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With a frown, I did what he said, though they seemed to forget my hearing was exceptional.

“You already know what I’m going to say. We’ve been through this before.” Captain’s deep, raspy voice created shivers across my shoulders.

“Yes, but I can’t. She is my little girl. All I have left.”

“She is no longer a child, Fredrich. And we can’t keep pretending she is. This is not an appropriate place for her anymore.”

Hurt and utter betrayal sank into my stomach at his words.

“She needs to be in a proper girl’s school, not on a ship with a bunch of horny fae men who drink, fuck, swear, and thieve.”

“But, Captain—”

“No. This is not up for debate anymore, Rotty. The crew has taken notice of her. And she is throwing offpotentpheromones, which only tap at their baser needs. We are at sea for weeks with no other women on this ship.” Blood pounded in my ears listening to him talk about me, my skin itching with magic as emotion swirled inside my chest. “And after the incident earlier… Ican’thave her here anymore. It’s for the best. For everyone.”

“No!” Resentment and rage flooded me, pushing me through the door as I screamed at them. “I won’t go!”

“Katrina,” my father yelled.

Captain slowly turned to me as if he knew I had been listening the whole time.

“You can’t make me leave!”

“Want to bet?” His gaze leveled on mine. A challenge. A threat.

“Katrina, please go back into your room,” my father snipped, as if I was being rude to a guest. But the captain wasn’t a guest. This was my family. The only one I had ever known. And Captain was acting like I was some nuisance. Like I didn’t belong here. Like I wasn’t one of them.

He was someone I would lay down my life for. Who I thought cared about me. But I was nothing to him. Easily swiped away, same as all the other girls.

“I’m not going!” I put my hands on my hips, my chin high.

“She leaves tonight,” Captain ordered my father, heading for the door.

“I’m not! Tell him, Father. You promised me you wouldn’t send me away,” I cried out.

“He might have.” Captain opened the door, looking back at me. “ButIdidn’t. You leave tonight.”

That night my life shattered before me. Everything I knew was taken away.

It was the last time I saw my father alive.

And it was the first time I swore vengeance on the Silver-Tongue Devil. I stole his most prized possession that night, stuffing it in my bag, the signature coat he never took off. I wanted him to feel loss, to know who took it, to come after me.

But he never did.

So it became my mission. I would takeeverythingaway from Croygen like he did me.

I would become the piratehefeared.

Chapter 3

Katrina

Five years before Fae War

The moonlight glistened off the ocean, the slight breeze tangling through my wet hair, which reached my lower back. I leaned on the rail, taking in a deep breath. The ocean was the only place I found true peace. It was odd for a cat to love the water so much, but it was the one place that felt like home.

Our hideout was in a dangerous area, but it gave me views of the sea. The boats bobbed and swayed against the docks, begging to be set free. Like wild horses, ships were meant to be out on the water, not tied to a dock as captives.