terrified that someone was about to come in, I scrambled back into my own cell and Harlan wrenched the bar back into place.
We stayed in our respective cells, panting hard, but no one came into the brig.
“I think it was just a barrel falling or something,” Harlan said after a minute.
I held my hand to my heart, which was still racing. “I dub it the most frightening barrel in the world. I nearly jumped out of my skin.”
“It had terrible timing.”
“I agree. Then again, most things on this ship are terrible—other than you, that is.” I tucked Harlan’s letter safely into my bodice. I would carry it with me always. “Tomorrow’s the day.”
“Tomorrow.”
I lay down and stared up at the ceiling. “Goodnight, neighbor. It was nice to get the full tour of your manorhouse and receive my letter. The mail carrier never visits my estate.”
A small smile ghosted across his lips. “Goodnight, Elena. You’re always welcome to visit.”
The next morning, the shore took up most of the horizon as the sun rose. Harlan was called to have breakfast with Sugar and Blossom, and for once, Blossom offered to have me join them, saying that I’d done such a good job with the soot mess the day before that I had earned a reward.
Each of them took a hold of one of Harlan’s arms as he walked them back to their quarters with me trailing behind, but then Harlan dropped Sugar’s arm so he could open the door for them.
“Daddy told me I should think of others,” Sugar informed me once we were inside, offering me a slice of bread slathered in jam. “Would you like some tea?”
“Yes, thank you,” I told her, surprised at her thoughtfulness. The idea of going ashore must have put both her and Blossom in an unusually good mood. They smiled and chatted away, talking about their plans for once they got to port while Harlan and I quietly ate our breakfast, nodding our agreement to anything Sugar and Blossom said.
The rolling waves became soothing the longer the girls talked, and even though it was still morning, I found my eyelids getting heavy. Each thought became increasingly sluggish as I struggled to fight off the insistent slumber. Sugar and Blossom would be angry if I neglected my duties. I mustn’t sleep, I mustn’t.
My head rolled, and the last thought before I lostconsciousness was that Sugar and Blossom had never taken a single sip of the tea.
CHAPTER 15
I’d never had a worse headache than the next time I woke up. Nausea rippled through me as I groaned and rolled over, placing a hand up to pinch the bridge of my nose and wondering if my skull was going to split in two from the pain. My stomach heaved when I regained consciousness, but there was nothing in it to resurface.
