Page 76 of The Pirate Queen of Ruin
I’ve brought attention to us. Miles knows Delphini is alive and here, but he can’t leave, can he? He has tried to shun Delphini from this crowd, from a group she has belonged to her whole life. Showing an ounce of weakness now by retreating would cause too much gossip. To see his ex-fiancée on the arm of another so soon after their tragic ending must be confusing and infuriating. Not only does she live, but she has also found someone better in every way.
She exudes composure next to me, a goddess staring down at peasants, but my focus is on the moustached idiot trying to control himself. The scowl on Augustine’s face threatens to dip lower than human and I smirk. Charlotte grabs hold of Marcus’s hand to keep him from raising. It’s the sandbag and me now.
“One sixty,” he says.
“One seventy-five.”
Joanna leans over to whisper something to him, and I see his eyes flash that fucked up black colour before he signals to the auctioneer he won’t bid again. For now, I will take this win. Not only have I won the auction, but Joanna has also proven she has more control over that pompous fuck than I thought. Maybe I will just give the books to her if Delphini doesn’t want them.
“Sold to the lovely pair at the back, please follow our attendant to finalise the sale.”
She threads her hand through my arm and I walk us around the crowd. Her gaze never falters from Darren Gross on stage, but as we through tables and pass the one nearest the stage, she leans to the side.
“Good to see you, Miles.”
I don’t look back. I can’t let myself stumble at this moment for her. But silence settles over the room as we leave. My heart soars with pride for myomphalos. Polite and deadly, a combination that I have never mastered, but one that Delphini wears like a second skin. Her hips brush against mine as they sway with each step we take closer to her first kill of the night.
Darren pushes the cart off stage and into a side room. We are right on his tail, which means when the door swings shut behind us and he tries to bolt, I easily grab onto his jacket and yank him back. Delphini smiles at the few other people in the room like this is a normal occurrence. Tentacles emerge from my hand, sliding into the slits of his jacket and wrapping around his thick waist to keep him from escaping. He stumbles as they cinch around him.
“Darren,” Delphini smiles. “It is so good to see you again. It’s been too long. How was your holiday?”
“Holiday of a lifetime.” He gulps.
She hums, the fake smile still on her lips. “You’re going to take a walk with me.”
My limbs lock, tentacles squeezing tighter around the meat bag. She leans around him to look at me, but my face doesn’t convey how much I fucking hate that idea because she winks at me. I open my mouth to protest, but she grabs hold of my hand and squeezes the tentacles. They slip back into my skin without my control.
“We don’t-”
“You are going to go with her, or I am going to rip your nuts off and feed them to you,” I say quietly before letting him go. “You have five minutes, and then I’ll meet up with you.”
“Yes, Captain,” she says.
I shove Darren in the direction of a different set of doors. This building is a fucking maze. Delphini better know where the fuck she is going as she follows after him. Her hand slides onto his shoulder to make sure he doesn’t try to run again. She isn’t strong enough to keep him from breaking free, but I wouldn’t put it past the fucker to try something.
They disappear quickly and then I turn to the accountant seated to my left. They don’t blink as I walk up to them. In fact, under the bright lights in the room, I see a hint of sweat beading across their temple.
“Will this be your only purchasssse for the evening?” They ask, their accent slipping in a way that I recognise they aren’t human. Lamia. “Ms. Moore.”
“Yes,” I say, unbuttoning my jacket as I sit down. Both hilts of my daggers flash in their holsters. “And it’s Captain Moore.”
Their hands shake as they slide a certificate of authenticity across the table along with the bill. This is an expensive way to show up Augustine Ravenscroft, but it slowed my anger towards him for the moment. I fill out the account information required to make the transfer of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.
Aoife is going to kill me in the morning.
Chapter twenty-six
Delphini
14 Days
Hedoesn’tevenfightme. Gross follows me back through the yacht club until we are in a storage room filled with holiday decorations. Surrounded by carefully wrapped oversized Christmas ornaments and neatly folded Independence Day bunting, Darren looks resigned to his fate. Does he know I am going to kill him? It’s not like Pat could have told him, since he’s literally fish food. It’s a relief to know that his last words were worthless, empty threats. Nobody has died without my hand plunging the knife in yet.
It’s hard to work up the anger to summon Love.
Except then he scrubs his face with his hand and I see the tattoos. The hand that yanked me down the stairs until I fell, and wrenched up my dress until he could shove that hand between my legs while his buddy grabbed my chest, yank, yank, yank. The sensation of my body being pulled in so many directions makes me feel sick. Like I am on a boat instead of solid ground.
“You assaulted me.” I state the facts like I am the judge presiding over a case.
