Page 40 of A Princess, Stolen (A Kiss of Revenge, Blood, and Love #1)

Toward evening, I prepared a pot of goulash with Troy, which meant I could also eat and gain some strength.

While we were cooking, he gave me a few strange glances as I studied the ingredients of all the spice mixtures, but even if he suspected that I might be allergic to something, it didn’t matter. I would soon be gone.

Sparta was absent from dinner.

“He wasn’t hungry,” Nathan explained, scooping a three-man portion onto his plate. The others nodded as if it was normal, Nathan, though, strangely only looked at me.

That night, I couldn’t sleep and paced the tiny room that had been Nathan’s previously, but which he had made available to me for the time being.

Obviously, he couldn’t know that this was the last time, but I was still glad that no one noticed my nervousness.

At around four o’clock, I strolled along the railing and met the grumpy Castor, who I truly perceived for the first time, especially his emerald-green eyes, which I didn’t remember being so bright or the goatee that he was now tugging at.

“Can’t sleep, princess?”

“No. And you?” I don’t think he had ever said an entire sentence to me and Troy always teased me that he couldn’t speak, merely grumble.

“It’ll be a foggy morning,” he said, glancing at the dark sea and taking a drag on his cigarette.

I watched him for a while. “Who’s on the bridge?”

“No idea. Nathan? Icarus? Someone from the other shift, definitely.”

“And Sparta? Do you know where he is?”

“He was in the control room earlier, why?”

Damn! Why wasn’t he on the bridge? “I don’t want to run into him.”

“Understandable.”

I mumbled, “I’m going back inside,” and hurried back to the lower deck.

Maybe Sparta needed my help with something.

Maybe I could distract someone for him or something else.

I quickly took the steps into the belly of the cutter.

Nothing could go wrong now. I stopped in front of the control room door and knocked timidly.

However, it wasn’t Sparta who opened the door for me, but Nathan.

“Heavens, Willa, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you sleeping?” He leaned out the half-open door, seemingly impatient, almost annoyed.

I stared at him, confused. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” I stammered, his sea-gray eyes flickering restlessly.

“You’re not disturbing me, but Apollo and I have to fix something in here. What’s going on? Is someone giving you trouble?”

“No.” I automatically shook my head. “I just wanted to see where you were,” I lied hastily.

“Someone giving you trouble? Who do I have to reprimand? Mykonos? Ilias?”

“I wanted to see you,” I replied softly and at that moment, I was actually glad to see him.

Nathan raised his eyebrows. “You missed me?” he asked, not without mockery.

To hell with him! I didn’t reply and, instead, tried to memorize every detail of his face so that I could draw it from memory. My gaze was stuck on his raven-feather eyelashes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He sounded suspicious.

I blinked. Suddenly, all I was focused on was that he was losing everyone he loved. That he was alone and would always be alone if he continued to hide his feelings under his anger.

“Willa… Will…” He stepped into the hallway and closed the door.

He stared at me for a few seconds before his gaze wandered to my lips and then back to my eyes.

His pupils were huge. As if hypnotized, I stared back and saw him swallow as if he was fighting the urge to grab me by my braids, kiss me, and push me against the wall until I could feel him completely.

A part of me wanted that. And that part experienced terrible heart palpitations.

Just do it! I thought, but then he shook his head as if forbidding himself from doing it.

“You should go,” he said tersely. “These rooms are off-limits to you.”

I couldn’t stop staring at him, and at the same time, I wished I had never come. What was wrong with me?

“Hey, have you forgotten how to speak or are you in a trance again?” He touched my braid where I usually wore his ribbon, but it was no longer there.

For a moment, he seemed taken aback but then dropped his hand.

“Will…” He shook his head again. “Don’t look at me like that!

Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be possible.

There’s still the plan and the men who rely on me.

Besides, you wouldn’t last long. I’m cursed, never forget that! ”

With that, he retreated to the control room, leaving me standing there with my heart pounding.

Tous ceux qu’il aime meurent .

That was his curse!

He was afraid.

