Page 53 of Enchanted By a Pirate
"You shouldn't."
Easy for him to say.
Chris opened the locks, placed the unconscious privateer with the mutineers, bound him, and locked the door back up.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a prison on board. Normally, pirates don't take prisoners but instead make them walk theplank or maroon them on a deserted island. But I won't let the mutineers get away that easily, and this one might spill the beans that he saw you. Maybe we can use him as leverage, though I doubt anyone will want him back. I hope the stench doesn't reach the deck."
Anna laughed and he turned. His gaze softened — so much softer than what one expected from a man who looked like him.
"I have missed that."
"My laugh?"
"Aye." He inspected her with his eyes while stroking her cheek and arms with his rough fingers. With a rakish grin on his lips, he leaned down and kissed her. She felt his lips on hers, his hands in her hair, and a pleasant shiver ran down her spine.
This time no one bothered them — no shouts, no men from the crew, and no pirate attack. They lost themselves in the kiss as if it were the first in so many years.
When an image flickered in her mind, Anna lost her breath. She saw Chris sitting on the beach. The glow of a campfire was casting shadows across his face, and he had a tender gaze focused completely on her. He was peering down at her, but she wasn't sitting in front of him — no, she was sitting on his hand, which seemed incredibly large. And her face was reflected in his dark eyes. But she didn't just see that, she saw something completely different.
The tips of great, glittering wings.
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Frightened, Anna backed away from him.
He frowned and raised his hands to embrace her again. "What is it?" When he noticed her confused expression, he gave her the space she needed. "You saw something."
She was unable to answer. Before he knew what… memory had emerged, she had to think about it herself. To come to terms with it, understand it.
"It's… I saw us. In love, on the beach." She gave him a half-hearted smile. Creases lined his forehead. He didn't believe her. He knew she was hiding something from him.
"Is there something else you want to tell me?"
She pressed her lips together as tears struggled to find their way to the surface, but she pushed them back with all her might. She urgently needed to be alone now. Without saying a word, she shook her head. She gathered her strength to make her voice sound firm. "Can I go back on deck?"
"Aye. I'll show you to your seat and…"
"No, I'll go alone."
"Aye, Ani." He stepped forward and opened the hatch for her. She barely noticed. As if in a trance, she walked past him andclimbed the steps to the deck. She glanced at the crew. Some of the men pulled on the ropes, others scrubbed the deck, and Johnny and Jack boasted about the fight. When they saw Anna and the captain coming up, they immediately began to look busy. A fire blazed far off in the distance. Blackbeard's ship. It was on fire. He and his men were no longer a threat, at least for now.
Anna nodded gratefully to each of the men, who silently acknowledged it and then resumed their work. Then she stole back to the bow of the ship. She didn't lie down in the makeshift hammock because that would have meant relaxing and letting herself go, and she couldn't do that. She had to keep her strength together, her courage, her… wits. She stood at the railing and stared out at the wide sea without seeing what lay in front of her. All her thoughts were turned inward.
She had seen it. She had seen her reflection in his eyes. It was definitely her. The straight strawberry-blonde hair, freckles all over her face, blue eyes, and the wide mouth. She had worn a dress made of leaves, similar to the ones that Iris and Margerite wore, and she had been so tiny that she could sit in his hand. And on her back were large, glittering wings.
She didn't dare think about what the next step was, and just entertained the idea, ever so tentatively . The eventuality. The possibility. The absolutely incredible, unimaginable, incomprehensible, beyond mind-boggling fantasy that what everyone was saying was true.
She was a fairy.
Now she believed it. And the notion wasn't amusing like before. She wasn't dismissing the others' overactive imaginations or good-naturedly indulging others' wild fantasies. No. It was real. She considered it — no, not the thought, she considered that she truly was… a fairy.
Her heart beat faster, her hands began to shake, and her knees weakened. Chris didn't come to catch her. No one was there to support her. But she didn't want that either. She had to face this moment alone, had to allow her mind to see the impossible as possible. To see the crazy as reality.
Once again, she searched within herself. She felt nothing on her back, no pulsing force inside her, and her fingertips didn't tingle. She felt at home in this big body. If it was true… and heavens, she would consider it. If she honestly was a fairy… her heart soared as if it were rejoicing. If she was indeed a fairy, where were her magical powers?
And as if this crazy idea that she was not only a fairy but also had magical powers provided the whole thing with the necessary logic, she accepted it. She accepted the possibility — or was it something more? Not merely a possibility, but the truth? Yes, that was it. She felt it, just as she had felt that Anton was her friend and that she and Chris belonged together. And so, the certainty crept into her thoughts and lingered there as if she had never doubted it.
She was a fairy…
