Page 68 of Unrivaled
“Then it wouldn’t be a gift, princess.”Long fingers hesitated over the plain brown fabric protecting it.“Now, this gift, it has a catch.”
“The fabric has a run in it?”
Laughter lit their eyes.“I do like you.Would you like to know what I want in return?”
I cocked my head.There were butterflies in my belly.While the sensation was lovely, I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing.I’d been brash, last time I’d seen them—there was no question of it.I wasn’t sure if I still felt like that.
But theywerevery attractive.And right here, looking inviting.
“You’d better tell me,” I agreed, amused despite myself.“And I hope you’re prepared to carry it back through the city if I don’t like your terms.”
Elnyta snorted.“As if I need to carry anything with the coin you’re giving me.”They’d meant it as a joke, but I realized the crew would’ve been paying people for services.
Though I needed those workers myself, I was glad people had choices.
“I want you to make this into a dress,” they said, seriously.“Or some form of clothing.I don’t care particularly what shape it is, but I want you to wear it, and do your hair up, the way it was when you were on the wall, looking at me over the sea.”
My belly twisted.They hadn’t been so serious in our prior dealings…even the ones that ought to have been formal affairs.“You saw me?”Of course they’d seen me.I’d known they’d seen me.But still?—
“Princess,” they said, “You’re all I saw.”
Heat rushed through me.I tried to get some distance by looking at the roll of cloth.“Thanking you, Captain.That’s kind of you to say.”
“It is,” they agreed, the grin back.“The unkind thing for me to say is thatthis, princess, is the right color for you.”The look they gave my dress, while not cruel, left no doubt in my mind what they meant by the comment.
Shame coiled in me.I shrugged it off.“I’m not fashionable,” I admitted.
“You’re right,” they said.“Will you wear this?”
I tried to see what it was beneath the heavy brown protective fabric.“Well, I wore puce to the last round of tourney events,” I reasoned.“I do believe it can’t be much worse.”
“Puce?That’s the color of some nipples, right?”
I glanced up at their face to see the laughter lurking in the corner of that full, generous mouth.“Do you like puce, Captain Elnyta?”
Their grin widened.“On occasion, my lady Audrey.Promise.”
I cast a look toward the fabric, somewhat irritated at being backed into a corner.If it was hideous, I could always make it into a nightgown.“I assume you’ll want to see it.”
“I will.I’d especially like to remove it, but that I wouldn’t ask you to promise.”
Heat simmered in my veins.“With such generous conditions, I accept.”
Their fingers undid the twine holding the protective fabric closed.They tugged it away with a flourish.
A beautiful green, deep as the summer sea and catching the glints of light, shimmered in their hands.
That roll of silk was probably worth the entire hold of food I’d sent with them, and at least ten percent of the knappchs currently brewing.
“Now, you can’t be going back on your word,” they said, before I could protest.“It’s all a princess has.”
“And my father’s seal,” I offered, trying to match the lightness in their tone with a joke of my own.When they grinned, relief rushed through me.That, at least, I’d done right.“It’s beautiful.”And certainlynotfashionable.“Please, let me pay you for it.”
“If you insist,” they said, with a sigh.“You can pay me by dancing with me whilst you wear it.I’ll accept in public, or in private, in any position you’d like.I’m adaptable.”
I shook my head.“Flirting aside, Elnyta, you know what that’s worth.”
“Sure I do.That’s why I bothered to wrap the damned thing.”They lifted it and set it against the wall.“Saw it and thought of you.What can I say.Didn’t even get the last owner’s blood on it when I gutted him.”
