Page 85 of Seven Oars
Sensing movement behind her, Rosamma caught Alyesha turning her head ever so slightly to keep Ucai in her sights. Her hair looked smooth and shiny, lush despite the few silver threads that had appeared in the ebony mass, threads she would’ve covered up with dye, if she had it. She held her head high like a dethroned queen.
Phex struggled against his bonds, which earned him kicks in the ribs.
“Stay down, lard-ass, or else,” Nud threatened.
“No, pull him up,” the Striker ordered.
They hauled Phex upright as the Striker slouched in his chair, one leg thrown over the armrest.
He curled his lip at Phex.
“I understand you formed an attachment to the Meeus woman we let you sample, eh?”
Phex only flexed his arms in response, letting ropey veins snake up and down under the slick chainmail of his defender shirt.
“Yes, that’s right,” the Striker sneered.“You’re highly moral and our superior.”
“I am. It’s not difficult,” Phex ground out.
Phex, what are you doing, baiting them?Rosamma thought.
Nud swung, but the Striker put up a hand, halting the violence.
“See, we have a problem, defender,” he murmured.“Your morals aside, Esseh has now claimed that woman for himself.”
Phex’s perfectly traced brows rose.“And where is Esseh?”
Striker Fincros chuckled, and it was not a merry sound.
“Look around, fucker. So many great warriors, and every one of them is itching to beat that nerve and morals out of you.”
The“great warriors” leered at Phex, displaying dark teeth in varying stages of growing back from having been knocked out.
Phex flexed his shoulders.“All I see is you, sitting in a chair and sneering while your people do all the dirty work. They beat me, many to one, as you watch. Are you afraid to lose in a fair fight?”
“Fair?” The Striker almost laughed.“We don’t know what that means.”
“Coward,” Phex spat, unmistakable challenge in his voice.
Rosamma caught her breath.
The pirates grew quiet.
Fincros cocked his head.
“You know very well I’m the strongest male here,” he said, with no trace of pride.“That’s why I sit in this chair. It’s earned, not given.”
Phex wasn’t impressed.“Empty words, until you win a fight against a true defender.”
Fincros made like he was thinking about it. He even tapped his lips with a finger tipped by a talon that gleamed like chrome in the fluorescent light.
“I don’t fight for entertainment,” he finally said.
Phex curled his lip, his teeth sharp and even, unlike the pirates’serrated mountain ranges.
“I take that as a forfeit.”
Slowly, Fincros rose from the chair and stepped down from the platform.
