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My heart skips a beat in my chest and I clear my throat, feeling something light growing inside me. “The captain loves his crew and he loves his ship.”

“And he’s capable of loving more things than that. Even a former hostage, former princess, former thorn in his side.”

I roll my eyes and jab her lightly with my elbow, which makes her giggle.

Suddenly laughter peals out from the lads and we look over to see that Ramsay has carved what looks like a very giant phallic object out of the wood. They’re all laughing as he holds it up, Lucas and Henry the guffawing loudest of all, while Thane just shakes his head in disappointment.

“Oh, dear,” Sam says tiredly with a shake of her head. She gets off the box and then pulls me up to my feet beside her, holding my hand in hers as she leads me to the men and boys.

“You do all realize that you’re showing off a giant cock in the company of a princess,” Sam says as we stop below them and she holds up my arm, gesturing to me with flourish.

“Aye but she’s a princess in her undergarments,” Henry giggles at me.

Ramsay’s mouth drops. “Henry,” he admonishes him, trying not to laugh. “It’s impolite to point that out to a royal.”

Thane lets out a dry snort. “I wager the princess is no longer phased by such things,” he says. “Every time I see her, she’s one step closer to becoming a pirate. You best get her to come to our side, brother, or it will be harder to return her to proper society.”

I lock eyes with Ramsay at that and he holds my gaze and I’m momentarily sucked into the storm in the dusky blue.

Do you want me on your side?I think.Are we even on the same side?

I can’t read his eyes in response. But I know when he looks at me like this, with such intensity, he’s seeing all of me, even the parts I’m used to hiding. And whether it’s something I’m ashamed of or not, he sees it.

And I remember, once upon a time, that had been all I ever wanted.

CHAPTER31

Ramsay

“You’re having a nightmare,”a low voice says breaking through the dark abyss of my mind.

My eyes snap open and the nightmare fades, though the feelings remain lodged in my chest like black tar, slipping into my veins like invasive dread.

I look over at the corner of the room to where Nerissa sits in her cage, her eyes glowing in the dark like beacons, staring right at me. The skin prickles on my neck.

I clear my throat. “Sorry you had to witness that.”

“Mmmm,” she murmurs. “Wasn’t just that I witnessed it, I experienced it. I was in your dream with you, as you.”

I try to remember but I can’t bring up the image of her there. I can’t remember anything of the dream at all but I know it was the same as always. Only question is was I dreaming about Hilla? Or was it Maren?

“Is that something you usually do?” I ask idly, swinging my legs out of bed. “Invade the minds of others?”

She scoffs. “I do not invade, Bones, unless it is an emergency. I was in your dream whether I wanted to be or not. You have a pull to you, as do all of your kind. Your minds can pull me in, similar to how you sometimes look around inside the minds of others.” She pauses and from the moonlight coming in from the window, she smiles and her teeth glow. “I saw my sister in your dream. I saw one of her Kraken.”

I swallow uneasily. “Who is your sister?”

“Edonia.”

I feel like all the air has been sucked from the room. “You’re Edonia’s sister?”

She does one slow nod.

“Did you know about Venla?”

Another slow nod. “Venla was your wife. She was also my half-sister. IlovedVenla,” she says, her hands curling around the bars of the cage. “It broke my heart that she died. If she had been a full-blooded sea witch she would have survived.”

I feel like this has to be a trick of some sort. “I don’t believe you,” I say through a harsh breath.