All those he loves…

Why were my eyes burning?

I ran up the stairs and disappeared into the room where I had slept that night. I collapsed onto the bed and tried to regain my senses, but I couldn’t get Nathan’s voice out of my mind. Even if I wanted to…I’m cursed .

I wanted to bang my head against the wall. It was only that one kiss in the storm and you were confused and scared. Besides, you are about to leave, remember?

Oh, damn it! I couldn’t afford to think about him. And especially not in that way!

Don’t look at me like that!

And why did he have to call me Will?

Sitting there, I shook my head. For many, many minutes.

At some point, I remembered the plan and left the cabin, but Sparta had disappeared as if he had been swallowed up by the earth. When Icarus approached after my tour of the lower deck, I asked him directly about Sparta, repeating that I didn’t want to run into him.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Sparta is on the bridge with Delphi. He took over Nathan’s shift because some gauges in the control room were acting up.”

“Good!” I was genuinely relieved. Maybe Sparta had actually been in the control room earlier, deliberately disabling some devices so that Nathan had to readjust or repair them.

I returned to the cabin and snuck outside just before five. Luckily, there was no smoker at the railing. It was quiet and whoever was on the bridge couldn’t see me on the parapet amidships.

I glanced around nervously. At the stern and bow, fishing cranes reached up into the sky like gigantic fingers, but there was no sign of Sparta. Maybe he was still on the bridge, waiting for a good moment to send out the SOS. Was Nathan still in the control room?

I took a deep breath. I shouldn’t think about him, I’d done enough of that in the last hour.

Restless, I paced along the bulwark, waiting and waiting and waiting, for many minutes, too many.

Shoot! It must have been after five. If Sparta delayed any longer, we would soon pass the Outer Banks and help would take longer to reach us.

And the longer we waited, the greater the risk that someone on the Agamemnon would notice that we were missing.

Nervous, I felt for the ring. Contrary to my earlier statement, I wore it strung on Nathan’s bracelet, which I had tied tightly around my wrist and tucked under my sweater.

Later, I would only pretend to be holding it in my hand; I didn’t want it to actually slip out of my hands and sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Tense, I stared at the sea. The swell wasn’t light like Sparta had predicted, but at least the sea mist hung over the sea like a ghostly veil, white and orangey red as if the water was burning.

Somewhere above us, seagulls screeched, so we were close to the coast. That calmed me a little.

I leaned over the railing and looked at the raft.

It was rocking just a few yards below me.

“Where are you?” I whispered to myself. Had they caught Sparta?

I was about to turn when the smell of camphor filled my nose.

“Final—” I didn’t get any further. A hand shot over my mouth, and at the same time, I was grabbed so hard that I thought my ribs would break.

For a few seconds, I was paralyzed, not realizing what was happening to me.

Something happened to my body, it was turned around, and suddenly, the railing bar was in front of my nose.

Adrenaline washed through me.

Sparta was trying to throw me into the Atlantic!

No! No! I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t even gasp. Snapshots flashed before me: morning mist, arms in black rain gear, gloves, and the rusty railing. Below me, the waves slapped against the hull. Dark and threatening.

I’m going to drown like Mom!

The thought broke my state of shock. I kicked my legs wildly, thrashed about, and slammed my hand against the railing. With presence of mind, I grabbed hold of it.

The next moment, my mouth was free.

“Help!” I thrashed around and suddenly I saw him.

Panic tightened my throat like a wire noose.

He was wearing black and his head was under a pointed hood as if he were a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

A man like an executioner, huge and like something out of a horror film, but the worst was the tight-meshed nets through which he stared at me. It was as if he had a thousand eyes.

“Sparta,” I whispered in horror. With brute force, he pried back my fingers, which were still grasping the railing. It happened too quickly. Much too quickly since he was so strong.

I didn’t know if I screamed again. I didn’t know anything anymore. Fear squeezed the air out of my lungs. I heard my “hel...” and felt myself falling. The last thing I saw was him.

He stood calmly at the railing, peering down at me with his compound eyes.